Lamplighters progress!

In politics you get very used to promises and pledges; there's always a lot of talk and if something goes wrong, the emergency response is often to have yet another meeting or 'write a report '. It always reminds me of a certain scene in The Life of Brian ( fans will know which one I mean). Recently the national papers exposed not just my thighs in a picture of me in my old work outfit of a red swimming cozzy, but the fact I used to work on Cornish beaches as a surf life guard. In that line of work, talk cannot replace Action. So it is especially good to see actual physical action happening in re-opening the Lamplighters Pub. In a welcome break from paperwork, Cllr Wayne Harvey and I rolled up our sleeves and got busy in renovating the pub. Still a long way to go, but great to see Kathie and Dominic Gundry-White actually getting something done and bringing our pub back to life! 

Shire Baptist Church makes old wine in new wineskins a win(e)ner ! (sorry..)

Beautifully spacious and light main church

Usually, there is much furore when it comes to modernising a church. I've seen some rows in my time... But the superb, and seven-year-long rennovation of Shire Baptist church, ( not so much a 'rennovation' as an entire re-vitalising re-birth) was an unremitting success story. The church opened its doors to locals on Saturday and we celebrated an extraordinary achievement.

This is actually a CAKE!

 The whole church had be redesigned, and refurbished from its slightly dark, low-roofed, claustraphobic former life (which was set out beautifully in displays of wall photos).

But perhaps the most amazing thing was that the whole renovation had been done by pensioners! Designed, built, - I spoke to one lady who told me how she had been 15ft up on scaffolding wielding a roller ( and not the type you put in your hair!)

The church was magnificent testament to generations all joining together to keep the spirit of Shire Baptist church alive and kicking into a new era in a beautiful new building - airy, light, comfortable.... and I have NEVER seen such lovely ladies loos....   Ladies, you've got to give them a try! (and I'm told the Gents are pretty swanky as well, chaps...)

New Life at Shire Baptist Church

Lamplighters Victory at last!

Celebrating Lamplighters with Champers!

Oh, there were doubters. "It won't happen" people said as we persistently, and possibly rather obsessively campaigned to get the wonderful "Lamplighters Pub" re-opened once again.

It's been a saga.

Back in 2009, it was shut under Enterprise Inns ( one of the big pub companies who are notoriously bad landlords, tie their tenants to buying their beer at hugely inflated prices, charge above market rent and generally seem to see their role as a property manager to pay off their debts, rather than a pub company.)

Hearts sank. It is seldom a pub that shuts ever has a pint poured again.I set up a petition - www.savethelamplighterspub.bristolpetitions.com to try to show a potential buyer that this place was a little gold-mine. ( After a bit of investment)

Then hope arose as Churchill Properties bought the pub and claimed they were adamant it should stay as a pub. But residents had heard that kind of stuff before and took some convincing. However, as a beacon of light ( no pun intended) Churchill Properties were every bit as good as their word - and set about looking for someone to run it as a pub.

Meanwhile, our dear old Lamplighters was being decimated by weather and vandals, and was becoming a far cry from the beautiful historical building we all knew, and turning into a sad disheveled relic. It was soon apparent that the only way it would be a viable venture was if some of its extensive pub garden was granted planning permission for some houses to fund its significant renovation.

That was the next battle. I remember at the 11th hour, just a day or so before the deadline, working with Planning at the Council to try to get it all sorted. And at the 11th hour it was.

But still no buyers...  and now it was 2013.  Four long years had passed.

So if Mohamed couldn't go to the mountain, as the saying goes, the mountain would come to Mohamed. ( In a sort of way) and we decided to see if we could run the pub as a community. I put together a survey for residents to try and find supporters, skills and everything we might need to set about turning it into a community pub. The prospect was somewhat daunting, but it felt like we had no choice, if we weren't to give up.

Then came the shining knights on their metaphorical stallions: Dominic Gundry-White and his wife Kathie. Dominic is business partner with the amazing Norman Routledge, who is currently transforming our beautiful Kings Weston House. They stepped in to buy the pub to turn it into their home, and a successful food-serving family pub.

The only thing to do was to open a bottle of bubbly to celebrate! But there's still a lot of work. If you want to get involved, get in touch with me, and I'll pass your name on to the owners. They will need all the help they can get.

A bottle of bubbly outside a new venture is one thing, we'll all really be celebrating when its a pint from behind the bar of our newly resurrected, much loved Lamplighters Pub. Beacon pub of Bristol. Cheers!

