It is coming to the Chapter Arts Centre cinema, Canton, Cardiff ( http://www.chapter.org/planvisit/index.HTML ) to coincide with the Cardiff Conference.
It is being screened from Friday 25th February to Thursday 3rd March. (Conference is Friday to Monday of this same week)

It is a MUST SEE film for all who want to understand why we should be so concerned about the proposed fracking in Bridgend County – everyone in Llangeinor, Lewistown, Ognore Vale, Blackmill, Bettws, and Bridgend itself should see this movie!!

And it has just been nominated for an OSCAR too! Yesterday it was announced that Gasland has been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. UK film critics have hailed Gasland as “Powerful, disturbing and important” (The Sunday Mirror) and “Essential viewing” (The Observer), to name but a few.

Bridgend Green Party members should therefore clear their diaries and get into Cardiff for a day at Conference ( http://www.greenparty.org.uk/conference.html ) followed by an evening at the cinema!! See you all there!

Andy,

Thanks for offering. The information on volunteering is below. I am now up to 26 volunteers so you may go on the reserve list and I don’t need any further appeals. However, I do need locals for Thursday afternoon so if you could ask Bridgend GP members if they can do 1500 to 1800 then that would be great.

The intention is always to use local members with their local knowledge but the appeals seem to have gone out late within Wales GP.

Thanks
Eamonn

Thank you for volunteering to help at the Spring Green Party conference at the Angel Hotel Cardiff from Friday 25 February to Monday 28 February. Anyone who volunteers to do a maximum 3 hour shift will get free entry into conference for that day. Training will be given as required. Help is needed as follows :

Front of house desk : You will be registering delegates on arrival and give information to delegates on all aspects of conference including local amenities. There will be very busy peaks at the start of each day and quiet points mainly in the afternoon. In the final shorter shift from 1755 to 2000 the main task will be to return badge deposits.

Stewards : You will help delegates find their way round the venue and answer their questions on all aspects of conference. You will also pass on knowledge of local amenities outside of the conference building.

Setting up and closing down : Help will be needed early Friday and mid afternoon Monday on a variety of tasks.

Conference preparation : We will need a team of 3 to 4 local volunteers to help stuff folders and do other preparatory tasks

If anyones looking for work experience, theres an exciting opportunity here in support of our Welsh Assembly campaign which includes free accommodation + £10 daily lunch allowance…

Please feel free to circulate. Thanks & best wishes Spencer

http://www.greenparty.org.uk/jobs.html

Media interns to support the Green Party’s Welsh Assembly election campaign

Expenses paid, free lodgings offered

Starting February, finishing after the May elections

Training in our London press office offered ahead of starting

Wales Green Party has a fantastic opportunity to elect its first Assembly Member in this May’s Assembly Elections. Our lead candidate Jake Griffiths is also Leader of the Green Party in Wales and has an increasingly high profile in the area.

Just 7% is needed to elect Jake to the Assembly under the proportional voting system. We secured 6.4% in the South Wales Central region in the 2009 Euro Elections, and the last 2 opinion polls have placed Wales Green Party on 9-10%, showing we’re building momentum ahead of May.

We’re looking for 2 volunteer media interns to be based in Cardiff, supporting the work of our Development Officer who is overseeing the campaign. The purpose of the role is to secure more coverage of the campaign in print, broadcast and online media within the region. The role of these interns could be a significant factor in helping achieve an historic breakthrough for the Greens.

The placement will begin before Green Party Conference, 25-28th Feb and will end in the first week of May.

Our message

This election offers us the chance to explain to voters how a vote for Labour on the 2nd regional ballot is wasted, and why progressives should back the Greens to provide alternatives to the cuts, tackling the increases in living costs from oil/food prices etc.

Main duties to include:

* Monitoring media for opportunities
* Drafting press releases, letters and other communications
* Handling telephone enquiries
* Communicating with journalists to secure coverage
* Research of policy issues
* Some work outside normal office hours

Expenses:

We can only provide an expenses budget for meals (£10 per day) and travel costs (if applicable). We can however offer free accommodation in Cardiff.

Please click here to download a questionnaire/skills sheet.

Please click here for a Volunteer Agreement.

Reply, with a completed press

National media team volunteers (unpaid, though local public transport and lunch allowance covered)

Exciting opportunities for 2011!

The Green Partys national media team require media interns who are able to commit three or more days a week for 3-6 months, based in either Brighton, Cardiff, London or Norwich.

· Those based in our Brighton office will play a crucial role in this year’s local elections in the city where last year Britain’s first Green MP was elected.

· Those based in Cardiff will help the Green Party’s bid for another historic breakthrough – the first Green Party member of the Welsh Assembly.

· Those based in Norwich will work with the party’s deputy leader, Adrian Ramsay, and the Norwich Green Party team for a vital local election campaign in the only British city where the Greens are the official opposition on the city council.

