Recent updates

London businessman saves the day by investing in a GOAT!

An update for Goats for Sustainable Woodland Management

Feb 1 2016

Things just goat very serious down at Tortworth Arboretum. Rebecca Cork, who runs the Tortworth Forest Centre had been raising money to buy some goats for the woodlands. With hours to go they had still not reached their target on Fundsurfer, (a crowd Bristol based crowd funding site)… enter Howard Skidmore, a business man who saved the day by donated £300 and naming one of the goats after his new company TechJunctionUK.

Howard Skidmore of TechJunctionUK said:

“As Cyber professionals we value innovation & understand that a technical solution often isn’t the best response. The team at the Tortworth Forest Centre have shown great innovation on two fronts. Firstly, it is an inspired solution to use goats to control Japanese knotweed, the alternatives being machinery & harsh chemicals. Secondly, the usage of Fundsurfer to finance the solution. TechJunctionUK is a new start up too, seeking to signpost tech professionals to technical training courses& cyber jobs. We know all too well that sometimes it’s nice to support the new kid on the block.”

Tortworth Arboretum is at present being restored by Rebecca Cork and groups of volunteers. Over the last year they have cleared up significant areas of the woodland by hand to encourage new flowers and plant growth and have been able identify many ancient and rare trees.

Rebecca said:

‘We are ecstatic that Howard has stepped in at the 11th hour- we desperately wanted to get some goats to help keep the weeds under control and to have some lovely animals around while we work. Restoring Tortworth Arboretum is a real labour of love, I get immense pleasure in my work, and in seeing the volunteers who come and help each week. We can’t wait to welcome TechJunctionUK to the woods. Although she might get nickname of TJ!’

Tortworth Forest Centre is a not for profit community interest company which aims to improve lives by reconnecting people with nature. Working with children, parents and more specific groups including people recovering from alcohol dependency, they offer volunteer days and wild weekends all of which are held in the beautiful surroundings of the arboretum at Tortworth, which is owned by www.woodlands.co.uk.

For further info and interviews contact:

Dee Macdonald- Marketing & PR : 07791 860 954

Rebecca Cork: Tortworth Forest Centre: 07717 201 329

www.tortwortharboretum.org www.TechJunctionUK.com

Good News - Cute Meows from Holly Hedge

An update for Bristol's First Cat Cafe

Jan 28 2016

Dear Cat Lovers!!

We got some good news!

Many of you have been asking about our cats and where they will be coming from. Our kitties will be coming from Holly Hedge Animal Sanctuary, Bristol Based Shelter.

After speaking with the owner we decided to work together.

You&Meow will be a foster for those unwanted cats who desperately need new loving home. We will provide the space for the cats, so they don't need to wait in the cages instead.

All cats will be available for adoption. Adoptions will go through Holly Hedge who will carry on with their required adoption process (home checked etc.). Cats well-being and finding them safe, fuurever loving home will be our priority.

That's all for meow.

Have a pawsome day and please keep sharing our campaign :)

A HUGE THANK YOU TO ALL OUR SUPPORTERS

An update for Aid Box Convoy - vital supplies to refugee camps in France

Jan 27 2016

Thank you so much for your very kind and generous donation to Aid Box Convoy, it will have made the life of refugees living in the appalling conditions of Grande-Synthe Camp more bearable. It is thanks to the generosity of people such as you that these brave and dignified people are receiving food and shelter.

There are now approximately 3000 people living under canvas in this camp, including 170 families and 300 children. Many of the remainder are unaccompanied minors, mostly boys between the ages of 13 and 18. There is considerable illness on the camp including hypothermia, scabies, flu, broken bones, many burns, anaemia, chest infections and more. Due to the intense cold, -5 degrees C at present at night, gas cookers are used for heating in nylon tents!

Since its founding in September 2015 ABC has distributed many hundreds of Aid Boxes, food, clothing, bedding and much else to the ever increasing number of refugees arriving at Grande-Synthe Camp and is generally working to raise awareness of the plight of these people and having been successful in many ways. Many have diarrhoea and cannot reach the too few toilets, especially at night.

