Month: February 2020

We had a snug meeting at the Beacon this week as it was much warmer than our last meeting. Here are this weeks announcements and events.

Incinerator action at Bristol court

Community R4C is back in court in Bristol from Monday 2nd – Wednesday 4th March. They are challenging the legality of the award, in 2016, of a new, revised £650 million contract for the incinerator, without any competitive tender, despite the 30% increase in cost to Gloucestershire ratepayers. Our High Court case contends that this secret decision, made without full Council scrutiny partly because of the personal, secret intervention of the GCC Chief Executive, was in breach of procurement law.

Get there in time for a 9.30am start:
Monday 2nd March
Bristol Civil and Family Court
2 Redcliff Street
Bristol
BS1 6GR

Keep supporting actions against HS2!

In the last week, HS2 Ltd have been stepping up their work in the ancient woodlands around Kenilworth, with action being taken to prevent birds from nesting, which we see as a clear indication that they intend to start felling ancient woodland soon.

On Monday 24th February, HS2 Ltd will be closing Cryfield Grange Road where Camp Crackley is located at one end from 9.30 am to 3.30pm for a week, to extend road access to their compound. We do not see how they can do this without cutting down trees in a designated ancient woodland. It is also the case that they are fencing off another ancient woodland nearby, Broadwells Wood.

While there has been a camp in Crackley Woods since October, it lacks resilience to withstand an eviction, and there is currently no protection for Broadwells Wood at all.

Please come and help in whatever way you can.

Announcements

South West Outreach and Actions – Support and Training Event – Opportunity for someone from XR Stroud to attend! This is being held at the Bristol Malcolm X Centre 29th Feb 10am to 6pm. Also same event will be repeated in Llandrindod Wells Sunday 1st 10am to 6pm. Venue for this second event to to be confirmed. Lift available from Stroud available. Please contact us for more information.

Stroud Red Rebels training workshop is scheduled for Wednesday March 11th in Stroud. If people are interested they can find out more by joining the Stroud Red Rebel Brigade Facebook group or contact Rebecca. The training will be 6:30pm to 9pm and booking is essential as placed are limited.

We are preparing for a Saturday street stall in Stroud Farmers market. Flyers being printed for this and there’s a briefing at the beacon at 9 am on Saturday for those who are interested in taking part. More volunteers are needed, please contact us if you are able to help.

Nailsworth Earth Day on 28th March is fast approaching. Volunteers are needed to help talk to the public and with handing out leaflets. Please contact us if you can help.

Samantha is offering a free Workshop for XR members on Sunday 1st March 10am to 2.30pm in Nailsworth. Using a mix of MBTI, NLP and applied neuroscience, she will be looking at how to appreciate our individual differences, understand our own communication styles and develop rapport. The aim is to foster greater connection and mutual understanding both within XR groups and with the wider public with whom we are hoping to engage. If you are interested and would like to apply for a free place please contact us for more information.

Greta Thunberg is coming to Bristol on Friday (as you’ve no doubt heard by now). Please meet at College Green in Bristol for 11am. If you are playing in XR Stroud Samba we’ve been asked to arrive for 9:30 for a rehearsal with Bristol Samba.

From Monday 2nd March at the beacon they will be exploring action on plastics, recycling rubbish and the incinerator. This kicks off with an exhibition of photos by John Playfoot called Hungry for truth. This is a photographic exhibition about one man’s protest against the Javelin Park incinerator using a hunger strike. The exhibition opens on 2 March 7 to 9 pm, and will continue to be open until the 27th March.

Save the date – Sunday 15th March is the NVDA (Non Violent Direct Action Training) train the trainers event if anyone is interested in learning how to train others on this topic please contact us.

Working groups

We completed the meeting by breaking out into our working groups to discuss actions. Due to the nature of talking about actions you will need to attend meetings to know more about the latest on:

• Fossil fuel divestment
• Outreach and membership
• Nailsworth earth day

I’m back safely after my trip to Dominica. Thank you for all your well wishes.

