Litter pick

On Saturday 16th May there will be a litter pick at the Carrs Woodland nature reserve in Twerton. All are welcome to join in for the morning - meet at Walwyn Close at 10am. Volunteers will be provided with equipment and refreshments.

Community barbecue

A free barbecue will be held by Christian City Church at Roseberry Road (near the Windsor Bridge), on Saturday 30th May from 2pm to 3.30pm. The barbecue is organised as an event that local community agencies can refer their clients to.

Once a month on a Saturday, Christian City Church will be holding similar events. These will also include art workshops and practical skills classes either for adults or children. For more information telephone 07878 736546.

Photos

Some photos of the fire service attending a shed fire in Whiteway have been sent in by Mr John Rawlings. We hope nobody minds these being shown. You can see another photo here.

Joe, 13/05/09

Healthy Living Week ended on Saturday with a celebration at Bath City Farm. An obstacle course was assembled for the children, to see who could get around it the fastest. There was also fruit bug making - putting together a model insect out of bits of fruit and veg. The deal is you have to eat your fruit bug after you've made it, so it's best to avoid using the raw brocoli.

On display was a papier-mache pig made by children during an Easter play session at the farm. It is used as a collection box to raise £1,000 to buy a saddle-back pig with the distinctive black patches. The farm already breeds Tamworth pigs. Saddle-back and Tamworth pigs are both old breeds. The farm is a long way off reaching the £1,000 target however.

Joe, 10/05/09

Last night's PACT meeting in Twerton had the best attendance for a long time, with at least 40 residents turning up to discuss local issues. The numbers were encouraging and it's good to see residents passing on their local knowledge of the area.

A PACT begins with an overview of what action has been taken regarding priorities raised at the previous meeting. It was anounced that Clearsprings will no longer be using a property in Redland Park as a hostel for offenders. A neighbour to the property said that the situation around the hostel had been quiet lately.

Environmental Manager Bruce Bennett said that there had been a clear up of ground by the railway arch leading into Twerton High Street. He hopes to secure funds to install a bench and plant some shrubs there. A litter pick is to take place in Carrs Woodland on 16th May.

Val Rowlands gave an update on The Hut Creche since the Council decided to stop funding this service. The creche is open and staff are seeking funding from other sources. A charity has offered some funds but the creche is still drawing from Bath Area Play Project reserves. One option would be to become a preschool facility so that the creche fits the criteria for Council funding. But that could have drawbacks such as increased fees and no places for children under 18 months.

There was a discussion of the derelict buildings at Pennyquick View. Their demolition has been hindered by bats that are roosting inside. As bats are protected species, Somer Housing has to negotiate with Natural England on how to move forward with the demolition.

A 2 metre hoarding is due to be constructed all around Pennyquick View on 12th May, to prevent further vandalism and stop the raiding of materials. PC Adrian Secker assured residents that police do patrol that area. A detatched youth worker said that there are plans to get local young people to paint a mural on the hoarding facing Pennyquick Park. The state of the fencing at Redland Park was also raised as an issue.

Some residents from Redland Park made complaints about refuse collectors not picking up spilled rubbish and people putting out rubbish before the collection is due. We were told that when you see this happen you should ring Council Connect on 01225 477477. Multiple people pressing for action can bring about change.

There were also complaints of fly tipping at Redland Park and it was suggested that the cost of having large items taken away was a factor. People living in blocks of flats can put unwanted furniture in the bin room and have it taken away for free, which was seen as unfair. At the last meeting a communal skip at Redland park had been asked for but no progress has been made on that priority.

Then we moved on to talking about traffic issues, with people complaining of speeding cars in Newton Road, Kelston View and elsewhere, as well as young people speeding on motorbikes and using motorbikes through alleyways in Redland Park. There was an idea that grasscrete could be fitted to protect grass where cars get parked by Pennyquick Park at Newton Road. The grasscrete is a durable substance with holes that allow the grass to come up through.

Issues to do with Twerton High Street concerned traffic not stopping at the zebra crossing and the hazardous corner for vehicles turning right at the top of Connection Road (opposite the Full Moon Pub). There were concerns that the new BMX bike track at Pennyquick Park might be used for motorbikes, although this has not happened on similar tracks around Bath.

Firefighter Mark Searle said that the fire service is fitting free smoke alarms in homes and setting up a road skills project for 17 to 24 year-olds. People should contact the fire service if they see a potential fire hazard such as an abandoned vehicle that could be set alight.

At the end of the discussions it was possible to group concerns into 3 main themes. So the panel will be looking at: 1) Speeding cars and motorbikes; 2) Regular communal skips and fencing; 3) Grasscrete by Pennyquick Park and cars parked on yellow lines.

Joe, 08/05/09

Healthy Living Week is well underway with healthy activities to do each day in South West Bath. Yesterday the Southside Food Co-op was inviting people to sample some homemade vegetable soup outside the Time Bank in Twerton High Street.

This demonstartion showed people the kind of recipes you can put together when you order bags of fresh organic vegetables from the Southside Food Co-op. Folk were given the recipe so that they knew how to make it for themselves. I've added it to the Articles section here.

Joe, 07/05/09

Each year when the Bath Flower Show is held at Victoria Park, the folk from Bath City Farm set up their own marquis tent alongside the other displays. When I visited on Sunday I somehow expected the Bath City Farm tent to be full of flowers.

Instead, there were lots of things to give you more of an idea of what the farm is all about. Laura the Farm Manager and Kedric the Community Farmer were there, together will other familiar faces and some of the farm animals. Room had been found for baby chicks, ducklings, hens, a ram and a couple of goats.

Bath City Farm is trying to raise £1,000 to buy a saddle-back pig - an old breed that has a black patch across it's back, so there was a display board telling you about that. The information desk had some examples of eggs laid by chickens and ducks on the farm. These come in different sizes and colours depending on the variety of bird.

Teams from organisations that care for the environment were given space to do their own displays in the Bath City Farm tent. The organisation Transition Bath, which is keen to lower our dependence on coal, oil and gas, set up a bicycle attached to a dynamo to demonstrate how much energy we each consume. And a Council recycling team showed how you can recyle newspaper at home by turning it into seed pots.

I made a video clip of the display which you can see here.

Joe, 04/05/09