The local mayor is supportive but is prevented from doing much to help. French political leaders are keen to prevent aid getting into the camp but ABC has been given passes and is sharing these with other aid organisations. No-one is starving now as volunteers are there cooking day in and day out. ABC has also managed to house some people in substantial canvas tents with wood burners. There is a small but substantial schoolroom and community room run by volunteers where children can be warm, safe and dry. However, conditions remain dire on the camp with mud and excrement up to the knees.

Your donation will enable ABC to continue raising awareness and provide on the ground aid. We are now have a solid team of five people living in France and on site everyday, other volunteers go out weekly to help. The following is an example of what these people are doing

• Providing cleaning products and cleaning toilets daily
• Cleaning the camp, with the aid of refugees
• Assessing individual needs daily, ensuring the sick are seen by Medicine sans Frontiere and new arrivals receive an aid box, tent, sleeping bags, blankets
• Advising those bringing aid and helping with distribution
• Storing aid in the Calais warehouse
• Helping with building, trying to get people out of the mud, laying pallets paths
• Purchasing clothes, wet weather trousers and tops and shoes of the right size for individual refugees

We are currently collecting for winter emergency aid boxes, other on-going needs remain for fire wood, wellies, gas, stoves and wind-up lamps with usb connectors to charge up mobile phones and phone power packs. Mobile phones are the only life line refugees have with their family members who remain in war zones or are spread around Europe.

It is difficult to describe the full extent of the needs of the refugees, but suffice to say that the vast majority arrive with little more than they stand up in. We are therefore committed to continue supporting the refugees in Grande-Synthe camp but cannot do so without the help of people like you, so a heartfelt thank you again from the Aid Box Convoy team and all the refugees on the Grand Synthe, Dunkerque Refugee camp.

Imogen, Joby, Sam and Rob x

Rachel's recommendation

An update for TheGivingMachine - Be The Key

Jan 27 2016

Thanks for support Rachel :) #HappyDays

New Perk - Your Name on Thank You wall

An update for Bristol's First Cat Cafe

Jan 25 2016

Hi guys :)

Just a quick update that new perk is now available on our campaign.

''Your Name, Forever on Thank You wall'' so you can be memorised for fuurrever at the cafe :)

And we're off...

An update for TheGivingMachine - Be The Key

Jan 25 2016

It's great to be up and running today - looking forward to more updates through the campaign.

WE ARE 100!

An update for Bristol's First Cat Cafe

Jan 23 2016

Dear Cat Lovers!!

We have hit 100 BACKERS !

And would like to thank you enormously for your support so far.

We are excited about Bristol's Cat Cafe to open this spring as much as you do and let's keep it going!

Please share this campaign with your closest cat loving friends. Every bit of support is important to help us reach our goal faster and to open Bristol's First cat cafe by Early Spring.

And please remember that our supporters will only be charged if and when we hit our target goal.

Thank you, again for your help and belief in this project. We really want to make it happen for you.

Have a purrfect afternoon! :)

A New Year Message from George

An update for Help support George Ferguson's re-election as Mayor of Bristol in 2016

Jan 21 2016

Happy New Year!

We are now just three and a half months away from the mayoral election on 5th May. I would like to start by giving grateful thanks to everyone who has helped and supported me, both as mayor and now as mayoral candidate. Without you Bristol 1st would have no chance of success.

The last three years have flown by. The way Bristol is governed and managed has changed dramatically. We have demonstrated that independent leadership can be very effective – and refreshing. It certainly seems to have stimulated interest and debate in local government!

In Bristol, political allegiance does not define how decisions are made. From the beginning, I was committed to ensuring that every community in the city was represented at the top table. That is why I set up a rainbow cabinet that included all four political parties on the Council. I am now standing for a second term because we need longer than three and a half years to achieve the vision that I set out in my original manifesto.

I promised that I would tackle the most crucial issue that came up at the last election – transport. I knew it was going to be a tough nut to crack in such a high car use city. In all the time that I have lived in Bristol there has been an ongoing conversation about how transport can be improved, but all plans seemed to hit the dust. In comparison, we have come a long way.

As soon as I was elected, I came to the conclusion that the strategy had to be to invest in better public transport infrastructure while limiting the number of commuter cars. Implementing residential parking zones had stalled under previous administrations and faced strong opposition. Despite reports, I did listen and adapted the plans through consultation with those affected. Acceptance levels have soared and there are now calls for new parking zones from neighbouring areas.

