SAVE STROUD MATERNITY UNIT writer: Kate Buckingham “Here we go again” — Stroud Maternity Unit has been under threat of closure for the last five and a half years. This Autumn, plans are ramping up. amplifystroud.com/save-stroud-...

This week's shock news that Stratford Park Lido's — Stroud's outdoor pool's — future is uncertain should be a wake up call to all of us to step up and do what we can save this beloved heritage asset. Nikki Laine writes about what we can all do to help save the Lido #Community #Health #Swimming

European gas price now up 48% since Friday! And Dutch gas storages at a very low level (10% filled). But: no incentive at all for commercial companies to start filling up again: prices throughout the year are higher than those for next winter. If we want the storages filled, governments need to act.

Sudanese journalist Almigdad Hassan has received the Newcomer of the Year – Hans Verploeg Award 2025 thesudanist.com/journalist-a...

DATELINE: 2 FEBRUARY 2026 WRITER: ROBIN LAYFIELD TOPIC: “I AM THE WATER, THE WATER IS ME” — BLESSING THE FROME On Sunday 1 February people came to Rodborough Fields from all over Stroud to mark the Celtic festival of Imbolc and to join in the blessing of the river Frome.

THANK YOU ~~~~~~~~~ Thanks to everyone that has put pen to paper and taken the time to write one or more articles for Amplify Stroud over the course of 2025. You have all written such interesting articles and hopefully you have more to share.

In her latest post for Amplify Stroud, Emma Kernahan tells us about her experiences at the Trinity Rooms Community Hub, from joining in Christmas Dinner to seeing ghosts of the past when it was a World War 1 hospital ward. amplifystroud.com/the-ghost-of...

The Cracker Barrel thing was THIS YEAR. We have three more years of this shit. Anybody who makes it to 2028 without looking like Nosferatu will be required by the state to start a skincare brand.

Nikki Laine interviews Ayoob "Ginge" Moolla about Rising Stars FC after 50 years of growth of the club. A group of young boys come to the UK in the Summer of 1966. They go to the park at the weekends to play cricket but they become obsessed with football. amplifystroud.com/50-years-of-...

EMERGENCE RE-STOCK — THE CAMPAIGN TO REDUCE TEXTILE WASTE SHALIZE NICHOLAS | EMERGENCE RE-STOCK OCTOBER 2025 UK households throw away around 300,000 tonnes of clothing each year, with much ending up in incineration or landfill. amplifystroud.com/emergence-re...

MUSIC IS THE KEY TO RADICAL RESISTANCE TIM LEZARD | STROUD LOVE MUSIC / HATE RACISM OCTOBER 2025 As Italian Ska Punk renegades LOS FASTIDIOS prepare to return to Stroud to play at the Prince Albert on Monday October 27, Tim Lezard catches up with Elisa and Enrico in Verona.

COMMON GROUND OCTOBER 2025 NIKKI OWEN I blinked through the sunlight dancing in the trees, feeling, in that moment, at one with the world. Until I saw it. There, attached to a pole on a caravan, flapping in the cool breeze like a sharp slap: an England flag. amplifystroud.com/common-ground/

GLOUCESTER WELCOMES REFUGEES In the wake of anti-refugee protests outside the Ibis hotel in Gloucester, an upcoming gathering in solidarity with refugees and asylum seekers is planned for Sunday 5 October. amplifystroud.com/gloucester-w...

STOP ROSEBANK Our latest piece from writer Kamal Longia amplifystroud.com/stop-roseban...

Wise words from @georgemonbiot.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

DATELINE: 10 SEPTEMBER TITLE: STROUD FESTIVAL OF COMMONING WRITER: CHIKARA SHIMASAKI Chik breaks down the Festival of Commoning taking place in Stroud on 14 / 15 September. amplifystroud.com/stroud-festi...

amplifystroud.com/introducing-... Introducing Na'amod June 2025 Na'amod is a growing movement of British Jews that openly rejects the narrative of complete unswerving support for Israel. Na'amod is calling for an end to the Occupation and an end to the practice of Apartheid by the State of Israel.

“WE NEED OUR FARMERS TO BE ARTISTS” — Nick Hayes & Emma Kernahan at NeoAncients “IT FEELS LIKE SOMETHING OF a moment for me to cover a conversation between Emma Kernahan and Nick Hayes at day two of the NeoAncients festival 2025 on a sunny weekend in Stroud.” — Roma Robinson | The RYSE

Toxic pesticide levels found in tampons 40 times higher than legal limit for water

absolutely badass tool!

Her happiness is dependent on their compassion and skills - yet the average pay for care workers is £11 an hour, less than you earn at a supermarket ➡️ Read more: trib.al/AvLWu6m

MAY 2025 TATTIE BAKER | THE RYSE NEOANCIENTS — THE PEOPLE’S PYRAMID “Something that struck me about the speakers was how rascally they seemed, like they had never lost their sense of play. Call it a mischievous twinkle in their eyes.” — Tattie Baker amplifystroud.com/2025-05-neoa...

Helping people imagine lives without car dependency. Exciting to see this from @gregmarsden-leeds.bsky.social and crew environment.leeds.ac.uk/faculty/news...

