Recent updates

The latest news from our projects

  • Meet the team on the stall

    An update for A Green Party presence at Co-operative Congress

    Jun 17 2015

    We've finalised who will be running the Green stall at Co-op Congress.

    Friday 26th
    Steve West (Edinburgh Greens)
    Rory Ridley-Duff (Sheffield Greens)

    Saturday 27th
    Steve West (Edinburgh Greens)
    Margaret Okole (Birmingham Greens)

    Also helping out will be Jon Nott (Islington Greens).

    Some background on who we are...

    • Steve is a co-convenor of the new Co-operative Greens special interest group of the Scottish Green Party. He works at graphics.coop – a worker co-operative design agency in Edinburgh.
    • Rory is an educator, writer and (part-time) composer. He's a co-founder of the Fairshares Association, which promotes a philosophy and practical model for creating and sustaining networks of solidarity enterprises that share power and wealth.
    • Margaret is an independent publishing professional and is Branch Secretary of the Birmingham Green Party. She stood as the Green candidate for Birmingham Ladywood in the recent Westminster election.
    • Jon is General Secretary of The Woodcraft Folk.

    If you're going to Congress, do come and talk to us.

  • Week 4 - Andy Sheppard

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

    Jun 17 2015

    Hi all, 

    We are pleased to be able give you an extended clip of the great Andy Sheppard who we interviewed last Friday. We've selected 3 unedited answers he gave which we thought were particularly interesting in relation to the subject of the documentary. This is only 4 minutes of the full 50 minute interview we had with him, so there is plenty more to come in the full film coming later this year. 

    Password: Sheppard

    Hope you enjoy it. We'll be in touch soon with more news and clips. In the meantime, please do share this with friends and family and music lovers. We are still £490 off our first target so we still need loads more people to get involved and support the project. 

    SOAC x

  • Amy C Fitzjohn has a new book out!

    An update for Independently publishing Solomon's Secrets

    Jun 13 2015

    Hi everyone

    It's approaching one year now since I successfully completed my crowdfund to publish Solomon's Secrets.

    A lot has happened in the last 12 months. My writing career is flourishing, thanks in no small part to the generous support of my wonderful crowdfund backers and to the team at Fundsurfer.

    Being a relentless writer, I'm still tapping away conjuring up new stories and characters. I have also now started my own business providing freelance business support on a group or 1:1 basis so I can help other creatives to realise their dreams.

    Check out my lovely new website and 'Business Skills for Creatives' and my business tips blog:

    http://authorpreneur.amymorse.co.uk/

    Perhaps you have friends, family or associates that would benefit from some professional input with their small business or freelance careers? Do pass on my details or email me at: amy@tomcatdesigns.co.uk

    I am also available for public speaking engagements, so please get in touch if you need someone enthusiastic and passionate about creativity and enterprise for your event.

    For those of you who have read Solomon's Secrets, I trust you enjoyed it.

    If you want to know what happens next to Tom Sheridan and Sasha Blake and whether or not they will ever find the Democritus Manuscript you can now move one step closer to solving the mystery with them...

    Gabriel's Game, Part 1: The White Queen is out now on Amazon!

    The final instalment of the Sheridan and Blake Adventure Series will be out in 2016 with Gabriel's Game, Part 2: The Black Knight

    Stay in touch and I always appreciate reviews on Amazon and/or Goodreads so that more readers can escape into the world of Sheridan and Blake.

    Thanks all

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • Two weeks to go - we can do this!

    An update for A Green County Councillor for Cambridgeshire!

    Jun 12 2015

    The campaign is going very well and we've had a gret reaction on the doorstep, with local presure groups of all descriptions, and from the national party. Last weekend, Sian Berry, Camden Green councillor and former ( and hopeful future) London Mayoral candidate came down to help on the doorsteps.

    NEWSFLASH!

    The Green Party regards the possibility of having an anti-austerity voice on the Cambridgeshire County Council to be so important that the Green Party Leader, Natalie Bennett, will be campaigning with us in Cambridge on Thursday 18th of June! This is fantastic for Debbie and the campaign, and we need to make this day as big as possible - so please share the news and this fundsurfer as widely as possible.

     

  • Week 3 - This week's big interview

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

    Jun 10 2015

    Hi all, 

    While we haven't started filming full time, we're using our pre-production time while we raise funds as productively as possible. Before August we will be doing as many interviews as we can fit in before we start filming the day to day lives of our five chosen artists. 