In the face of concerted opposition from the main political parties and surrounding authorities, I improved the Metrobus route to avoid the harbour and Prince Street bridge. This was the best option available. Any further delay would have cost the city millions and delayed £400 million of transport infrastructure investment. Metrobus will be completed by end of 2017, and will be followed by £200 million investment in the Metrorail suburban railway system between now and 2020.

The previous administration introduced 20mph, which I have supported by rolling it out across the city's residential areas. I am determined to make our streets safer and to civilise our residential areas. I don't expect everyone to agree, but it upsets me when some people choose to play politics with this life saving measure - one that is being emulated by many other cities across the UK for the very good reason that it works.

If we are going to achieve our aim of being one of the world's most liveable cities we need transport that is cheaper and environmentally efficient. We owe our children a healthy future and I am not prepared to put up with the poor air quality we have now in 10 or 20 years time. We are beginning to clean up our act with the introduction of lower fares and more efficient buses by First (the cleanest in the UK) and many other innovations. I hope to make further announcements on this before the election. When we reach 2020 transport in Bristol will be transformed. Unfortunately, there will be a certain amount of disruption in getting there, and some of it will be in the lead up to the election!

Economically, our city continues to boom. Bristol has a great history of innovation, creativity and a start-up sector that every city outside London would envy. However, if we are to have a resilient society, a culture of business growth has to be matched by greater social mobility. Sadly, we live in a time when central government is removing billions from our welfare system and from local authority budgets. This means we have less money for the most vulnerable in our society and we have to be extremely creative in the way we redress the balance to ensure that everyone can benefit from Bristol's success. We are doing better than most authorities in mitigating the cuts. We have one of the largest hardship funds, including Council Tax reduction measures, in the UK. I am proud of the growth here but it remains a necessity to address inequality in what is a relatively wealthy city.

Things really did change for Bristol in November 2012. We went from an ever-changing council that seemed to put party politics before a duty to the city, to a leader with a direct mandate to deliver in the best long-term interests of Bristol. That is why I became Mayor. My passion for this city is transparent. I have lived in Bristol for 50 years and consider myself as Bristolian as anyone with the good fortune to be born here!

I know that you all share my commitment to do the best for Bristol and want the kind of changes we have achieved together to endure and continue. I will need your support to win this next election. Our resources are hugely outweighed by the resources and members of the political parties who are also standing for election. I relish the challenge but hope that you can contribute your time and also introduce others to help from now until May. We need to continue to show that Bristol does things differently and that independent leadership results in real progress.

Thank you.

George Ferguson

BBC 6 Music Festival

An update for 'Sound of a City' - a documentary about live music in Bristol

Jan 20 2016

Hi all, 

If you're a 6 Music listener you may have heard they are holding their BBC Radio 6 Music festival in Bristol in February. 

After many talks with the council and the BBC and the Watershed they have asked us to screen the film as part of the Fringe. So, happily, we have the perfect exhibition opportunity for our music documentary. The subject fits in perfectly with the aim of the festival, which is to celebrate the rich musical heritage to have come out of the city. Got a bit lucky there!

We have also changed the name of the film to Re:sound.

Take a look at Re:sound and everything else happening at the Watershed that weekend here: http://www.watershed.co.uk/whatson/season/362/the-fringe-at-watershed/

We are also very happy to say that the Pop Group's Mark Stewart will give a short introduction to the film. He's one of the most influential figures to have come out of Bristol in terms of music and he's quite a character so it should be interesting. 

Now its just a case of finishing it... 

SOAC xx

Three Year Reflections

An update for Help support George Ferguson's re-election as Mayor of Bristol in 2016

Jan 12 2016

I was elected just three years ago, when Bristol decided to turn its back on a party political leadership, largely because it had failed to deliver. Any fair person would agree that there has been transformation at the top and a lot has been achieved since then.

One of the first things I did was take full advantage of my independent status and, after initial reluctance by Labour to take part, created an inclusive four party cabinet, in place of one limited in scope and talent to a single political party.