This weeks meeting started with a solemn intention, and then we focused on actions and working groups this week. There’s a lot going on. We met at the beacon this week as there were sound issues in the town hall venue.

Coach spaces still available for this Saturdays march

XR Stroud are going to London as a group on Saturday for the enough is enough march. We still have spaces left on our group coach for Stroud. It leaves Wallbridge at 9:30am and we should be back in Stroud at around 7pm. Please use this link to book your seat on the coach which costs £15.

Announcements

An outreach mobilisation plan is needed for the Stroud group. It’s a request from XR Southwest as they need our combined ideas for how to increase our local membership in February and March. As a result a mass mobilisation coordinator is needed for Stroud. Can you help with this role? Please contact us to let me know.

We’re also planning outreach actions as part of this. We’re doing rebel ringing (contacting new members) stalls in Stroud, and an outreach day in Nailsworth.

The Incinerator contract court days start in March. We’ve been asked to attend and support R4C. The first court day is on Monday 2nd March in Bristol. We’re going to try and organise some transport to encourage as many rebels from Stroud as possible to create a physical presence outside the court. We’ll have a more detailed announcement when transport is confirmed.

Stroud XR Samba are having a rehearsal on Friday to help prepare for London. It’s a perfect time for complete beginners to come along as we’ll be learning some new songs. Drums are also available to take to London as XR Stroud will be joining the rest of the UK Sambistas at the march. It’ll be a lot of fun. Our rehearsal is at Openhouse (near Star Anise) on Friday at 7pm to 9pm.

Nailsworth Earthday is on 28th March. This is a shared event for all our local green community groups. Volunteers are needed to help with event management, leafleting, speaking to the public and running stalls. Please contact us if you can do any of these roles.

There will be a funeral march and die in at Newent on 7th March. Forest of Dean XR are welcoming all XR Stroud and XR Gloucestershire members. Starting at approx 10:30am at Newent car park. More information to come.

Stroud is having two XR outreach stalls on 29th Feb and 14th March. These are likely to be in Merrywalks and possibly in the Stroud Farmers market. Both stalls will be run at 10am to 2pm, with some short deescalation training at 9am (which teaches you how to talk to the public, and particularly those who find what we do challenging).

There will also be a heading for extinction talk on 20th March at the Newent community school at 7:30pm. This will also be a Forest of Dean XR event, but all are welcome.

Save the date – 4th April as there will be a critical mass cycle ride in Cheltenham. Bring your bike for a slow and gentle take over of Cheltenham streets with bicycles. All are welcome to this gentle bike ride, but we also have leafleting and public support roles available if you prefer not to cycle. Please contact us if interested in these, otherwise just turn up with your bike.

There is NVDA training on Sunday 15th March for anyone that wants to train as a NVDA (Non Violent Direct Action) trainer. This will be Cirencester in the Cotswold sculpture park 2pm to 6pm.

Lastly, 7th March there is Finance Learn-In day for activists in Bristol. Free tickets are available for those who are interested here.

Working groups

We also had a really interesting group session on deescalation, and how to talk to members of the public with active listening. Then we shared objections that have been shouted at us at actions like;

• What about the tube action?
• Why don’t you get a job?
• I’m just trying to get to work, why are you doing this?
• We’re doing OK it’s China that needs to improve

Lastly we split into working groups for the following areas:

• Fossil fuel divestment
• Earth day Nailsworth
• Market stalls

Please attend future meetings to find out more details about these areas.

Our next meeting (5th February) and all Wednesday meetings until further notice, will take place at:

THE OLD TOWN HALL, THE SHAMBLES, STROUD, GL5 1AP

The entrance is in the Shambles through the door with the words ‘Town Hall Office’ carved into the lintel.

The Hall is on the first floor of the building. However, there is a lift and so access is much less restricted than it had been in The Old Convent.

Please tell and message and post and tweet EVERYBODY you know of the change of location.

The main point of the meeting is to imagine ACTIONS and form WORKING GROUPS to further refine and plan them.

Feel the groundswell.

Come.