24hrs (ish) to apply to join the team👇

Still just about time to apply for👇. Deadline is 9am this Wednesday

Unexpected excitement on the way to the pub today while visiting friends in Bristol - a single pristine Green-winged Orchid on an unmown patch of modified grassland lawn in urban Easton. No records on the map and otherwise not even a Cowslip there! #WildflowerHour

It takes a minute and might make a difference.

Any action to ban pavement parking has to be a good thing.

Pavements are for pedestrians.

Banning pavement parking is amongst the biggest things you could do to make my neighbourhood safer, more child-friendly and welcoming for people walking & wheeling.

I signed this👇

A really easy process. Took me about half a minute. Everyone in the UK please consider doing this.

The fertility rituals of the Blackheath Morris Men “You’re never more than 20 feet from a Morris dancer in London!”

“You’re never more than 20 feet from a Morris dancer in London!” interrupts a man.

He is wearing a canary-yellow pinstriped suit and has brought his own pewter tankard from which to drink his beer.

But then, “You can’t listen to me, I just make things up.”

www.newstatesman.com/this-england...

Seaham cafe living room project tackling loneliness Staff say the free weekly event it is strengthening community spirit.

Lovely stuff.

“This space is about bringing people together in the simplest, most human way - a warm room, a friendly face and a change to belong.”

“Knowing there's a free, friendly space where you can just turn up and have a cuppa and a chat means a lot."

Great tip, thank you

Lots of interesting pieces in👇, as usual for @ippr.org’s Progressive Review

Suspect many ppl following me will appreciate this from Anna Coote (@neweconomics.bsky.social) arguing ‘abundance’ should mean sufficiency: everyone having what the need to survive & flourish (the ‘everyday necessities’)

Great tip, thank you - I’d been a bit worried about this!

Thanks, that’s our plan! A few people have mentioned it has been tricky to get their electric bikes serviced/repaired. Is this often an issue and/or something that only applies to certain brands?

Cheers Mark, this is all really useful. Will see if we can make it to the event in June

Thanks, this is a really helpful guide

Reading the guides now, very helpful & clear

Thank you!

Right, we’ve managed to rent a small garage nearby so we can give an e-cargo bike a go for ferrying 2 kids (mostly) & stuff (sometimes) around. What do I need to know/think about when considering which ones to try? Who has written the most useful guide to UK e-cargo bikes? Recommendations welcome 🙏

Want to help make hope louder than hate?

Sign the UK’S biggest ever thank you card to the people that make hope happen - and help celebrate that there is more that connects us than divides us.

millionactsofhope.org

#MillionActsOfHope

Photo of a top trumps case. The set is focused on British Wildlife and made in partnership with the National Trust

Picked these up for my 4yr old from a charity shop and they’ve been a hit. Top marks to @nationaltrust.org.uk for partnering with Top Trumps to make something that can get a kid this enthusiastic about the Common Blenny.

Statement: Isolated case should not obscure the reality for LGBTQI asylum seekers LGBTQI people fleeing persecution face immense challenges when claiming asylum - we cannot let isolated cases of fraud obscure this reality. #changingLGBTQiLives

Following today's news coverage, our friends at @microrainbow.org have released an important response to the misconception that large numbers of people are falsely claiming asylum on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.

You can read it here 👇

microrainbow.org/isolated-cas...

This is excellent & hopeful👇

Recommend giving it a listen and adding Bridging Divides to your subscriptions

Reflects much of what we do at Bridges for Communities as well as my experience hosting citizens’ juries - people value opportunities to connect across difference & it shapes their attitudes

Café Hope - A chair for chats - BBC Sounds How one man is trying to reduce loneliness by encouraging strangers to chat at a pub table

Good Cafe Hope episode on the inspiration behind the Empty Chairs movement and how it is helping tackle loneliness. Love the simplicity of this idea.

In pubs across the UK, volunteers in bright orange hoodies wait at tables with a few chairs left free for anyone who needs it to sit down and chat.

Some worrying new data from the ONS today.

- Healthy Life Expectancy in the most deprived areas has *fallen* for both men and women, compared to both 2019 and 2021 data

- Life Expectancy in the most deprived areas has still not recovered since COVID

It always trips me out thinking about the hidden spaces, channels and passageways beneath my feet as I wander around town.

The Frome is a particularly weird one - a river covered over and hidden from view, suddenly appearing in the floating harbour.

One week left to apply👇

This ⬇️ in every focus group feelings of insecurity, cost of living crisis, “not living, just surviving” dominate and it’s clearly not because theyre misled by the media as some allege - they’re talking about actual cut backs/degredations in quality of life they’ve made in spite of “the data”

The UK could make migrants wait up to 20 years before becoming settled – making it one of the longest waits in the world New proposals would introduce a 10-year ‘baseline’ for settlement, with refugees and benefits claimants facing the highest wait times.

“… migration policies which make migrants’ status temporary make them less likely to integrate. In particular, a study on Denmark found that making permanent residence harder to obtain for refugees reduced the chances of them being employed… the opposite of what the government wanted.”

Bristol kids get sunny powered lessons - Energy Live News Rooftop solar to be rolled out at three schools as part of push to cut bills in public sector

"Bristol is pushing ahead with plans to cut energy costs in public buildings, with a new solar rollout targeting schools and community sites.

"Five locations including three schools, a children’s centre and the M Shed museum will get rooftop solar over the coming months."

'The only way of getting through challenges of conflicts and rising costs is by acting together' The managing director of Bridges for Communities urges people to come together to tackle the root causes of division

Thanks @bristol247.bsky.social for publishing this piece ahead of Million Acts of Hope in May.

Division & conflict can feel like they dominate our news feeds and this campaign is an important reminder to celebrate the daily acts of kindness & connection that take place across Bristol, and beyond.

4 yr old looking out at the coast

Cheers for the inspiration, cracking walk with loads of bluebell woods en route to Saundersfoot. Dylan loved it