North Bristol community steps up to help amidst arson attacks

With news of the awful arson attacks in north Bristol spreading, the local community has started to come together to offer support and lifts to those affected.

From comments on social media to people contacting the charity directly, there have been numerous offers of neighbourly help from those living within north Bristol.

Outside of her role as councillor, Angela Morey has reached out to the local community to offer her help in whatever way she can.

“I’m a town councillor but I’m not talking on behalf of the council, just as a local person in the community. I just knew that there would be loads of people unable to attend their appointments this week, which is just awful, so I thought if there is anything I could do like offer to take someone somewhere,” she says.

“I’ve also asked the charity Four Towns and Vale Link Community Transport if I could help with anything while they sort their insurance such as raising awareness or fundraising.”

Naturally, it might not be as easy as simply offering her own lifts, but Ms Morey is keen to let people know that she can act as a facilitator - if people contact her for help, she can pull together whatever is possible.

“People can come through and contact me on any one of my social media pages and I will pass it on, delegate or signpost some help. My number is everywhere online if anyone wants to just call me for help.”

And she’s not the only one offering help, either. In fact, Angela’s friend was made redundant this morning and has also offered to do lifts within her local community.

“Straight away, my friend messaged me and said that the bad news is she’s been made redundant but good news, that she could offer lifts,” explains Ms Morey.

“I genuinely know, having run a Facebook group in Bradley Stoke for seven years, that you only have to ask in Bradley Stoke and someone will offer to help - it’s amazing how kind and generous everyone in the area is. If there was a campaign ready to go, I’m sure everyone would do what they can. People recently did a lot to help for Ukraine.”

One lady, who asked not to be named, also posted on the Avon and Somerset Police Facebook page: “IF ANYONE NEEDS ANY TRIPS TO DO A FOOD SHOP OR OTHER IMPORTANT JOURNEYS OVER THE NEXT COUPLE WEEKS FEEL FREE TO MESSAGE MY FACEBOOK!!! Xxx”

The woman says she feels it is important to step up and offer help to the community, she told Bristol World: “I don’t mind helping people with their weekly shops or if they’ve got appointments that they can’t get to.

“The post got shared so I went on there and said for people to message me on Facebook if they did want anything and I’ve been checking the message requests.

“I don’t mind helping because it’s not nice to be either stuck without a shop as it’s too much for the bus or having kids - they can’t do it all. And obviously, appointments are booked for a reason so I don’t want people missing out.”

It’s this sort of community camaraderie and spirit that Dick Whittington, chairman of the charity Four Towns and Vale Link Community Transport who lost over half of their fleet in the fires, thinks is crucial.

He said that by people offering out support to their immediate neighbours for simple journeys such as going to the supermarket by car or going to a hospital appointment, it frees up the remaining minibuses for the charity to use.

Essentially, while logistics are complicated for the charity to feet back on its feet, people offering to do things like the above can really help.

“One of the things we do is we help people get to hospital appointments and that’s not always in one of our minibuses as, in some cases, we will have volunteers driving their own cars,” says Mr Whittington.

“The more that people can help neighbours and friends with things like hospital appointments, which are generally individual trips, this would take the pressure off for us a bit.”