25 Jan

Bridgwater Town Council sets its ‘Devolution Budget’

Town Council Leader Brian Smedley outlines budget for 2023-24

On the 19 January 2023, Bridgwater Town Council set  its budget for 2023-24 consisting net spending plans to a total of £1,478,332, with a precept (element of the council tax) request of £1,153,746 has been made to the new Somerset Council, the Collecting Authority. Town Clerk David Mears said “Your annual Council Tax charge is built up by the annual charges of Somerset Council generic, Somerset Council Adult Social Care, Bridgwater Town Council (or your local town/parish council), Devon and Somerset Fire Authority, Somerset Rivers Authority, and the Police and Crime Commissioner for Avon and Somerset. The Council Tax charge relating to Bridgwater Town Council for 2023-2 will be £112.05 a year based on a Band D property and is the one of lowest of the council tax charges of all the major towns in Somerset. In fact, the only other towns with a lower Band D equivalent figure are Taunton and Wellington The annual charge equates to £1.57 per week per Band D equivalent household. The overriding reason for the increase in the council tax is the increase in energy costs on Town Council owned buildings which has increased by £177,000.”

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28 Nov

Gala Concert for Ukraine

Ukraine Gala at the Art Centre on Friday 2nd December

On Friday 2nd December there will be a gala concert to raise funds for Ukraine relief at the Bridgwater Arts Centre. The show will cost £10 and there will be Ukrainian food, music , dance and film. The aim is to inform people about the situation in the Ukraine , to understand the culture and history of the people and to raise awareness and crucially funds. The event will start at 8pm but doors will open from 7pm. Tickets are on sale now from the venue and on line.

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23 Nov

South Bridgwater Pantry celebrates two years of fighting food waste and tackling hunger

Hamp Councillors Leigh Redman and Liz Leavy with South Bridgwater Pantry in background on Rhode Lane

On Friday, 25th November, the South Bridgwater Local Pantry celebrates two years of fighting food waste and tackling hunger. One of six pantries dotted across the county, the South Bridgwater Local Pantry opened its doors for the first time two year ago.  Now, the pantry now has fifty members, an increase from the original thirty and has helped 183 households.  Many of these families have gone on to support themselves or into paid work. Cllr Leigh Redman (Bridgwater, Hamp) was a founder supporter and fellow councillor Liz Leavy (Mayor of Bridgwater) are long standing volunteers. Leigh says  “With the dissolvement of SDC, Hamp Community Association (HCA) are looking to take the pantry on, we already operate as a bank for them, holding and generating cheques, we hope they can be a sub committee off of the community association. The pantry in South Bridgwater is based in Hamp and run by Becky & Terri, two amazing local ladies who volunteer to keep the service running.”

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17 Nov

Bridgwater Aid Lorry to Leave for Ukraine This Saturday

Lorry bound for Ukraine ready to leave Bridgwater

Bridgwater people have been inundating the Town Hall with donations for the latest Ukrainian relief lorry which will leave from the town this Saturday 19th November taking much needed supplies to the frontline of the war with Russia in Kharkiv. Town Council Leader Cllr Brian Smedley says “We have been overwhelmed by the generous response from the people of Bridgwater. But we expected this. We now ask for a pause in donations  to thew town hall as we see how the situation develops over the winter period. The people have been bringing sleeping bags, torches, medicines, thermals, coats and gloves by the bag load and we’ve stored them at the Town Hall throughout but now they’re ready to go, and that’s directly to the people who need them in the newly liberated areas of Ukraine. We’d like to thank everybody for their generosity because we know that Bridgwater people share this common decency and sense of solidarity. especially in the face of the horrors that have fallen into the lands of the Ukraine.”

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14 Nov

Red, Black and White – Poppies Unite

Poppies, like people, of many colours

Remembrance Day is a big date on the civic calendar. First observed in 1919 it was designed to commemorate Armistice Day -11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, in 1918 when the guns ‘fell silent’ at the end of the Great War. Of course the guns never fell silent and the Great War just became known to history as the ‘First World War’ soon to be followed by a ‘Second’ and thereafter by many more to this very day and probably beyond. At Kings Square in Bridgwater well over 100 people attended what is always a crisp sunny day to lay wreaths of red poppies on the cenotaph, listen to ‘Jerusalem’ , the ‘Kohima epitaph’ and the ‘last post’ followed by a lowering of banners, a bugle call and a raising of banners ready for the next one. The square is always full of youth in uniforms upon whose shoulders ‘the next one’ will fall. But if you look closely at the King Square monument this year you won’t just see red poppies you’ll also spot a couple of white ones and  newly laid, for the first time ever, a ‘black one’. What does this all mean?

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