Not all going swimmingly in Bristol - and we need your help

I was one of those who spent most of their teenage years, and those before, ploughing up and down a swimming pool in my bid to become an Olympic Champion. It never happened. The most I ever achieved was a couple of age group National Finals in 200m and 100m backstroke. ( my feet were always too small, was my excuse).
But I spent many hours at Easton swimming pool at silly o' clock in the morning ( breakfast in the car, drying my hair on the car heater-fan, and I kept a sleeping bag in the corner of my classroom where I'd grab a crafty few minutes of kip if I got into school early enough...) and many evenings at the old red brick Barton Hill Pool ( badly run and managed, and filthy towards latter years - with an array of nasty things spotted drifting along the bottom of the pool where Olympians were training. )
I swum first for Thornbury Swimming Club, then Southwold in Yate, then City of Bristol, with a truly brilliant swimming coach, Eric Henderson (who was APPALLINGLY treated by Bristol City Council in the mid-90s as an archive newspaper search will reveal.)

I have always said that my club swimming experience is one of the things that formed my identity as I was growing up, and has contributed so much to my life,taught me so much and given me so many lasting friends.

That is why I am so outraged and concerned that Bristol City Council is currently forcing clubs who are providing excellent beginners swimming lessons to give them up, in order that the council's private provider, SLM, can have a monopoly over beginners swimming.

I am campaigning with Portway Swimming Club to end this disastrous policy - which is bad for children, communities -and ultimately our Olympic Legacy.

Please sign our national petition
www.keepclubswimming.bristolpetitions.com
and please make sure you also sign the link to Portway's own petition, which is linked-to on the site.

And yes, I couldn't resist getting back in the water with Portway's wonderful young swimmers! Please keep their swimming lessons in-club, for them!

Bristol's Biggest Picnic - depsite dodgy weather!

......I must admit, the day didn't start hopefully. I'd managed to organise Bristol's Biggest Ever Protest Picnic on the same day as The Southmead Festival, St. Bernard's School fete - and the first rainy weekend for ages. "Nice one," I thought. "It's going to be an almighty failure." But how wrong I was. I'd underestimated English sturdiness against the weather, and the strength of feeling residents have for protecting their local green spaces. So the four picnics held across Bristol North West, at The Daisy Field, Okebourne Open Space, Horfield Common (thanks to Friends of Horfield Common!) and Lockleaze Open Space were a roaring success.

Fearful of the weather, and in mild drizzle, I'd moved the picnic at Lockleaze down a bit to the Romney Avenue entrance to make sure people came- but I needn't have bothered -dozens of people turned up to preserve that unique stretch of space just as it is for dog walkers, residents and wildlife.

We distributed a petition - www.savebristolgreenspaces.bristolpetitions.com - as well as encouraging people to write to the Council to register their concerns. This is the first stage of enabling people to make their views heard regarding the future of our community green spaces.

Thanks so much to everyone who helped me organise these picnics - stalwart members of the community ( you know who you are!) and all those who braved the threats of rain to come out for a brilliant day of picnics!

Shirehampton Primary goes Turkish

I could have made all sorts of puns about Turkish delights in the title - and quite appropriately too.

Shirehampton Primary School put on a truly exotic Turkish Evening last night; it was a great success with brilliant performances from pupils and adults, which almost made me consider taking up belly-dancing ( The glamorous outfits could have had a lot to do with it too...)

During the interval we were served with Turkish delicacies - particularly memorable was the pistachio cake made by local mum Ruth, who is with me here. Although by the time we got round to taking a photo, the pistachio cake was long gone...

Well done all, a really great community event, superbly organised and the perfect way to spend a hot mid-summers evening!

Wassailing to save the Daisy Field

One thing's certain. I don't have a future in Morris Dancing. The Rag Morris troupe had volunteered to help out with a peaceful ( though noisy) protest-Wassail to help save the Daisy Field. After leading a procession of around 150 people down from Shirehampton Green to the Daisy Field, the Morris Dancers toasted the trees, and gave volunteers the chance to join in one of the dances - which I couldn't resist. It was more tiring than it looks, and I developed a knack for bumping into other dancers.

The entire event was organised by local residents Caroline and Jim Penny, as part of our ongoing campaign to prevent the Council from including the Daisy Field in its list of land at risk of sale and development, in its Parks and Green Spaces consultation document. The Document was due to be published in January this year, but has now been postponed until after the elections in June.



The turn out was huge, and a tangible demonstration of how much the community values this green space. I've said it once, I'll say it again - Council - if you really are listening to the people as you say you are, the message is clear: Please - Hands off Shirehampton's Daisy Field.

