14th October 2022
Hello Hatch Warren & Beggarwood!
If this is your first WE For HWB, you can read archived issues here.
News in very brief
News in very brief
- I ran another wonderful Beggarwood Cafe community lunch this week, my second since taking over the running of it. It’s a great-value monthly event, especially for those looking for community or anyone that fancies a natter over their food. Do pop along on the first Wednesday of every month!
- For Basingstoke Green Week WE held a live vegan cookalong on Facebook! My special guest, Jonnie Jenkin of the Green Party's Basingstoke branch, and I cooked up a storm while discussing the politically collaborative path to a greener future. We had a lot of fun with brilliant pointers on things all of us can do to help our environment, locally and nationally, and ended up with a really tasty risotto at the end of it. You can watch that back on Facebook or on our YouTube channel here.
- In not so happy news, the town hall meeting that I was due to chair on 26th September organised by Greener Basingstoke, the local environmental group of which I am a member, went ahead without the planned guests, Councillors Simon Bound and Hayley Eachus. The Councillors pulled out at the last minute over claims that the meeting had been politicised because I was due to be chairing it. If you had sent a question into this meeting to be answered by the Councillors or had planned to watch it at a later date, I’m very sorry that it did not work out as planned. Greener Basingstoke are currently trying to organise a new date for the meeting to go ahead so that the Councillors can answer residents' questions on this vital issue.
- Along with two other Branch members, I attended Dragonfly Training hosted by Paragon, to become a domestic violence champion. This is a free, half-day training course aimed at giving laypeople the knowledge and skills to recognise the signs of domestic abuse, dispel myths around it, and to signpost any survivors they meet to the appropriate services that can help. I can’t recommend this training enough; it’s vital work that, bit by bit, helps to make domestic abuse less prevalent in Basingstoke. If anyone is interested in attending a free session and becoming a domestic violence champion, please get in touch and I can help you arrange this.
- I also spent a day at the Freshers Fair at BCoT. Without wanting to sound like Whitney Houston, I’m a firm believer that young people, as the future of our country, should be taught about politics and why it matters to them. I had dozens of brilliant conversations and have already had contact from young people wanting to know more about how they can help shape their own future lives through political engagement.
Upcoming events
- I'll be attending the public inquiry into the Oakdown Farm planning application (the proposed Lidl warehouses). We have previously opposed this development on behalf of residents and will continue to do so; please do get in touch with your views or if you are interested in attending.
- We have one week to go until our meeting with Make Votes Matter! I cannot recommend hearing from this group highly enough. The meeting is free, and all are invited to register and attend. We have asked every party and Councillor in Basingstoke along to discuss this important topic, which is the pathway to the real democracy that we need.
- We also have a branch meeting scheduled for Monday, 17th of September at 7:30 pm. This will be held online and is for our branch members and supporters plus anyone that would like to hear more about the work we are doing and get involved in any capacity. Our main topic of conversation will be November's event for the '16 Days Of Action', a yearly global campaign against gender-based violence. If you have thoughts on how we might mark the 16 Days, do get in touch or come along; you can check our social media pages @wepbasingstoke for the zoom login details.
- I'll be at the Beggarwood Surgery Patient Participation Group meeting next week. If you have concerns you'd like me to raise please do get in touch.
- Finally, we have *exceptionally* exciting news about a Christmas event which we will be announcing very soon: watch this space…
Best wishes; take care,
Stacy Hart
WE Basingstoke Branch Leader
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