BS3 Community Development

04/06/2026

🌼It's nearly time for the first-ever Bedminster Festival of Gardening

From 8-14 June, there's a week full of gardening fun, with activities taking place every day, including expert talks and advice, community gardening sessions, art installations, and gardens to visit.

As well as opening our garden on Sunday 14 June, we will be hosting one of the free festival talks on Saturday 13 June:

🪴Designing for small gardens with Eliza Gray
Saturday 13 June
10.30-11.30am
Southville Centre
Beauley Road, BS3 1QG.

To find out more and to book a ticket for this free talk, visit the website:
https://app.onlinesurveys.jisc.ac.uk/s/bs3ln/bedminster-festival-of-gardening-talk-designing-small-gardens

Take a look at the full festival programme:
https://bloomingbedminster.tumblr.com/Bedminsterfestivalofgardening

04/06/2026

04/06/2026

Faay (Fadumo) joined BS3 Nurseries in January after teaching in Dubai for two years. After finding out that she had a strong interest in EDIB (equality, diversity, inclusion and belonging), Nic, from Family Services, grabbed her for a chat to find out more about her previous experience and how it has shaped her practice.

Look for our 'Fun Stuff' Blog link in our bio to read the full interview.

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03/06/2026

Join us on Friday 12 June, 2.30-5pm
Our community tea dance is a relaxed afternoon with tea, cake, and live music from The Barrelhouse Vipers.
Tickets are just £5 thanks to a generous donation from

Why not treat an older friend or family member to a lovely afternoon.

We’d love to see you there ❤️
For more info: visit our website or Eventbrite page (link in bio)

https://bs3community.org.uk/whats-on-listing/brew-boogie-a-community-tea-dance/

03/06/2026

For more information about our drama club with Acting Out, visit our website:

https://bs3community.org.uk/whats-on-listing/drama-and-acting-for-screen/

02/06/2026

🌸 The signs are up!

Join us on Sunday 14 June, 12–5pm as we open our child-friendly Garden at our Southville Centre as part of Bedminster's Secret Gardens, for one day only!

Bring the family along to explore our hidden garden space, including a beautiful wisteria walkway, herb garden and strawberry patch, plus our mud kitchen and mini allotment.

There’ll be lots for children to enjoy throughout the day too, including sunflower seed planting, a nature trail, garden toys, and crafts & colouring.

We’re also excited to be joined by some lovely stalls:
🌱 Cowan Wood Garden Nursery with a wide range of plants from vegetables to Dahlias and Rudbeckia
💐 Florette Flowers with fresh British summer bouquets, dried flowers, wreaths and flower crowns
🪴 South Bristol Gardening Club plant stall

☕ The BS3 Community Café will be open throughout the day serving refreshments and snacks.

Festival entry is £3 on the door (you only pay this once at the first Secret Garden venue you visit and it covers all participating gardens).

Please bring both cash and card if you can, as some of our stalls may be cash only.
We can’t wait to welcome you for a lovely afternoon of gardens, nature, creativity and community!

For more information about the event, visit:
https://bloomingbedminster.tumblr.com/secret-gardens

.flowers

01/06/2026

Thanks for coming to our holiday Stay & Play! We had so much sunflower-themed fun! 🌻

Don't forget, we have toddler groups every week, so if you're looking for a friendly, welcoming playgroup to enjoy with your little one, come along to our fun toddler groups at the Southville Centre, on Beauley Road. We have two groups every Wednesday during term time, and a Stay & Play group during the school holidays.

First up is: BS3 Toddlers
A relaxed, friendly group with plenty of space for babies and toddlers to play while grown-ups can enjoy a hot drink from our cafe, and a chat.
🗓️ Every Wednesday, 9–10.30am
🎟£3.50 for one adult and child. 50p for each additional child. Refreshments for children included!

Then we have: TAGG – Toddlers and Grandparents Group
A dedicated space for little ones and their grandparents (or any older carers!) to connect with other people and play. There’s a range of fun activities, including crafts, singing, sensory play and story time.
🗓️ Every Wednesday, 10.45am–12pm
🎟 £3.50 for one adult and child. 50p for each additional child. Refreshments for children included!

