Happy Halloween from The Giant Goram!

Happy Halloween and thank you to Dawn, Kim and all at The Giant Goram Pub, Lawrence Weston, for making me so wickedly welcome!

Help Rebuild Lawrence Weston Football Club's Clubhouse!

Only red-tape is  stopping this lot rebuilding their club-house...

"They get burnt down, but they get up again..."  But they are getting very fed up with it. And with good cause. Their club's been burnt down twice in nine years.

Each time they've had to rebuild it, but this time, it turns out the Council under-insured the property and they can't get the club-house they need rebuilt.

Another sting in the tail is that because they used their initiative and put up a temporary club, (portacabins) which has now been there for several years, the Council is under less pressure to cut through the red tape to rebuild their club for them. 

And if that wasn't enough, the final sting is that there is more than enough expertise, willingness and resource for the club members to rebuild their club themselves, at a fraction of the cost it would take through all the council-methods.  It's red-tape madness at its worst. True, some council officers have been doing their best to help - but that's been some years now and to be honest, it's just madness that they haven't been able to build their club house. 

This is a superb club, which is about so much more than just football - it is a hub of the community, full of great people, bringing everyone together.  Please sign our petition  to , er, focus minds, in the Council for sorting this disgrace out.  This year, it's the club's 20th Anniversary. Read more about it in The Post  What better way to celebrate 20 years than have the Council cut through it's lunatic red-tape, and help this club get their club-house rebuilt.

Never let it be said that the club is not hugely hospitable! Even to MPs.

Kings Weston House - Open Doors and resurrection

Before..(skanky with scaffold).. After (beautiful honey-gold walls glint..)

Open Doors Bristol is a very special day, and it's very hard to feel like you've made the most of it.

This year, I decided to do a few things 'well', and a highlight was Kings Weston House, so beautifully restored by Norman Routledge and his team - especially Kings Weston Action Group and the incredible David Martyn.

Who said Graffiti was 'new' ? this is (genuinely, I'm told)from 1789. Krazye.

As you can see, Norman has cleaned the house off to gleam in its former glory. It makes such a huge difference and it is striking how the 'scraping off' of recent history ( er, grime ) has given new life to the real, old , period history that has been stifled underneath it for all these years. That's what I love about what  Norman is doing for Kings Weston House. He understands that History is a living thing, not a fossil, and has struck the balance perfectly between respecting the core elements of what makes our past, and preserving them as key-stones of our future - and understanding how history is evolution itself, and that preserving things as you find them in aspic is nothing like retaining the historical character of a place that has been graffiti'd on since the 1700s... 

That's a VIEW. Wales and all that lies before it, from Kings Weston House Roof

Obviously best tea-view of all time

I'm hoping that English Heritage recognise the excellent work Norman and his team are doing on our beloved and historical landmark, and realise if it was not for Norman and people like him, so many of our beautiful historic buildings would have fallen into disrepair beyond redemption and been destroyed.

In some ways, I'm a really sadly typical Conservative - I love old things, and often question the unthinking assumption of 'progress' ( See my robust views earlier in this blog on how we have moved backwards in transport in this city, whilst wittering on about modernisation and progress!)  - but I also very much believe that we are living in 'History' and that todays actions are as important and as relevant as those of the past. In all the good work that English Heritiage does in helping people like Norman resurrect our building and our heritage, I hope they never make 'the best' the enemy of 'the good' - which is simply seeing our old, historic buildings thrive and take on a new role, personality and character in a new setting and a new era. After-all, changes and evolution like that are what make history. History hasn't ended. We're inescapably in it, every passing day and 'Open Doors'.

LDubstock - Woodstock, eat yer heart out

Despite quite torrential rain, LDubstock was a raging success - thank you so much to all the organisers for a really great evening! The music was superb, the wraps at the Chilli Van enormous, and the company superlative. Such as that below with our new(ish) Councillor Jason Budd, the infamous ( in a good way) Mark Pepper and Norman Routledge, who we have to thank for the glory of Kings Weston House.

Sheltering from the storm at LDubStock with beers and friends!

Policies that emerged from political discussions in the food queue include instituting a King ( or Queen) of Bristol ( there were several nominations for this post) and re-building the Bristol Wall.  I won't blog all of it as I'm sure the politically-correct amongst any readers this blog might attract may not be amused, but suffice to say it was brilliant to see so many friends - and make new ones - all in one place.
I was speaking to our local councillor, Wayne Harvey who was there with his brother Darren, and he told me he had met up with people he'd not seen for 15 years.  That's why communities that are built up around places like Lawrence Weston Football Club are so important - they bring people together.

Thanks again to all the organisers for a really wonderful afternoon and evening - now we need to get your club house rebuilt...

Swinging Sixties at Shirehampton's Christmas bash

There's always one, isn't there. Most people attending SCAF's superb annual Christmas Dinner at Kings Weston House on Saturday interpreted the theme 'Swinging Sixties' with a sophisticated nod to the decade - perhaps a slightly shorter skirt than usual, with knee-high boots, or a tasteful 'flower-power' motif in the button hole.

Not our elected Council representative for a ward that shall remain nameless- No. They entered into the swing of things in full wig-wearing style. But everyone was polite enough not to notice.

The SCAF Christmas dinner has become a real annual highlight. The picture here shows the braver guests of the evening attempting a group-version of The 12 Days Of Christmas karaoke style.

It is very good to see the whole community enjoying one of the hidden gems of Bristol - Kings Weston House. An historic beauty of a building, resurrected from the near-dead by John Hardy and his team.