· Volunteers in the core national media team will work from our London press office, working direct to the party’s head of media relations Spencer Fitz-Gibbon, in support of Green Party leader Caroline Lucas MP, fighting for extra media exposure for the Green Party.

The successful applicants will be dynamic, intelligent, flexible and hard-working, with excellent verbal and written communications skills. Previous experience of media/communications work is ideal but not essential.

Some training will be given in writing for the media and in handling incoming requests from national, regional and local media outlets including print, broadcast and online. Duties will include news monitoring, writing and editing briefings and reports.

Please click here to download a questionnaire/skills sheet.

Please click here for a Volunteer Agreement.

Reply, with a completed press

Research

Spencer Fitz-Gibbon Head of Media Relations

The Green Party

020 7561 0282

07590 046505

http://www.greenparty.org.uk

Published and promoted by Spencer Fitz-Gibbon for the Green Party, both at 1a Waterlow Road, London N19 5NJ.

Corrective rape, the vicious practice of raping lesbians to cure their sexuality, is becoming a crisis in South Africa. But brave activists are calling on the world to help stop these heinous Hate Crimes — and finally the government is beginning to respond. Let’s support them. Sign the petition and send it to friends!

Millicent Gaika was bound, strangled, tortured and raped for five hours by a man who crowed that he was curing her of her lesbianism.

She barely survived, but she is not alone — this vicious crime is recurrent in South Africa, where lesbians live in terror of attack. But no one has ever been convicted of ‘corrective rape’.

Amazingly, from a tiny Cape Town safehouse a few brave activists are risking their lives to ensure that Millicents case sparks change. Their appeal to the Minister of Justice has exploded to over 140,000 signatures, forcing him to respond on national television. But the Minister has not yet answered their demands for action.

Let’s shine a light on this horror from all corners of the world — if enough of us join in to amplify and escalate this campaign, we can reach President Zuma, who is ultimately responsible to uphold constitutional rights. Lets call on Zuma and the Minister of Justice to publicly condemn corrective rape, criminalise hate crimes, and ensure immediate enforcement, public education and protection for survivors. Sign the petition now and share it with everyone

On FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 4, at 8pm, writer Zoe Skoulding, musician Alan
Holmes, and community artist and academic, Nick Clements, will discuss
their work with the public and local artists.

Zoë Skoulding is a poet and editor, now in charge of the international
quarterly, Poetry Wales. Zoes latest book, Remains of a Future
City (Seren) was on the Welsh Book of the Year list, 2008.

One of the most exciting aspects of Zoes work is her combination of
poetry with experimental soundscapes, based on collaborations with many
musicians.

One of these is Alan Holmes, who has played in a host of adventurous
rock groups in Wales, including Ectogram, and is praised by critics for
his sheer inventiveness. This is Alans first visit to Porthcawl, an
occasion modern music-lovers should not miss.

Nick Clements helped found Pioneers Art Group in 1981, which created
hundreds of murals, mosaics, sculptures, stained glass, ceramic, and
many media art works until 2004. Pioneers worked with tens of
thousands of local people to create landmark art, as well as developing
public art commissions. Nick is now Visiting Professor at Staffordshire
and Warsaw Universities.

For a fascinating evening, Sustainable Wales hopes to see you February
4, at 8pm, 41, John St., Porthcawl, for the latest GREEN ROOM event.
Remember: those who have art have all.

Entrance is £4 for a wonderfully varied evening of performance and
debate.

More information: Margaret Minhinick 01656 783405
mm@sustainablewales.org.uk

Directors of Public Health in the North West have produced the report, which draws attention to the high rates of death and injury on roads in the region where children are more likely to be injured in road traffic collisions than anywhere else in the country.

Green Party spokesperson on sustainable development Prof John Whitelegg commented:

“This is an incredibly important report from NHS Directors of Public Health. It says we have a serious problem with death and injury on the roads and it says the solution is a 20 mph limit. I agree.

The report presents compelling evidence that lives could have been saved and injuries reduced if 20 mph limits had been introduced in residential areas.

The report’s main points include:

• Child casualty information shows that two-thirds of children who are killed or seriously injured on the roads are boys.
• Over four-fifths of child casualties occur on roads that have a speed limit of 30 mph, and statistical modelling shows that up to 140 killed or seriously injured child casualties could be saved each year if 20 mph speed limits had been applied in these areas.

In the report, road traffic casualty rates are measured for all local authorities in the North West. Stockport is the best with 342 casualties per 100,000 population and Eden the worst at 793 per 100,000 population. Lancaster is 477 casualties per 100,000 population.

Other regions may have slightly better records, said the Greens, but they would be advised to follow the 20 mph policy to reduce road deaths further.

Notes

1. The full report, Road Traffic Collisions and Casualties in the North West of England, was produced by the North West Public Health Observatory in conjunction with NHS North West, the Centre for Public Health at Liverpool John Moores University, the Child and Maternal Health Observatory and the Trauma and Injury Intelligence Group. See http://www.nwph.net/nwpho/Publications/Forms/rta.html.