Swinging Sixties at Shirehampton's Christmas bash

There's always one, isn't there. Most people attending SCAF's superb annual Christmas Dinner at Kings Weston House on Saturday interpreted the theme 'Swinging Sixties' with a sophisticated nod to the decade - perhaps a slightly shorter skirt than usual, with knee-high boots, or a tasteful 'flower-power' motif in the button hole.

Not our elected Council representative for a ward that shall remain nameless- No. They entered into the swing of things in full wig-wearing style. But everyone was polite enough not to notice.

The SCAF Christmas dinner has become a real annual highlight. The picture here shows the braver guests of the evening attempting a group-version of The 12 Days Of Christmas karaoke style.

It is very good to see the whole community enjoying one of the hidden gems of Bristol - Kings Weston House. An historic beauty of a building, resurrected from the near-dead by John Hardy and his team.

Just the day before, Lord Heseltine had dropped in to see Kings Weston House on his way through Bristol and had admired the suspended staircase - one of just two of its kind in existence. Thankfully there were no luminous shirts or awful wigs in evidence on that occasion - but whether it's a grand event, or a more relaxed evening with the community and friends, Kings Weston House is always a unique, and wonderful venue.

Residents turn out in force for Shire's public meeting

When I stood up amongst the crowd who had been refused entry to a meeting about the future of the Daisy Field and Lamplighters land, back in June, I pledged to get them a full public meeting to really discuss the issue.

Under the Council's Parks and Green Spaces Strategy, the Daisy Field and Lamplighters Land are amongst plots of land identified as of potential 'low value' to the community, and susceptible for being sold off for housing.

Three months, a petition, a 'write-to-the-council-campaign' and a Big Picnic later, the council officers responsible came to address a packed public meeting, chaired by Avonmouth's new Councillor, Siobhan Kennedy-Hall.

It is a very good thing we did get this meeting: The level of information, sound argument and strength of feeling displayed by residents at the meeting was impressive. The amount of 'new information' that the council officers gained by listening to residents, many of whom have lived in Shirehampton for many years, was significant.

We got some pledges of action by the council, and Cllr. Kennedy-Hall is following that up. Most importantly, council officers were exposed directly to the thoughts and feelings of the general public.

The decision has yet to go to consultation - but hopefully the campaign will have started early enough to prevent the Daisy Field and Lamplighters land from even appearing in the consultation document.

We have been determined to sort this out before the consultation process because residents sadly now have little faith that they are able to sway any decision that has gone to consultation - they fought to save their swimming pool, and the Robin Cousins Centre - to no avail. Let's hope this campaign, having got in early, is more successful.

And you can still do your bit!

1. By signing the petition

2. Writing to the council: Send your letter, with specific comments on why the Daisy Field and Lamplighters should not be built on, to:

Rob McGovern
Area Green Space Plan Project Officer
Bristol Parks
Colston 33
Colston Avenue
Bristol, BS1 4UA

Shirehampton Hall Celebrates Vaughan Williams

Bristol North West is full of more literary and cultural history than you might first think; Sea Mills was mentioned in John Betjeman's poetry, and Vaughan William's masterpiece "The Lark Ascending" had its debut in Shirehampton Village Hall on 15th December 1920.

On Wednesday, however, Shirehampton broke its habit of extreme modesty about such things and held a celebration of "The Lark Ascending" debut. There was the unveiling of the plaque by Em Marshall , founder of the English Music Festival and Chair of the Ralph Vaughan Williams Society, in the morning, seen here - and a booked out concert in the evening.

It was a delight to see Shirehampton Hall celebrating its historic past in such lively form; and a big congratulations must go to all those who spent so long in organising and planning this superb event.

The sun shines on Shire's Big Picnic

At 11.55am, things were looking a bit ropey. The sky was threatening rain, and the only sign of anyone coming to Shire's Big Picnic was a mum with a pushchair some way off, and a dog walker.

But I needn't have worried. Pretty soon, local residents were flooding down to the Lamplighters land in Shirehampton to unfurl their picnic rugs for a peaceful demonstration against the Council's possible plans, under their Parks and Green Spaces Strategy, to put The Daisy Field and Lamplighters Land up for building development.

Over 250 people turned up to Shire's Big Picnic, which is a formidable demonstration of just how much this land is valued by the people in Shirehampton. And sitting there on the grass beside the river, it is easy to see why. This land is one of Bristol's beauty spots. For most cities, this area would be the jewel in their crown. It would be madness to build over it.

It was also very good to see people of all ages sitting down together as a community. Shire's Big Picnic demonstrated that although good facilities for play are important, with just a picnic rug, a bit of food and the company of your friends, family and neighbours, a wonderful day can be had by all.

Lots of people have said to me that Shire's Big Picnic should become an annual event. I am hoping that our campaigning will safeguard this land so Shire's Big Picnic can become a stapel part of the local calendar for many years to come.