This rainbow coalition makes best use of all talents, puts Bristol before party, and demonstrates we can do local government differently and more effectively. This has been a success but, like all change, it takes time to be absorbed, and has been resisted by those stuck in the politics of old.

As we approach the second term mayoral election combined with an all out Council election in May we are bound to see more party politics playing out – understandably so – but after that we shall, as a result of the mayoral system, see an end to annual elections and some real stability for four years.

My decision to stand for Mayor of Bristol was because I was frustrated at Bristol's slow progress and its recognition in the world and felt we had been held back by the old system.

My vision for Bristol was always one based on an 8 year term – taking us to 2020 – which is why I did not take this job on lightly. That vision comes from fifty years of my personal and professional experience making things happen in my home city. It comes from something that is quintessentially Bristolian, entrepreneurship. Throughout my working life, entrepreneurship, both business and social, has been at the forefront of what I have achieved.

Since my election I have worked tirelessly to reinvent the way that the council works, making it more efficient, accountable,and democratic – not that you would believe that from some of the things my political opponents would have you think!

For example, I have introduced the quarterly Mayor's public question times where anyone has an opportunity to openly quiz me, supplemented by Radio Bristol and internet Q&A's. We have also evolved the consultation process around the introduction of policies to make sure that everyone has a voice on crucial decisions.

A proud achievement in my new role was to help secure European Green Capital, to which I had been contributing with many others from outside the Council and which was undoubtedly strengthened by our new mayoral system and a mayor with a passion for the environment.

There is no limit to my ambition to make Bristol the healthiest, fairest and most environmentally friendly city in Europe. Locally, nationally and internationally I have been banging the drum for Bristol's business, heritage, culture and diversity.

For example, we have given leadership in the debate regarding the refugee crisis to promote something that is entrenched in our city's DNA. We are a City of Sanctuary and we will always seek to support the most vulnerable in society.

Our international profile has grown significantly as we are attracting global investment for Bristol and the city region. I am proud that Bristol leads the way on so many important issues and as the Minister of Cities, Greg Clark, now Secretary of State for Local Government, said: the UK Government "sits up and takes notice when Bristol speaks.

I have been delighted that employment rates in Bristol are continuing to rise and the number of young people claiming JSA has gone down by a third. However, a huge challenge remains, and while we must embrace the economic success in this city we must also make sure that everyone gets a fair share of this success.

Early on I set up a Fairness Commission and have ensured Bristol City Council leads by example with the introduction of the national living wage. I am engaging with Bristol's thriving business community to help advance social mobility across the city.

However I am sometimes frustrated by process and the rocks that are thrown in the way! I also understand and share the concerns of everyone who is feeling the impact of the massive financial cuts that are being applied across the board from Whitehall.

Bristol is faring better than most other cities but I know that this is not enough for those whose daily lives are severely impacted by these changes to benefits and legislation. Instead of being a constant voice of protest against these cuts I have decided to do something about it.

I have protected the council tax reduction scheme, for those least able to afford it, for three years, although few councils find that they can maintain this, and have defended those most effected by the bedroom tax. I have also worked with our independent public transport providers to ensure fairer fares and increase the number using our buses as well as cycling and walking, all contributing to a healthier city.

This is why I have asked David Cameron and George Osborne to devolve transport, housing and skills to Bristol city region. In order to be a fairer city we need these key decisions to be made locally.

I said I would deliver an arena and am doing so. It has advanced from being a dithering twenty-year-old conversation into being a reality.

In 2018 we will not just open our doors to this long awaited internationally significant venue, we will have initiated the development of the whole of Arena Island and adjacent sites around Temple Meads.

Along with the acquisition of the Royal Mail sorting office and other derelict sites and buildings, this will provide a massive boost for Bristol to coincide with the completion of the Metrobus network and a faster electrified rail link to London. This does require some broken eggs before the omelette comes together but it will be worth the wait!

I hope that in May people realise that in me they have someone who is passionate about our city and its people and understands and engages with every part of it. I hope we are demonstrating that we do things differently in Bristol and that I was elected as part of a social movement for change in 2012. I will continue to pursue our vison for a happier, healthier and more prosperous Bristol for all, which I am proud to be able to say is being delivered in extremely challenging times.

All the very best,

George Ferguson