May 2025 KIRSTY DONNELLY — DRY STONE WALLER Words: Alyssa Pearce | Photos: Alexander Caminada “Stroud is a maker's paradise and always will be and there are lots of women doing amazing things creatively but it is the crafts that are seen as inherently male.” amplifystroud.com/2025-05-kirs...

Brilliant to eliminate Energy Star, a program that costs $32m but delivered $40b in annual savings. None other than the US chamber of commerce tried to save it as a model of business/government partnership. www.nytimes.com/2025/05/06/c...

MAY 17 & 18 CHARTIST FESTIVAL STUART BUTLER | RADICAL STROUD This May marks 200 years since the Chartist uprising where 5,000 people gathered on Selsley Common in Stroud to call for 6 basic demands of democracy.

THIS 👇👇👇 from Laura Basu shared by @graceblakeley.substack.com

DATELINE: APRIL 2025 WRITER: ALEX PARNHAM-COPE TOPIC: PIP gives me quality of life” — Locals share their fears of changes to benefits

imagine paying $200 to watch a 2 hour French New Wave film that could have been collapsed into a 10 min scene of young people running around. $300 to watch In the Mood for Love, and in the end, they don't even kiss.

NEOANCIENTS That’s a wrap! Amplify Stroud has spent the weekend covering the NeoAncients x Weird Walk festival - something that is uniquely Stroud - a Beltaine themed festival of arts, music, spiritualism, film and talks all about the land, weirdness, cultural obsessions and language.

"Reform’s newly elected Greater Lincolnshire mayor Andrea Jenkyns has said she would like to cut at least one county council’s workforce in her area by up to 10%" She has no power to do this and was not elected to govern that council.

STROUDIES FLOCK TO CHELTENHAM TO STAND UP FOR TRANS RIGHTS WRITER: ALEX PARNHAM-COPE | April 2025 >> amplifystroud.com/stroudies-fl...

THERE'S A GODDESS IN THE COTSWOLDS ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Sarah Dixon | WAAS Sarah explores the remarkable development of the Goddess Temple in Stroud. amplifystroud.com/theres-a-god...

DATELINE: 31 MARCH 2025 SUBJECT: WHAT RAMADAN MEANS FOR THE MUSLIMS OF STROUD AND GLOUCESTER WRITER: WILL LUKER | CALL ME WILL

DATELINE: 24 MARCH 2025 SUBJECT: DEVOLUTION FOR GLOUCESTERSHIRE? WRITER: ALYSSA PEARCE amplifystroud.com/devolution-f...

DATELINE: 2 MARCH 2025 SUBJECT: AMPLIFY STROUD MEETS DR SIMON OPHER IN WESTMINSTER WRITERS: ALEX PARNHAM-COPE & ALYSSA PEARCE

It was bad enough when Reach (SN&J) began posting out-of-area clickbait headlines that would shock you into reading them…

NeoAncients is back! Amplify Stroud covered NeoAncients extensively last year, here is a look back at some of last year's events amplifystroud.com/2025-02-neoa...

“Like cigarettes, enormous vehicles can kill those who never used the product…40 years ago, the outrage of secondhand smoke was an eye-opener for many Americans. A similar narrative could help people recognize the havoc that 4-wheeled behemoths now wreak on our streets.”— @davidzipper.bsky.social

DATELINE: Friday 7 February 2025 TOPIC: Sudan: Understanding the Crisis WRITER: DAVID DREW | Former MP for Stroud amplifystroud.com/2025-02-suda... #INTERNATIONALISM #SUDAN

DATELINE: Sunday 10 November 2024 TOPIC: “HOPE IS A DRAGON” — Led By Donkeys WRITER: JOE MAGEE | Stroud Book Festival It’s early November and Donald Trump has just been elected to the highest office in the United States of America. #LedByDonkeys #Art #Activism #Accountability

DATELINE: 01/02/2025 TOPIC: REMEMBERING THE VICTIMS OF THE BOSNIAN GENOCIDE WRITER: ALEX PARNHAM COPE / DAMIR KLJAJIC IN 2025, WE REMEMBER 30 YEARS SINCE since the end of the Bosnian war. amplifystroud.com/2025-01-reme... #Genocide #Bosnia #30Years

DATELINE: 26/01/2025 TOPIC: HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL DAY WRITER: EMMA CALCUTT | COMMUNITY SOLIDARITY STROUD DISTRICT

When is journalism not journalism? Owen Jones uncovers systemic & institutional pro-Israeli bias around reporting on Gaza at the BBC www.dropsitenews.com/p/bbc-civil-...

Speeding traffic is rated as the greatest antisocial behaviour in local communities. The evidence is that there is 𝗴𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝗽𝘂𝗯𝗹𝗶𝗰 𝘀𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗲𝗻𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗰𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁. Read this 1 page report. bit.ly/4gyzdpk

🚨SCOOP: Wessex Water’s Malaysian owners under investigation for corruption Malaysian anti-corruption investigators have launched probe into YTL Power subsidiary over £700m public contract New on Democracy for Sale by @lucasamin.bsky.social and me: democracyforsale.substack.com/p/revealed-w...

DATELINE: 13 DECEMBER 2024 WRITER: EMMA CALCUTT TOPIC: SYRIA ======================= "The fall of the Assad regime is a turning point, but rebuilding — both personally and nationally — will take time." — Emma Calcutt >> amplifystroud.com/2024-12-syria/ << #SyriaLiberation #Internationalism