Whether you're a parent, carer, grandparent, or guardian, everyone’s welcome. No booking needed – just drop in, pay at reception and join the fun!

🔗 More info on our website:
https://bs3community.org.uk/whats-on-listing/bs3-toddlers/
https://bs3community.org.uk/whats-on-listing/toddlers-and-grandparent-group/

29/05/2026

We’re delighted to welcome Charley to the team as Community Care Coordinator.

Charley brings a wealth of experience in coordinating care. This varied background means Charley has a real understanding of how good, well-organised care and support can make a meaningful difference to people’s lives.

In Charley’s own words:
“My name is Charley and I joined working for Community Care in mid-April. I’ve been coordinating care since I moved to Bristol in 2021, working in private healthcare and for a charity delivering the Shared Lives Scheme, so I have varied experience when it comes to organising people’s care.
Outside of work, I love to travel, see live music, and my craft of choice is crocheting. I’m really looking forward to working with BS3 Community and the opportunities that will come with being involved in this space.”

Welcome to the team, Charley - we’re thrilled to have you!

Charley’s arrival comes at an exciting time for BS3 Community Care, with lots of new plans and opportunities taking shape over the coming months. As we continue to grow, we’d love more local people to join us on the journey.

To read more about this, visit our website:
https://bs3communitycare.org.uk/news/welcoming-charley-to-the-team-as-bs3-community-care-grows

29/05/2026

☀️ Our Monday Club enjoyed its long-awaited annual trip to Clevedon last week, and although the sun didn’t make an appearance, it didn’t stop the fun!

The day started with a lovely bus journey together, and thanks to a generous donation from Mechanical Mouse, we were able to hire two buses so that 32 Monday Club members could come on the trip. The buses comfortably accommodated everyone using walkers, and the lifts made getting on and off really easy and accessible for everyone.

We were looked after beautifully throughout the day by The Little Harp, who served up delicious fish and chips, and the day was perfectly rounded off with ice cream.

There were many happy, smiling faces, and we received wonderful feedback from Monday Club members, all saying what a fantastic time they had.

A huge thank you to everyone who helped make this trip possible. ❤️️

The Sprint Community Transport Hartcliffe and Withywood Community Partnership The Little Harp Inn Mechanical Mouse
And our fab volunteers!

Our Monday Club is a weekly social club for older people, based at our Southville Centre cafe, on Beauley Road. There is always a friendly welcome, a hot lunch, coffee/tea and lots of chatting. If you or someone you know is feeling isolated, the club is great way to connect, talk and share. Get in touch to book your place.

For more information, please call our reception on 0117 9231039
Or email: [email protected]
https://bs3community.org.uk/.../monday-club-a-social-day.../

28/05/2026

Leanne and Hannah, our nursery nature lovers, have been living their best lives recently, attending weekly Forest School training in Leigh Woods. They are finding out how to bring natural learning to our setting and embed it into our day-to-day.

We asked Hannah what her favourite bit has been so far (she admitted it was very hard to choose!)...

"I love that Forest School really emphasises the importance of giving opportunities to be outside and free. The creativity, curiosity and trial and error helps all children to build resilience and trust in themselves. Also, it's so calm and relaxing - we've both noticed that for ourselves, so the impact will be the same on the children - it's so good for the soul."

"If there's one thing I could take away for our day-to-day learning, it would be really seeing the outside space as an extension of the room - where the learning potential is huge and infinitely engaging”.

Some of the things Leanne and Hannah have learned in their training:
- How to (safely) make a fire from scratch - along with cooking a whole feast on it
- How to make and use their own tools
- Play-based learning ideas for engaging children in the outdoors, such as den building

We already take some of our Preschoolers to attend seasonal Forest School. Flick through to the final video to see them enjoy toasting bananas stuffed with chocolate and guzzling tasty hot chocolate - they all had the BEST time!