For 10 years, the Food Policy Council (FPC) has been striving to put ‘Good Food’ onto the agenda in Bristol, and to keep it there. Now, in the wake of the success of the city’s ‘Going for Gold’ campaign, the FPC is passing on the baton. In this blog, we celebrate a decade of the FPC, thank all those who contributed to its success and look forward, considering how its work will continue across the city.
Bristol and Bath’s Festival of Nature is back 10-18 June 2022 with a packed programme full of in-person, digital, and hybrid events, all aimed at helping people connect with and take action for nature. Hear from The Natural History Consortium team about the festival and other exciting events coming up in the region.
Groups growing fruit and vegetables for food banks are to benefit from crop plant donations for the third year running. Blaise Plant Nursery in Lawrence Weston is donating crop plants to over 45 community groups across the city who are supporting those most affected by the cost-of-living crisis, by growing food for food banks and schools.
Abi Sweet from Alive Activities writes the latest Bristol Bites Back Better story with input from colleague Guy Manchester. We hear about the new inclusive community garden project at the Wellspring Settlement opening on 3 March that will be a chance to bring some of the organisations based at the Settlement even closer. The team are looking for volunteers to support sessions and help the local community grow fruit, veg and flowers in a friendly, accessible space.
Bristol Local Food Fund volunteer, Mali Sion Evans, writes our latest Bristol Bites Back opinion blog. Mali explores inconsistencies in our food system that can lead to misplaced assumptions about the realities of food insecurity in the UK, and explains why Bristol needs a local food fund. Find out how you can get involved.
Michael Lloyd-Jones from Bristol Local Food Fund (BLFF) writes about how BLFF is creating a sustainable, central funding pot to support community food projects that tackle food insecurity. This includes creating a Citizens Panel of people with lived experience of food insecurity. Read on to find out how to support this vital work.
Anna Ralph, café manager at Windmill Hill City Farm, writes our latest blog post. Anna shares her personal motivations behind the ways in which the café connects the farm’s growing, food production and sustainability aims. The farm will be open again from Monday March 29th.
When we launched the Bristol Bites Back Better campaign in November, we wanted to get the conversation going and hear from the people of Bristol. We asked two simple questions, and got a wide range of answers so far, giving us insight into what Bristol citizens want to see happening in our city, and who deserves celebration. Insights Manager at cycling charity Love to Ride, Fleur, has compiled some of the responses in our latest blog post. You can still get involved!
In our latest blog Sustainability and Behaviour Change Consultant Livvy Drake unpacks the psychological factors at work in how undertaking a challenge such as Veganuary, Fish-free February or Plastic-free Lent can achieve long-term behaviour change. Livvy runs behaviour change workshops for environmental campaigners and communicators who want to have a greater reach with their campaigns.
Both the University of Bristol and the University of the West of England (UWE) have committed to positive actions to improve the sustainability of food within their institutions, with pledges including creating a Sustainable Food Plan for 2021 and designating food courts to being single-use free. Find out more about the exciting work the universities are doing on food.