2. Further information from Green Party press office, 020 7561 0282.

SITE A – A mere 400 metres along the footpath to the north of the isolated Llangeinor Arms public house. OS Grid Ref: SS 923 884
The site is distinctly visible on satellite photos taken some time ago – as an area where the grass has been removed revealing very pale – almost white – rock exposed. I believe this dates from test drilling operations that BCBC allowed in 2008.
The site is just as the steep path from the pub starts to flatten out a bit. There are magnificent views over the villages of Llangeinor and nearby Bettws. St. Cein’s Church is next to the pub. The substantial church in such an isolated spot is typical of villages that moved away after burying their dead in the churchyard during the Black Death. A new form of sinister plague could be about to revisit the area! The surrounding land is currently used for grazing sheep. Any surface run-off from here is likely to make its way to a small stream just to the west of the site and from there down into the River Garw flowing through Llangeinor village, and on to join the River Ogwr at Brynmenyn. Earlier posts highlight the probability and dangers of spills of highly toxic fracking fluid. The harmful effects are known to occur at incredibly low concentrations.

Pic 1 – 400m north of Llangeinor Arms – the site is now under grass again.
Pic 2 – Looking SW from the site towards Llangeinor and Bettws on the far hill – about 1.5 miles away

SITE B – Surrounded by Ogmore Forest at a site labelled Mynydd y Gwair on OS maps, at the junction of two bridleways, at OS Grid Ref: SS 944 894
The site is extremely secluded, to the point of being hidden away. Access to the site will be along the bridleway path that starts at the end of Rhiwglyn Road in Ogmore Vale. This rough track is about a mile long to the site. Despite planning approval not being granted as yet, the land has been cleared – and is clearly visible as a whitish clearing on satellite images taken quite some time ago, again, presumably from test drilling in 2008. Surface run-off from this site is most likely to streams that run-off down through Cwm Dimbath towards Glynllan and through Blackmill into the River Ogwr, on on through Bridgend. Any spills along the majority of the rough access track will directly threaten Ogmore Vale and Lewistown. All the fracking fluid brought back to the surface (it will be many thousands of gallons even in the pilot stage) has to be carefully collected and tankered away, through our towns and villages, to sites (so far unspecified) for de-contamination and (hopefully) safe disposal.

Pic 3 – From site looking back down the access track that leads down into Ogmore Vale, a mile away.
Pic 4 – The actual drilling site – that is already cleared. Satellite images suggest that testing drilling was done here at the same time as the Llangeinor site – but this looks very recently cleared to me – you can still see tyre tread marks in the mud and there is no evidence of regrowth.

Are we going to stand by and watch our land be raped again by corporate greed? This is even more insidious than the coal mining era. It will not produce many jobs. The thousands of jobs in mining came at a high price to miners health. This is a threat to the health of every living creature – including me and you.

Our native British bees are dying out at an alarming rate – and with them go a third of our fauna flora and diet!

It is estimated that we have, at best, a decade to save them and avert catastrophe.

So what can we do to help? (Click on these links for more detailed information)

1 Stop using insecticides

2 Plant Bee-friendly plants

3 Create natural habitat gardens

4 Find out more about bees

5 Support your local beekeepers

6 Make you own ‘Wild bee’ house

7 Become a beekeeper

8 Lobby your local MP or MEP

9 Sign petitions banning pesticides

10 Encourage your local authority to do more to help bees

Bridgend & District Beekeepers Association do agreat job and are the best starting point for anyone keep to offer practical assistance, or even those considering starting their own colony.

http://www.bridgendbeekeepers.co.uk/

Another excellent place to find out more, and/or contribute to good work in this field, is here: http://www.helpsavebees.co.uk/about-us.html

As ever, it is incumbent on all of us to try and do whatever we can.

BRIDGEND GREEN PARTY:

AGM on 17th February, 2011, Haywain Function Rm., 7.30pm

Items for agenda by 31st January. Nominations (self-nominate, or if nominating someone else please check they are happy to stand first) for officers by 2nd February please. Posts in BOLD must be filled.

· CHAIR

· TREASURER

· ELECTIONS OFFICER

· MINUTES SECRETARY

· Fundraiser

· Young Greens Coordinator

· Membership Officer

We are lucky to have it on our doorstep so it would be good to see as much support for it as possible from local members. It is very worthwhile.

25th 28th February Angel Hotel, Cardiff

Discounted rates are available until 7th February

http://www.greenparty.org.uk/conference/online-booking-page

Helpers are also being asked for from local parties. If you help out for a 3 hr shift, you can enjoy the rest of that in Conference for FREE!

If interested in volunteering email Eamonn Ward at:

eamonn.ward@btinternet.com

(Andy is planning to volunteer on Friday and Monday.)