If you would like to do your bit to protect the Daisy Field and Lamplighters Land from building development, please sign Cllr. Siobhan Kennedy-Hall's petition HERE

Giving the public the real say on the future of Shire's green spaces

Last night I was at a meeting discussing the future of Shirehampton's Daisy Field and part of the Lamplighters land under the Council's Parks and Green Spaces Strategy. That's the strategy whereby areas of land are identified as 'low value', sold off for housing, in order to enhance remaining areas.

The hoards of people pictured here, however, are not the meeting. They are members of the public who were unable to get into the meeting - and to whom an unfortunate council officer gave an impromptu talk and took questions.

For a full version of what happened, read my Daily Mail blog HERE

But in short the whole thing has ignited great public anger -

1. Because asking the people of Shirehampton to sell off the green space they have left in order to 'enhance' the rest with things like sports facilities and a swimming pool, when there is the scar of the demolished old pool, and the mausoleum of the derelict Robin Cousins centre down the road seems to many absurd to the point of being insulting.

2. Trying to alleviate the public's concern about democratic procedure by asking the public to wait until the formal public consultation to put forward their views does not help: People in Shirehampton have objected in the strongest possible terms to so many decisions about their community to apparently no avail, that , as one lady put it, people wonder "What kind of public objection would it take to change decisions under consultation?"

3. In all the opinion gaining exercises the Council is conducting as to what people in Shirehampton want done with their green space, the overwhelming and simple answer is "Please, please just leave it alone! but reopen our closed facilities and maintain our land better". That's the answer. But it doesn't seem to be sinking in...

If you feel strongly about this issue, you can sign a petition online against the designation of The Daisy Field and Lamplighters land as 'low value' by clicking HERE.

Resurrection for Shire's Tithe Barn

It's become a familiar story: Despite local protest, historic sites of enormous local interest get sold off to become yet more blocks of flats. The property developers move in, and gone is a unique heart of a local community - forever.

So it really is a burst of fresh-air when an historic community facility gets bought - not by property developers, but by a community group who want to pump new life back into it, for the community.

That's exactly what's happened with Shire's Tithe Barn. It has been bought from Bristol Charities by the PCC of St.Mary's Church, Shirehampton.

The Barn was opened for the first time in ages, to hold an open day for local people to come in and have an input into how they would like to see The Tithe Barn renovated and put to use.

I escaped from some arduous pre-local election leaflet delivery to have a look round and to have a chat with the dynamic Rev. Canon Christine Froude, vicar of St. Mary's church. She is hoping that the barn will be used to host a variety of community outreach initiatives, including social events, clubs, advice services and counselling, as well as additional church services for the ever growing congregation of St.Mary's.

Good luck - It will be a refreshing to have new additional facilities coming into Shirehampton, instead of watching yet more get stripped away.

Leukemia Research Charity Football Match

We couldn't have asked for better weather for the charity football match for Leukemia Research, on Sunday at the Port of Bristol Sports and Social Club. The event was organised largely thanks to Liz and Phil Radford and their dedicated team of helpers and was a huge success. Matches took place throughout the day , with the winning team playing an all-star cast of celebrity footballers, including our very own Geoff Twentyman.

But it wasn't all about football. There were refreshments (including superb home-made curry) and the stall was so busy that I was drafted in to help out. Though I'm not sure that 'help' is what the organisers might have called it...

We are still waiting to hear how much we raised, but a huge congratulations to everyone who made it such an enjoyable, and successful day.

Football is more than just a game

I went up to London for the day yesterday to visit The Football Foundation and The Premier League, to see if they can offer any help to Shirehampton Football Club. Here's me, slightly overwhelmed, with the English Premiership Cup.

Apart from the high-light of seeing the cup, we had an interesting meeting. As expected, there's a lot more work to do to see how they can best help. But while I was there, Alistair Bennett from the Football Foundation ( left) and Dan Johnson from the Premier League ( right) told me about some of the social inclusion work that they do through football.

It's all really simple. If young people are doing something they can engage with and become good at, it changes every aspect of their lives. They told me about one of their boys who was a young offender. He got into football, now earns money coaching his local club and goes back to his old estate as a powerful role model for boys and girls growing up as he did.

I sometimes worry that as the credit crunch bites, schemes like this that use sport ( or music, or drama or anything like that ) will get sidelined. That would be a very false economy. It costs thousands to keep a young offender locked up, and in their lifetime they will cost society hundreds of thousands through lost potential earnings and episodes with the criminal justice system. Social inclusion through sport is not a fun optional-extra. It really works. And as we tighten our purse strings for the future, it makes more sense than ever before.

