On Monday 10 November, Bristol Citizens, in partnership with Citizens UK, the Diocese of Bristol, City of Sanctuary and Bristol Students Union, hosted ‘Weaving Trust’, an event centred around conversation and connection. The evening gathering provided space and opportunity for different communities to come together, build trust and learn about how to effect positive change.
The vision of the event was to build relationships between people from different backgrounds and with different experiences of life, especially amid a polarised political landscape. David Stephenson, Vicar at St Pauls Clifton and co-host of the event, introduced the reasons for the evening, saying that relationship building ‘counters polarisation’ and that ‘change is rooted in relationships’. He also emphasised the importance of meeting in person because conversations online often create division.
The first half of the evening was dedicated to discussion, with each participant engaging in five brief conversations, each lasting eight minutes and involving different people. Each conversation centred on a specific topic, with prompts being explained by hosts. The aim was to share stories rather than opinions, to be curious and to get to know each other. Following each round of discussion, participants had an opportunity to feed back to the group and reflect on what they had learned. The reason for the format is that, to create big change, we must build relationships with others who are not in our existing circles.
Conversation prompts covered a wide range of topics, starting with discussion around what brought people to the event, before moving on to discussions around community and change. The final question focused on practical application and asked participants what they would take away from the evening and how they might use it to benefit their communities. During feedback, one participant said that, following a conversation, they were going to start a community group in their local area, while another said that they had shared contact details with some of the people they had spoken to and will continue conversations outside of the event.
The second part of the evening consisted of several short talks about a campaign making bus travel accessible and affordable for those on low incomes. The first talk explained how a similar, successful, campaign had been run in Oxford. The group focused on gaining free bus passes for Asylum Seekers and Refugees, who are often housed a long way from support services, and did so by meeting and sharing their vision with MP’s, councillors and other key decision makers.
Several speakers then shared about how a new group was aiming to replicate this in Bristol, each sharing their own experiences of the need present in our city. An asylum seeker spoke about how he has to walk seven miles to and from the city centre every day to access support services whilst a local single mother on four shared about the high costs of travelling to work to support her family.
The final speaker, Ellen, manager of the North Bristol & South Glos Foodbank, then spoke about the impact of travel costs on foodbank users, emphasising that, ‘if someone can’t afford to buy food, they probably can’t afford to get to the food bank’. She encouraged everyone to get behind the campaign to support the less fortunate in our city.
The evening closed with an opportunity to give feedback and an invitation to consider hosting your own event. Participants’ feedback emphasised the value of connection and community across different backgrounds and the main criticism was that eight minutes wasn’t long enough as the conversations were so interesting!
If you are interested in community organising or getting involved with Citizens, please reach out to our Partnerships and Campaigns Officer, Naomi Jervis at naomi.jervis@bristoldiocese.org