COLUMN by Beki Aldam, Chair of Community Services & Licensing Committee at Stroud District Council 

The launch events for Stroudfunding, our new crowdfunding project were very successful, with lots of interesting ideas for community projects from those who attended.

There’s an online workshop on Tuesday 24 September from 12noon – 1pm and there’s lots of information on the microsite for anyone who has an idea to improve their community https://www.spacehive.com/movement/stroud/about  We’re looking forward to seeing all the many wonderful projects that our communities will create!

Last Friday I attended the council’s Violence and Intimidation Against Women and Girls (VAWG) partnership group meeting.

We were lucky enough to have DC Stu Martin attend the meeting to talk to us about Misogynistic Incel Culture.

The attendees were from as diverse a group as our wonderful Night Angels; those working in the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner; and representatives from the NHS; as well as many more valued partners.

We partook in a fascinating workshop after the talk, and some incredibly productive discussions that we hope will play a part in reducing this appalling epidemic of violence and intimidation against women and girls, across the Stroud district.

As Stroud District Council is gearing up to take over Stratford Park Leisure Centre, it was exciting to attend the board meeting and hear the progress that is being made, ready for our launch in November.

SDC is celebrating achieving four prestigious RSPCA Paw Prints awards for our work with animals and their owners.

The council’s animal welfare service retained its platinum Stray Dog Services and silver Animal Licensing awards. The housing service upgraded last year’s bronze award to gold for Housing and the community services team celebrated a bronze award for Contingency and Emergency Planning.

Next week we will be joining the Food Standards Agency to encourage food businesses to display their food hygiene awards on social media pages and websites.”