Women's pensions - Steve Webb's campaign gets pension justice

Steve Webb MP has been campaigning to get proper state pension payments for women whose computer records had been lost, so that they weren't receiving credit for periods when they were at home raising children.

Steve was contacted by more than a thousand women who have been affected. Steve and his team identified a dozen key cases and took them to the Department of Work and Pensions, who agreed that they had lost out. One woman has received more than £10,000 in back pension and interest.

The Government has now agreed to trawl through millions of National Insurance Contribution records to identify the people affected - the back payments may add up to tens of millions of pounds.

For the full details, see Steve Webb's blog.

Satnav strikes again

A gigantic lorry was seen going up Nibley Lane this week, despite the weight limit. It only just made it over the narrow curved bridge. Maybe the driver was blindly following a satnav?

We were reminded of this photo from www.funny.co.uk (warning - there's a very irritating flashing advert on that site), pointed out by the Hit By A Thought blog.

Chipping Sodbury Victorian Day is back - Friday 7 December

Following a great demand, from the people and traders of Chipping Sodbury, a group has been formed to organise this year's event. The group is drawn from Sodbury and Dodington Councils, Chipping Sodbury Lions and Rotary Clubs, the Festival Society and traders within the town.

The events start at 2.30pm when school choirs are expected to perform in the street. The evening events are being kicked off with the arrival of Father Christmas between 6.45 and 7.00pm when snow is guaranteed.

The streets will be lined with stalls from local charities and organisations and old time amusements, including a Ferris wheel, Helter Skelter and two children's rides.

Choirs will sing, bands will play and The Bristol Morris Men will dance while a Christmas Farmers Market, including a Hog Roast will be held in High Street.

Come along and join us for your late night Christmas shopping with shops open throughout the evening. As usual the streets will be lined with Christmas lights and trees, decorated by local schools and nursery groups.

Street cabinets damage / cable phone update no. 2

Cllr Mandy Sainsbury, whose phone was affected by the cabinet vandalism, reports that her land line is finally back on.

"I bumped into a rather harassed Virgin engineer on my morning walk. Apparently the idiots poured petrol into the junction box and set fire to it, so Virgin have had to rebuild the whole box".

"Some folk got re-connected ok but some didn't, so the engineers are in the area trying to track down the individual houses that need work to get the lines active again".

"Any blog readers still off should contact Virgin ASAP to get their (I have to say helpful) engineers round".

First women councillors 100 years ago

It's a hundred years ago this month that the first women councillors were elected in this country, at the elections of 1 November 1907, following the Qualification of Women Act. They started taking office at the first meetings of the new councils, 100 years ago this week.

The first woman mayor, in 1909, was Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, who became mayor of Aldeburgh in Suffolk. She was also the first woman to qualify as a doctor in the UK.

It took another 21 years before women got the same voting rights as men, in 1928. A personal note from the editor - when women were first given full voting rights, my grandmother and her friend arrived a long time before the start of voting. When the polling station opened they walked in together so that they could claim to be the first women to vote under the new law.

This slide show from BBC Woman's Hour gives some interesting insights into the decade 1900-1909.

Make a Noise (but in a library?)

This Saturday (3rd November) is Make a Noise Day in the South Glos libraries. Events will be taking place at all libraries and will include competitions, storytimes, IT sessions and a guest appearance of the Bookstart Bear.

Oh yes, and you can return overdue items without having to pay a fine!

Street cabinets damage / cable phone update

Some phone lines are back on after the firework damage to the Virgin phone cabinet between Blaisdon and Woodchester about a week ago.

However some people are still off - and one neighbour reports "If you ring my number you get a ringing tone but the line in the house is as dead as a dodo. Virgin have no idea when service will be resumed!"

Isn't it about time Virgin sorted it out? Several local residents have said that they can't get any information from Virgin at all.