Just the day before, Lord Heseltine had dropped in to see Kings Weston House on his way through Bristol and had admired the suspended staircase - one of just two of its kind in existence. Thankfully there were no luminous shirts or awful wigs in evidence on that occasion - but whether it's a grand event, or a more relaxed evening with the community and friends, Kings Weston House is always a unique, and wonderful venue.

Bangers and Lawrence Weston Community Farm

I'm tucking into these little beauties tonight. Honey and mustard sausages from Lawrence Weston Community Farm. It's good to know that the livestock for these sausages have had good, healthy lives with freedom to roam locally. The Farm run a meat club - produce from the farm. It's limited, so early ordering advised!





And this is what they turned into... The reason the mash is a bit green is not because I am a really appalling cook, but because there are leeks and onions and a bit of old left over cheddar in there. Proper job.

Post Office Closures? This Government ain't bovvered

What do we have to do to get the Government to listen?
Despite a massive protest march, over 1000 petition signatures, a full report which I submitted to Post Office Ltd, and literally hundreds of detailed consultation submissions from local residents, the Government is going ahead with its closure of Wellington Hill West Post Office, Northville Road in Filton, Middleton Road in Lawrence Weston and dozens of post offices across the city. The effect that this will have on local residents cannot be calculated.

During my campaign to save our local post offices I have spoken to so many people for whom their local post office is literally a life-line: The elderly who simply have no way of performing daily tasks without their local post office; the disabled who will not be able to make the difficult journey to their next nearest post office - and one war hero who told me how he had sacrificed everything for his country in the second world war and couldn't understand why the Government was stripping away his local amenities in his old age.

If those in charge of the consultation had actually talked to ordinary people and listened to how they would be effected, perhaps they would have reached a different decision. But as it is, it is hard to believe that the so-called 'consultation process' was little more than a PR exercise, and an excuse to go ahead with the closures regardless. The Government seems to be saying, like Catherine Tate's Lauren, 'Am I bovvered?'. No wonder people have lost faith in politics, and lost faith when the Government says it is going to 'listen'. What is particularly amazing is that our local Labour MP voted in favour of the closures in Parliament.

It is unlikely, however hard we exercise our democratic rights, that we are going to be able to reverse these disastrous decisions to close our post offices. But I for one will be looking more closely at the consultation process, and if there is any way we can challenge the decision on the basis that the consultation was flawed, you can be guaranteed we will do it. If you feel that you have evidence that the consultation process was flawed, please get in touch: charlotte@charlotteleslie.com or telephone: 0117 9736811

I would like to thank, once again, all those residents who campaigned so hard to keep our post offices open. It is testament to a failing regime that nobody seemed to listen. But that doesn't mean we will stop shouting.

Save our Post Offices!

This weekend I launched our campaign to save our post offices. A leak to the Evening Post reported that the post offices facing the axe in Bristol North West are Wellington Hill West, and Middleton Road.
Labour has already closed one in four post offices in Bristol North West, and is closing 2,500 around the country.

Labour's refusal to support post offices shows a complete lack of appreciation of what function a post office actually performs. Not only does it fulfill the obvious functions, but also provides a focal point for place for people to meet and chat - particularly the elderly.

I was out campaigning on Saturday, and I have lost count of the elderly people who told me they did not know what they would do if the post office closed. Cynics have asked what we would do differently - well, here's what!

Conservatives plan to:

• Give Sub-Post Offices more freedom to offer a wider range of business services
• Push for more Post Offices to be 'One Stop Shops'
• Encourage local Councils to open 'Council Counters' in local branches Allow the Post Office to work with carriers other than the Royal Mail
• Prevent the Royal Mail taking business away from sub-Post Offices by under-cutting the prices they can charge for postage

Post Watch have advised that the best way to make sure that our protest against the closure of these post offices to carries weight is for local people to submit comments on why, specifically, the post office should stay open.

TO SUBMIT YOUR SIGNATURE TO OUR PETITION, AND A COMMENT, VISIT THE CAMPAIGN WEBSITE WWW.SAVEPOSTOFFICES.COM

Respect for the past means looking to the future

The Conservative Council Group have stepped up to the mark and are showing real respect for Bristol's past. They have found a way to ensure that valuable community projects do not go without funding after the Government slashed the Neighbourhood Renewal Fund in areas like Southmead and Lawrence Weston.

Conservatives plan to use resources ringfenced for the Legacy Commision (funds to support all sorts of memorial activities to commemorate the end of slavery, over 200 years ago) to support community groups facing dramatic cuts. But amazingly the plan has faced opposition from Labour.

Councillor Peter Hammonds says the the Legacy Commission is supposed to " demonstrate the council's commitment to working with local communities". So I am amazed that Cllr. Peter Hammond (Lab, Southmead) and other Labour Councillors are against channeling resources into local projects. Why is Cllr. Hammond trying to prevent investment in valuable community initiatives under threat in his own ward?!

I've spoken to many people in Southmead and Lawrence Weston in particular who are worried about what the slashing in funding will mean to communities. So what better way to demonstrate the council's commitment to work with local communities than bolster vital local projects like The Northern Crescent Diversionary Activities , Summer Fun, SCART and Choosing Health in Southmead, and BS7 Youth and Play partnerships and tuition projects in Lawrence Weston?

It is vitally important to remember the atrocities that were committed during the slave trade in Bristol. But it is wrong to build a memorial to the dead at the expense of the living. The best way to show that we are collectively sorry for the appalling social injustices that took place in Bristol 200 years ago is to fight social injustice that exists today. That should be the first priority for any Council with a sense of the past, a respect for history and a vision for the future.