Bridges - making global connections

Need or Greed – new artwork on display!

bridgesmgc — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 15:18:10 +0000

A fantastic piece of artwork is now on display at Oswestry Library. Produced for Bridges by the Project Group, the artwork explores local and global perspectives on poverty.

The artwork will be on display until 6th February and then going on a tour of local youth and community groups. If you’d like Bridges to bring this artwork to your group and run an interative workshop explore the issues it shares then please get in touch:

http://www.bridgesglobal.org.uk/contact_us.html

We’ve got Christmas all wrapped up!

bridgesmgc — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 10:06:49 +0000

A week to go, presents are mostly bought but definitely not wrapped. Currently, just heaped in a corner waiting to be adorned with ribbons and bows. And so, my final top tip of the festive season – wrapping paper. This year, get creative and wrap your presents in something different to save pennies and the environment. Try the Sports section of the newspaper for footbal fans, old scarves for a touch of luxury, or pictures from old wall calendars. And, keep the kids entertained by wrapping their presents in pages from comics. Next, make your gift tags out of last year’s Christmas cards!

A tree is life – not just for Christmas

bridgesmgc — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 10:09:42 +0000

OK, I’m not even going to try and find out how many beautiful, healthy trees get chopped down each year to fill our homes with Christmas trees. The trouble is, I love a real Christmas tree. For me, it just wouldn’t be Christmas without the trek to a chilly barn somewhere, the great family debate about which tree to get and will it fit in the house or not, the challenge of fitting it in the car along with all the people who came the choose it and, of course, the moment where you have to chop a bit off the top, because, it turned out to be too tall after all – I love it all!

So, getting the same old plastic tree from a box in the loft each year just doesn’t cut it for me. But, there has to be a better way than wasting so many trees. Enter, my fantastic sister, oh yeah, she goes, we’ve just got one in a pot. It comes in the house at Christmas, goes back into the garden, still in the pot, in January. Worryingly, she’s been doing this for years and I’ve never noticed its the same tree every year and its happily sitting out in the garden the rest of the time. But, sounds like a good compromise – you get a real tree and it gets to stay alive – everyone’s a winner!

P.S. While I’m on the topic, it turns out charity shops are the place to get your Christmas baubles, I can’t walk past one at the moment, without popping in to find the basket, tucked in a corner, and full of unwanted Christmas decs – just waiting for me to rummage to the bottom and find a hidden gem!

Give a gift to someone you’ve never met!

bridgesmgc — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 10:47:48 +0000

Yep, I’m gonna ask you to buy a goat, or anything else that catches your eye. There is a huge choice of “good gifts” available from the many charities that give you the chance to help disadvantaged individuals living in poorer countries. A few favourites:

Give fruit trees to a family in Nicaragua http://www.presentaid.org/gardeners/20-fruit-trees/invt/20-fruit-trees/

Give girls a chance to go to school http://www.oxfam.org.uk/shop/oxfam-unwrapped-for-the-girls/OU5026ED

Give a tasty 50 bowls of rice for hungry tummies http://www.goodgifts.org/good-gifts/gift/sf27

Give warm winter coats to kids in Vietnam http://www.giftsinaction.org.uk/gift/winter-coats-for-four-schoolchildren

Give an emergency kit to help families survive when natural disaster or conflict puts them in danger http://www.giftsinaction.org.uk/gift/winter-coats-for-four-schoolchildren

These are just a few things that have caught my eye, leave a comment to share the gifts that you’ll be giving this Christmas.

More Chistmas – fewer cards

bridgesmgc — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 09:35:43 +0000

Another eco-themed tip this week. Save a few tress from ending up on the mantlepiece and then in the recycling, or even worse in the bin. Get to together with colleagues, friends or family and choose a charity to support. Then all donate the money you would have spent on cards to a cause you care about. It’ll save you time on shopping and writing those cards and someone in need will benefit from your kind donation.

Second Hand Santa

bridgesmgc — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 12:25:29 +0000

Yep, another festive tip – this one saves money, tidies your house up and saves the planet by reducing the amount of new stuff we buy!

