Bridge Ward News » groups in bridge ward

Congratulations to Hillside Primary

James Spencer — Sun, 06 Mar 2011 09:24:41 +0000

Congratulations are due to the pupils at Hillside Primary school who on Friday performed for the Prince of Wales at the Bury St Edmunds Theatre Royal.

This school is just down the road from me so it was lovely to see.

Let’s not forget what happened when Gordon Brown visited the Hillside Sure Start.

Bridge Ward Conservatives

James Spencer — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 05:23:12 +0000

The website for the Ipswich Conservative Association is (finally) up again. It’s a temporary site, although one useful change is the section for different wards, including a section for Bridge Ward.

When the cat’s away: What our councillors really think of us

James Spencer — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 15:05:49 +0000

Now I know that our absentee Labour Councillors are decent, well meaning types, but the thing that gets me up in the morning is their patronising attitude that they know best and we, mere residents, know least. And that we should be grateful for their concern.

The Labour Party conference showed another example of this paternalistic attitude. Bryony Rudkin attacked the Suffolk County Council divestment plans. There’s a lot of questions to ask about this, and there is a job of opposition that needs to be done to keep a place healthy.

But what really stuck in my craw, and those who know me can imagine the violent revulsion that I had to this, was this little point:

At the council meeting last Thursday, one Conservative said his village had come together to build a new doctor’s surgery.

“That might be fine in the nice comfortable villages but who’s going to come together to build the doctor’s surgery in my area of Ipswich where there are some quite serious deprivation issues?”

Now, please tell me that was a clap line for a Neanderthal audience smarting from defeat, and that she didn’t think that it was a serious point. There may be a more complete speech, which I will be glad to publish.

Bridge has the Wherstead Road Residents Association, still going strong after forty years and the longest continuously functioning residents’ association in Ipswich. It has the Maidenhall Residents Association that keeps a presence and a community together. The port noise was stopped largely by a concerted action from residents across Bridge and Stoke Park, spontaneously organising. There is the Stoke Green Baptist church and Saint Mary Stoke which have great outreach services to people more deprived than you would find on Corder Road, which if we are going to get picky about this is closer to the area which Dame Bryony represents. And this is not to mention such groups from allotment holders, social clubs, Pentecostal churches and Neighbourhood watch groups that do a great deal of good in Bridge.

These groups are ignored by that sort of dismissal. Now building a doctor’s surgery may be a stretch but just because we do not have the most expensive houses in Ipswich does not mean that we are incapable of organising ourselves. We need help, not direction.

If you want to insult us go and do it to our faces and in your leaflets, not to a hall of useless, overpaid, overpromoted and spendthrift public sector middle managers up in Manchester who got us in this mess in the first place.

Ipswich and Suffolk Credit Union

James Spencer — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 18:13:59 +0000

One of the groups in Bridge Ward that I’ve never covered, and it is remiss of me, is the Ipswich and Suffolk Credit Union, which is based in 63 Austin Street, and also has an information point in the Maidenhall Residents Association shop every Friday between 10 and 12 in the morning.

This group does a great amount of work helping people deal with the fluctuations with money without going to a doorstep lender. It operates throughout Suffolk, so it can be said that it is the largest financial institution with its headquarters in Bridge.

The Southern Cement meeting – It’s back on

James Spencer — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 21:32:25 +0000

Well the meeting was cancelled, and now I’ve been told by both the Evening Star and one of the councillors that the meeting between the council and the Noise Action Group is back on.

There will also be a meeting between Southern Cement and councillors. Of course what would be best for both sides would be to meet directly, Southern Cement and the Noise Action Group.

So Uniland / Southern Cement, if you want to meet us then you can reach us at james@bridgeward.org.uk or through your usual channels of communication. Email us, even if you’re not ready yet, even if you want to explain us why you’re not ready yet.

We’re quite nice really, especially when we’ve had a night’s sleep.

Local history

James Spencer — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 18:02:06 +0000

There is a fantastic piece about the history of the Old Stoke area on, of all things, the BBC website. It features the Over Stoke history group which has been run by Jill Freeman, who has also co-ordinated a fantastic display in St Peter’s church of the history of the area. If you haven’t seen it, I would really recommend it.