Whichever way you look our community’s really got it going on. There are so many groups of residents meeting – encouraging togetherness, connectedness, and a passion for where we live and work.
On the centre pages of The Mead there’s a huge list of things to join in with. From exercise, knitting, Indian Dancing and Line Dancing, to drama, job searching, and supporting your health and well-being. The entire community calendar is also on the website if you prefer to read it online.
There are kids’ activities at the Ranch, sessions for teens at the Youth Centre, inclusion groups and faith meetings at Southmead Community Centre, and at the Greenway Centre a wide range of classes and community project meet ups. Our churches are also home to public activities, like the toddler group at St Stephen’s, the Southmead Quiz at United Reformed Church, and coffee mornings at Pentecostal.
Our community meetings include: BS10 Parks and Planning (keeping tabs on the land around us); Team Southmead (no issue too big or small!); Inclusion Southmead (focussing on community accessibility); Friends of Southmead Library (keeping it on the books!); Friends of Badock’s Wood (protecting our precious nature reserve); and our local Councillor Surgeries (to keep Southmead on the City Hall agenda). Support for many of our groups comes from charities working in partnership with us, such as Southmead Development Trust, Southmead Community Association, and the Southmead Project; each are steered by Trustees who are residents, and each are supported by community volunteers.
No-one knows our community like we do, and no-one can effect change like we can ourselves. Southmead’s community action areas were identified by residents in the Southmead Community Plan five years ago. Made by us, for us, the Plan lists an ambitious range of resident powered ambitions. One was better community communication and The Mead has striven to improve this. But with 12,000 residents registered within our official (and invisible) ward boundaries alone, and hundreds of others who call Southmead home, we wonder how many residents are still out of the community info loop and still might not know how much is going on.
Can you help us with our mission to reach everyone? Can you help to spot isolated residents – the alone and often the lonely – and pop a copy of The Mead through their letterbox? And can you spread the word that every meeting, gathering, club, class or congregation can be listed in The Mead for free?
The way to get something on The Mead pages is to submit an item via the website – it’s an open, self-publishing system for news, memories, events and notices, as well as photos. We will then help you to share your item and if there’s enough space it will be included in the bi-monthly paper version, produced specifically for those who do not read online. Could you offer to type up an item for someone who doesn’t use a computer?
If you can help or show your support, please do get in touch. Email us: info@themead.org.uk. If you prefer to speak on the phone, just leave a message and we’ll call you back – the Reception staff at the Greenway Centre kindly pass on messages to us – ring 0117 950 3335.
Lastly, if you enjoy The Mead please tell us why. Or if you have suggestions for improvements please let us know. Thank you.