Instead of getting each other new presents at Christmas, staff at Bridges bring in something from home to give away. We’ve passed on books, CDs, a lovely pair of candlesticks and a fab table cloth, which have all been greatfully received.

This year, I think I’ll be passing on a few mugs from the currently over-flowing cupboard in my kitchen.

More presents – less packaging!

bridgesmgc — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 14:17:48 +0000

Be warned, I’m about to get on my soap box. Christmas gifts sets drive me mad! They are so unnecessarily over-packaged in layers and layers of plastic and various shiny bits and bobs. Yes, it’s great to unwrap a nicely presented gift all neat and tidy in its box but then you try to open it and the lid won’t come off because of several well hidden bits of sticky tape and then you have to somehow pop each item out a carefully modelled plastic insert and do battle with hidden bits of glue and cable ties. You finally have your gifts and a heap of destroyed packaging that you now need to find space for in the bin or if at all possible recycling box. So, please, this year, save us all some time, hassle and mess and just buy presents that don’t come with these unnecessary added extras!

Seven weeks ’til Christmas

bridgesmgc — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 16:02:17 +0000

Well, I promise I’ll come up with a more imaginative title for next week’s post! Moving on to our Christmas tip of the week – let’s make it fair. Fairtrade is a fantastic scheme that enables you to choose to buy products made by people who are paid a fair wage. Anytime you see the Fairtrade logo it means the worker who made what you are buying was paid a fair minimum wage for their work and produce.

Treat family and friends to delicious Fairtrade chocolates, tasty Fairtrade coffee or gorgeous Fairtrade body products that are extra special. For last minute gifts Boots Extracts Fairtrade Toiletries including, lip balms, body butters and shower creams www.boots.com/en/Boots-Extracts-Fairtrade are fab. You can also get a Fairtrade Advent Calendar (tinyurl.com/c4mfqgy)
and lots of other goodies from Traidcraft www.traidcraftshop.co.uk - happy shopping!

Eight weeks ’til Christmas!

bridgesmgc — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 15:30:58 +0000

Yes, I know, I know, Christmas already! But, with eight weeks to go I’m bringing you the first of Bridges’ weekly tips for a fantasitc Christmas. I’m not even going to try and find out how much cash we all spend on Christmas presents each year – a lot of money, will do!

So this year, buy your gifts from someone who’ll spend the profits wisely. Try the gift shop in your local museum, charity shops that often stock new items at Christmas or the gift shop at your local National Trust property. If there’s nowhere nearby get online and see if your favourite charity has an online shop.

My favourite – Grow a Christmas Tree in Reindeer Poo a unique gift from Oxfam’s online shop www.oxfam.org.uk/shop/ethical-collection

You could also try, Amnesty International’s Shop at http://amnestyshop.org.uk/ and the Tate’s Shop www.tate.org.uk/shop for unique gifts that support good causes.

The Equality Illusion

bridgesmgc — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 10:34:10 +0000

It’s all go at Bridges at the moment as we get moving with a new focus for our work – equality. I dutifully got going with reading up on the subject and borrowed, The Equality Illusion, by Kat Banyard from the library. This book is amaing. It didn’t tell me about all the poor, impoverised, women around the world, denied their rights in oppresive regimes. It told me a few home truths, about me and the country and society that I live and grew up in. I can’t quite believe that we’ve been merrily living in a world where inequality between men and women is so accepted, has become so normal that we don’t even notice it. We strangly seem to think it’s OK.

This book is a shocking and sometimes disturbing read, especially it’s exploration of the sex industry but it is an incredbily important wake-up call to us all. Here are a few things that really got me thinking: the school-girl who was told by a teacher that “boys will be boys” after a fellow pupil grabbed her breasts, the local council that gave political party conference delegates vouchers for a local lap-dabcing club and the five-year olds being tucked into bed each night under a Playboy bunny emblazoned duvet cover.

I can’t even begin to do justice to what a powerful and thought-provoking read this book is so you’ll just have to read it yourselves – please!