Almost the final installment?

You're not going to be given the chance to get bored of seeing pictures of the ever-developing new Avonmouth National Smelting Boxing Club... because it's almost done.

Ash Bearman, from the superb community group SCAF, Garry Cave the coach and I are standing in the almost-completed new gym. It's got a training ring, punch bags and weights equiptment all installed. All that's needed now is a few finishing touches here and there, some mirrors so the space can be used for other activities like dance and aerobics - and it will be done.

Worth bearing in mind: In the time it's taken for Garry to fundraise and build an entire brand new gym from scratch ... despite all the campaigning, the Government quango The Highways Agency and Bristol City Council STILL haven't come to an agreement on opening the Robin Cousins Centre...

TS Cafe - putting the 'T' into, er, tea

Starbucks may be losing megabucks, but TS Cafe, on the high street in Shirehampton, just opposite the bus stop on the triangle was crammed full when I went in for a sneaky cup of tea before a SCAF meeting today.

And little wonder. The cafe offers a wide range of food from proper hot dinners to breakfasts and salads in a clean and friendly environment at really reasonable prices.

Shirehampton has been stripped of so many community facilities in recent years - and shutters are going up on so many of the stores in the high street - including of course, Woolworths. It is hugely encouraging to see a business like TS Cafe doing so well, and justifiably so.

Keep it up, TS Cafe team!

Count-Down to Christmas kicked off in style

Christmas began yesterday. It began with a flurry of Christmas fayres and for me, culminated in the glorious SCAF Christmas Dinner at Kingsweston House.

The evening began with mulled wine and carols in the main hall, before we sat down to a meal of pate and toast, and a very full Christmas dinner buffet. You couldn't find better surroundings, and the whole thing cost just £15, thanks to the generosity of Kingsweston House, and their support for the community. Kingsweston House is one of the jewels of Bristol's heritage. It is easy to forget what an amazing piece of history sits on our doorsteps, and looking at the extraordinary restoration job that John Hardy, the owner, has done, easy to forget how close the house came dereliction in 1995.

The wonderful evening, and the venue, also marked a fitting end to another year of tireless work from Ash Bearman, David Thomas and all those who make SCAF such a proactive community organisation.

Lamplighters Roast - one of Bristol's best kept secrets

...If you carry on down Hung road, on the south side of the Portway, you find the superb Lamplighters Pub.

There's something a bit other-worldly about the Lamplighters as you walk down to it - it's so unexpected and has an aura of real history about it. And as you walk outside, you find yourself over looking the mudflats of the estuary, fishing boats, and the club house of Shirehampton Sailing Club.

But they also do a really superb roast - pictured, steaming away merrily, here. Its so good, you'll note my eyes have turned red with anticipation. No mean slices of meat, they serve a half chicken, dripping in gravy, with all sorts of veg, and two kinds of potatoes. And as I was ordering, the bar staff brought bowels of Yorkshire pud bits out as bar snacks for customers.

As we all become ever more health conscious, I commend to you the health values of the great British Roast - full of protein, and I should think this plate contains a hefty proportion of my 5-a-day. Healthy eating doesn't have to be depressing looking salads, as this meal shows. Our great British roast is as healthy a meal as any! Long may it reign in our pubs!

5-nil at home... but Shirehampton F.Cs got potential for more...

This is the house that Jack built.

Well, not Jack. And it's not a house. It's the Shire F.C clubhouse. And Jack didn't build it. Pete McCall did, ( pictured, on the right) with some help from others in the club, ( Like Mark Stockham, on my left) and some friends who helped provide the decking, and wives who helped advise on what nice ladies toilets look like!

It would have taken a council many fathoms of paper-work and planning to build something like this. Members of Shire F.C did it in a fraction of the time, for a fraction of the cost, with no payment, in their own time. Impressive and really quite humbling that people should give up so much of their time and resources to build facilities for the younger generation. It really sets the standard for the rest of us.

When I went to see the club play at home, it was a lovely autumn day ( one of the ones we should have had in August) and Shire F.C annihilated the opposition 5-nil. We celebrated with BBQ-ed burgers ( left over from the dismal summer) and a beer on the decking outside the club in the late autumn sun.

The club has got so much going for it - a dynamic welcoming group of club-members supporting it, superb club-house and facilities, lovely grounds, and it's one of the few community amenities still left to Shirehampton now. But as the chairman Pete, Mark and Kelvin, the club president told me, they want to take the club to the next level. Floodlights, for example would enable them to compete on a different level all together.

This is a group with ambition, a vision for Shire and its youth, who deserve masses of support.