There was extremely sad news in the community this week with reports of large scale vandalism at the Greenway Centre where twenty windows were smashed. The story made news bulletins on BBC Points West and on Radio Bristol – you can read the Southmead Development Trust’s statement here on their website and view more pictures. In their statement, the Trust posed a question about whether the vandalism is related to the current pandemic crisis – what are our thoughts on this Southmead?
Many of our residents have voiced their anger and disappointment on local public social media pages about the incident; on personal pages views have gone a little further. Staff at the Trust must be extremely disappointed that their dedicated and hard work with the community may now suffer set-backs due to these seemingly mindless acts. There could never be a good time for vandalism, but with most charities on their knees due to the Covid crisis right now, this is probably one of the worst times in living history to experience such a damaging attack.
We haven’t heard whether those responsible for the vandalism were local, or from other communities, but it’s well known that over the years areas of Southmead have often been damaged. If the damage has been done by members of our own community then how do we get the message through that to attack our community is to attack ourselves, our own families, and everything we strive for – and at a time like this when we have all been pulling together.
Southmead has a great sense of community and episodes like this overshadow the great work being done by so many to offer help to those who need it and to create a welcoming place to live. Groups such as Team Southmead, BS10 Parks & Planning, Friends of Badock’s Wood, Inclusion Southmead, and Friends of Southmead Library, along with teams at the Southmead Development Trust at Greenway, The Ranch, and the Youth Centre, are all striving to support the health and wellbeing of our entire community.
We are a strong community so how do we use that strength to address such problems? Can this latest episode be related to the current pandemic or are there other factors which are driving vandalism from within or from outside our area. If you have thoughts, ideas and suggestions The Mead is the place to publish them so please submit your items to the website. Alternatively, residents can email items to be published to editor@themead.org.uk and we will add them to the website. If you would like to join a community group to help to support Southmead then contacts are on our homepage at the top – just click the links.
We look forward to reading your views and news.