Matty Edwards

Feb 27, 2025 | thebristolcable.org | Matty Edwards

Local dad John Pearce, who is leading the campaign to renovate Whitchurch Athletics Track. Photo: Alexander Turner In 2022 a BBC series aired in which former England cricketer Freddie Flintoff went back to his hometown, Preston, to see if he could use cricket to help young lads with limited opportunities. It was cheesy TV, but the show beautifully captured the powerful social role sport can play, especially for young people in deprived areas. As someone who played cricket growing up, it moved me.

Feb 24, 2025 | thebristolcable.org | Matty Edwards

The Labour government has promised to ‘fix the foundations’ of council funding after years of austerity left local authorities up and down the country at risk of financial ruin. But what do these changes mean in practice for Bristol? This week, councillors will vote on the city’s budget for 2025/26, including £43m of cuts despite the extra funding from the government.

Feb 21, 2025 | thebristolcable.org | Matty Edwards

credit: Alexander Turner “I think about my own struggles as a father, and having nowhere to really take that. I didn’t have that confidence to be vulnerable, and Dad Matters gives dads that safe space.”Father-of-three Jerome Cross is the coordinator of Dad Matters Bristol, a project that helps men cope with the challenges of early parenthood. It is run by charity Home-Start, whose small team at Southmead’s Greenway Centre supports families with under-fives in Bristol and South Gloucestershire.

Nov 29, 2024 | thebristolcable.org | Matty Edwards

“The first week, it took me 17 minutes for someone to let me out of my road. There was a queue of nine cars trying to get onto Church Road.”St George resident Kay Jones is one of 30 or so locals at a meeting at Cafe Conscious, in Barton Hill – part of a campaign to stop the East Bristol Liveable Neighbourhood, a trial scheme restricting through-traffic.

Nov 21, 2024 | thebristolcable.org | Matty Edwards

Pictures: Henry Eldo Henry Eldon was one of the first to notice that something was wrong. One day in August, he says a window from the crumbling Kernow Audio and Sound building on Mina Road in St Werburghs, besides Sonni’s cornershop, had “smashed onto the pavement”. Henry used a drone to take pictures of the building from above to find out what had happened. They revealed that the roof had partially collapsed. “It has obvious signs of structural failure.