The magazine story summary:
The Mead magazine began production in 2004. The production team was made up of community volunteers with support from Bristol City Council. It was delivered to 5,000 homes, street by street, by a team of delivery volunteers.
By 2022 funding was no longer available and so the Board of Trustees from Southmead Development Trust agreed to sponsor and produce editions in the absence of a volunteer group.
2,000 copies are currently produced and distributed to public community locations such as the library and schools.
Items for the magazine are contributed by Southmead Residents, workers, and anyone who wants to connect with our community.
This website:
The first phase of this website was designed with grants from Bristol City Council’s Wellbeing fund and the Southmead Fourteen Fund – both given to the Southmead Development Trust.
The second phase for the website was designed with a second grant from the Southmead Fourteen Fund awarded to a community volunteer group.
The website you see now is reduced site – an info page about the magazine – with links to past editions of the magazine. It is a scaled down version from the previous sites which carried a whole community ‘What’s On’ calendar and digital copies of all news.
Since the COVID pandemic
Pre-pandemic The Mead website and The Mead monthly printed edition were run by volunteers and costs were met by advertising revenue.
During the pandemic volunteers paused production, and printing costs increased by around 50% making production unaffordable. After popular demand for the printed edition to re-start, in 2022 Southmead Development Trust’s Board of Trustees agreed to ensure the magazine would keep running on a temporary basis by sponsoring printing costs and including production in its workflow.
Reaching offline residents via The Mead magazine
Whether you are a resident, worker or community group, sharing your news, events and articles in The Mead magazine means you reach offline residents in one of the least digitally connected communities in the City.
If you would like support to write and submit your item to The Mead magazine please email: communitydev@southmead.org, or call: 0117 950 3335 and leave a message.
Organisations can buy book and buy space in the magazine – click for all info >here
Contact details:
- email: themead@southmead.org
- tel: 0117 950 3335 (Greenway Centre)
Info on this page updated: spring 2026