The Youth Futures Foundation, in partnership with the British Youth Council, are on the lookout for 11 diverse young people to form the Future Voices Group and we would really appreciate your help to share this opportunity as widely as possible within your fantastic networks. 

These are paid roles that will give responsibility to members to feed into everything that the Youth Futures Foundation is doing to support marginalised young people into meaningful work – including the things they fund, the research they commission, and how they work with policy makers, employers and other key partners. 

The British Youth Council will provide Futures Voices Group members with full support, training and development throughout their time in the role. The role requires a time commitment of at least 10 hours a month, will be paid at London Living Wage rate and expenses will be covered. 

To be eligible, the young person needs to be:

1. Aged between 16 and 24 years
2. Live in England (we are looking for a representative geographical spread)
3. Have direct or indirect experience of facing barriers to gaining meaningful employment, for example but not exclusively, being of ethnic minority heritage, being a refugee or asylum seeker, having a special educational need, physical disability or long-term health condition, experience of being in care or the criminal justice system. 

Candidates can apply in whatever format they prefer – in writing, via video or voice recording. For more information, please read and share the application pack, which includes a link to the application itself.

We are looking for diverse representation in terms of ethnicity, gender, geography, disability, sexual orientation and lived experience, so please do forward to any young people you think would be interested in applying. 

The original deadline has been extended and will now close at 5pm on Sunday 22^nd November. 

Please contact Deuvaunn@youthfuturesfoundation.org if you have any questions about the role or application process.

Many thanks to The Crypt School for holding a fundraiser for Poets’ Pantry.

Headmaster Nick Dyer writes:

Very many thanks for the generous donations to our non-uniform day on Friday 13^th ; and to those who dressed up to raise more, my thanks! Together the School raised £1500 – £824 will be sent to Children in Need and £630 was handed to Sebastian Field for the Podsmead Hub food bank, who said “Thank you very much to The Crypt School, the funding will really make a difference for vulnerable people in the community. The fundraiser has started so this will give them a fantastic boost early on!”

Please click here for more information on their fundraising and for donation details.

As lockdown continues and the weather gets colder, why not stay cozy indoors and learn something new with us?

Click on the link below to browse all courses in your region (including courses for 2021 and our Christmas courses!), or pop in your postcode to see what is available in your region and nationally.

Click here to visit your local courses

Gloucester City Homes are delivering a newsletter and questionnaire in Podsmead to showcase the plans for regeneration, and hear residents’ views.

You can view the newsletter here.

Please do fill in the questionnaire if you can, or do get in touch with me to share your thoughts.

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For the meeting of Gloucester City Council next week I have tabled several written questions, as is my normal practice.

Here are the two questions I asked about e-scooters, with the answers from the cabinet member.

As with all written questions, I will have an opportunity to ask a supplementary verbal question on the night, if I wish to.

Here is a link to the full list of written questions submitted by members with the answers from cabinet members.

Please take care on Scott Avenue field if you’re out walking your dog or your children are playing in the park.

A resident alerted me to some litter which has got shredded when the field has been mowed. This is a problem in all the parks in the city, as litter will sometimes get into the machines as the grass gets cut.

I’ve written to the council’s parks manager to ask what can be done about this. In this case the bin was overflowing, so it’s not as simple as saying to people make sure you bin your rubbish (though we all should as much as we can).

During lockdown when people are out walking more frequently, bins get used more frequently and sometimes overflow. If possible, when out and about and the bin is full, it please take your litter home to recycle or throw.

A few months ago I requested works to the trees by the bridge over from Podsmead into Tuffley, that crosses Cole Avenue.

The trees have been trimmed back and this has cleared the bridge for pedestrians.

The photos show both ends of the bridge, before and after.

I have recently been in touch with Gloucester City Homes over several issues in Podsmead. We have agreed that these gas boxes at Halford House should be replaced and I am hoping that this can be done.

We also aim to get these supports repainted, weather allowing. I am grateful to GCH for their help on these recent issues in Podsmead.

Huge thanks to the Crypt School, who are kindly hosting a non-uniform day to raise money for our project at Poets’ Corner, Podsmead.

This will be held next Friday, 13th November.

Poets’ Corner was an empty unit on the ground floor of Halford House. I have been campaigning to get it brought back into use, and I’m delighted that this is now happening. Podsmead Big Local will be running food distribution from there, and we will be using the space for meetings and adult education, post-COVID.

The money from Crypt will really help to pay for equipment and storage food for the building.

After a resident contacted me, concerned about the safety of this gate from Shakespeare Avenue flats through to Byron Avenue, I spoke to officers at Gloucester City Homes to see what could be done.

I am delighted that GCH have agreed to install a keypad lock, which will improve safety and security. This will be done as part of day-to-day repairs on GCH properties in Podsmead.