    We are very excited to say we will be interviewing the jazz superstar Andy Sheppard. Based in Bristol, Andy has made a huge impact on the jazz scene in our home city and we can't wait to meet him and see what he has to say.

    As pledgers we will be sending you an extended preview of the interview so watch this space. 

    All the best, 

    SOAC x

  • The Inexplicables

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

    Jun 9 2015

    Hi all,

    We have put together an edit of the amazing The Inexplicables gig we filmed last week - and as pledgers it's the first of many extended clips we will be sending you over the summer. We think it's a nice way of getting to know some of the artists we discover as we explore this unique live music scene. 

    The track we have chosen to edit is a cover of Tanya Stephens 'It's a Pity' - a perfect example of the reggae influences that we will be talking about in the documentary. 

     

    Link: https://vimeo.com/130116993

    Password: trumpet

     

    We are now up to a huge £1,505 and our stretch target is now £3,500, which with outside funding will allow us reach our full budget of £5000. Whilst this is ambitious we know it's possible if we reach enough people, so if you have any friends or family who you know are interested in knowing a little bit more about live music then please pass on our page. 

    Big love SOAC x

     

  • Thanks and welcome

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

    Jun 2 2015

    Hi all,

    First of all - thank you to everyone for pledging so generously to the film. We are doing FAR better than we had hoped at this point and that's down to all of you. We set the target fairly modestly to begin with as this is our first foray into crowdfunding and we didn't know what reaction to expect, but looks like we will smash our target and keep going! Due to other factors, we are now hoping to raise the majority of our full budget through our Fundsurfer page, so do keep sharing with everyone and anyone you know who may be interested in the project. We are hopeful to achieve funding from the Colston Hall who really like the project - so if we can raise £4000 from crowdfunding then we will get the full amount we need to make the film as we had hoped. So onwards and upwards!

    As pledgers (or pledgends as Sinead prefers) we will be sending you all exclusive and extended edited and graded clips from the gigs and interviews we shoot. This will give you an insight into what and who we are talking and listening to, and provide a window through which you will get to see snippets of the Bristol live music scene as we explore it. By the end of the week (hopefully Thursday - there have been delays in getting our hands on the recorded audio) we will be able to send you some footage from a gig we filmed last Thursday by the Inexplicables - a band that perfectly encapsulates the reggae and jazz influenced sound we are exploring in the documentary. 

    Until then, keep well. We will try and keep in touch at least once or twice a week, and more often once we start filming full time in August. 

    Much love,

    SOAC

  • Project extended

    An update for Building Education in Africa

    Jun 1 2015

    An update from Fundsurfer: 
    The deadline for this project has been extended until the 15th of June.

  • Beaten the target, let's keep going!

    An update for A Green Party presence at Co-operative Congress

    Jun 1 2015

    Thanks to everyone who has contributed to this. I never imagined that we would reach the target so quickly! Now, can we raise even more?

    The initial target of £520 pays the invoice from Co-operatives UK for the stall and two delegate places.  On top of this, there are the travel and accommodation costs of the delegates, plus materials for the stall and the cost of the badges and t-shirts for the fundraiser.

    Adding all of these extra costs together, this would come to about £450 above the target, including Fundsurfer fees. That means raising a total of £970. Can we do it?

    Let's give it a try. I'll put my donation in right now to get started.

    Thanks again, everyone!

    Steve West
    Co-convenor, Co-operative Greens special interest group
    Scottish Green Party

  • Our groups within the Green parties

    An update for A Green Party presence at Co-operative Congress

    May 29 2015

    Hi All

    Thought I'd post a bit of background information about our organisations.

    I'm a member of the Scottish Green Party. This is a separate party from the Green Party of England & Wales, although we work closely together, as indeed we work with sister Green parties throughout Europe and all over the world.

    "Co-operative Greens" is a group of Scottish Green Party members. Our logo is derived from the Scottish Greens logo (of course, everyone's welcome to wear it with our badges and t-shirts – the more the merrier!)

    There's an equivalent Co-operatives Discussion Group in the Green Party of England & Wales.

    Our two groups are collaborating to share this stall at Co-op Congress. Hopefully there will be many more joint projects in future.

    If you're a member of either party (or both!) and want to join one of our groups of co-operators, please get in touch with me for details.

    cheers

    Steve West
    Co-convenor, Co-operative Greens special interest group
    Scottish Green Party