Up Our Street Autumn 2019

LOCAL NEWS
Good report for city academy
City Academy in Lawrence Hill is celebrating
following an OFSTED visit in April. The school
has been rated good in all areas by the
inspectors, a real turnaround from the last
report in 2015. Up Our Street spoke to school
principal Jon Angell.
“The inspectors recognised the unique context
that we work in, and spent time understanding
the challenges that the school faces, meeting
the needs of an incredibly diverse population.
50% of pupils have English as an additional
language, and around 30% went to primary
school in another country. Ofsted were really
impressed with how we support those students,
particularly with language support.”
“I would also like to thank the parents who have
chosen City Academy for their children and
supported the school.”
NEW shared electric taxi service
helps patients sing
Liz from Esoterix got in touch with Up Our Street
to tell us about WeGo, a new shared taxi service
that’s helping patients with chronic-pulmonary
disease to attend a singing group in Barton Hill.
“Singing helps the group exercise their lungs and
lift their spirits. The service uses an electric-taxi
so their journeys have a minimal effect on air
pollution too,” says Liz.
“The singing group organiser books the
journeys on the behalf of the patients and
WeGo sends them text messages with their
pick up time. The taxi then picks them up from
home and drops them at Wellspring Healthy
Living Centre. The service is a vital link for these
patients, many of whom rely on WeGo to get
them to the weekly group.”
“I don’t drive and I can’t walk far. Without WeGo,
I wouldn’t be able to go to the singing group”,
said one of the singers. “Martin [the driver] is
lovely, always smiling”, said another.
WeGo is a shared transport service available
for community events in Ashley, Easton and
Lawrence Hill as part of the REPLICATE project.
If you’re involved with a community group and
you’d like to find out about using WeGo for your
wellbeing events, please get in touch with Liz
Davidson via wego@esoterix.co.uk
NAME the bridge!
Friends of Bannerman
Road want to say a big
thank you to everyone
who took part in the poll
to name the bridge at the
junction of All Hallows
and Albion Road. “We
had a fantastic response,
and are delighted to
announce that the winner
is… Frog Marsh! This is the
historic name for this area
of Easton, which was called Frog Marsh until
around 1950 when it became known as Lower
Easton.
Construction to close the road under the bridge
to traffic has now started. The new pedestrian
and cycle friendly space was designed by
artist Bahbak Hashemi Nezhad and children
at Bannerman Road Community Academy. It
was developed in response to feedback from
local residents who asked that the area be safe,
support the community, create togetherness,
and increase opportunities for outdoor activity.
Friends of Bannerman Road will be launching
this new community asset with a celebratory
event, so look out for details and please get
in touch if you have ideas or would like to be
involved. For further information, please email
bannermanroadpta@gmail.com.
New home for community kitchen
After a lot of searching, Coexist Community
Kitchen is delighted to have found a new home
at Mivart Studios in Easton. The future for the
organisation looked uncertain when they had
to move out of Hamilton House on Stokes Croft
at the end of last year. It had been their base for
eight years to run cookery classes and pop-up
events, working with people who for a variety of
reasons find themselves marginalised in society.
Up Our Street spoke to Ari, one of the founders
of the kitchen. “We learn how to connect when
we eat together,” she says simply. “We create a
warm and friendly environment where we cook
together but most importantly eat together.”
Although the kitchen has been without a
permanent base this year, they have continued
to run classes in venues around the city. They
have also successfully raised £25,000 through a
crowdfunding campaign, and now the hard work
begins to build the new kitchen in Easton, which
(fingers crossed!) will open in October.
Find out about volunteering with Coexist
Community Kitchen on Facebook or email
food@coexistuk.org
St Marks road shortlisted for
BEST STREET award
St Marks Road in Easton has been shortlisted
as one of the best streets in the UK in the 2020
Urbanism Awards. The annual awards, which
are organised by the Academy of Urbanism,
aim to “celebrate and learn from great place
making.” A panel of judges from the Academy of
Urbanism visited St Marks Road in the summer
to meet local traders and representatives
from the church, the mosque and community
organisations.
Lead assessor, Alistair Barr said, “We only look
at three streets every year, so you’re already
on the winner’s podium.” The winners will be
announced at the Urbanism Awards in London
on 27 November.
police station: UNDER offer
Trinity Road Police Station is up for sale, but
Avon and Somerset police hope to keep a small
police station as part of the redevelopment of
the site. A police spokesperson said:
“In response to requests from the local
community during the consultation on the sale
and redevelopment of the current Trinity Police
Station site, the Police Crime Commissioner
has recognised the desire for a police facility to
be retained in the Old Market area. This was a
key consideration during the recent process of
assessing and selecting the preferred bidder to
redevelop the site.
The first phase of that process has now
concluded and a preferred developer has been
chosen in principle. Negotiations with the
preferred developer around how the police
facility will be retained is still in the very early
stages so we cannot comment in any detail at
this time. We hope to be in a position to update
the community later in August.”
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LOCAL NEWS
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