It’s now nearly a year since we set out with our Happy City Roadshow to Easton, moving from the brainstorming and philosophising of our first year into the practical action of the second.  We’re reflecting on all we’ve achieved to give a report back to those who’ve supported us, and we’re keen to find out as much as we can about the influence of Happy City activities.  We’ve got some direct feedback from events, and some great quotes from people’s e-mails, but we’d love to hear what you think has changed as a result (directly or indirectly) of what we’ve been doing. 

We know of course we’re just one player in a city full of inspired community activists (which is kind of the point!), and as you’ll see in the article we wrote this week for Bristol 24-7, we’re keen honour the collective efforts of people in Bristol. Please do send us a line or two if you, your organisation, or people you know have benefited in some way from hearing about, or being involved in Happy City...

Last week, we held a Making it Happen meeting with people who are keen to get involved in our various projects. It was a really productive session full of great suggestions and promises of action, so expect to see another wave of Happy City activity very soon.  You can always plug into our activities in person by dropping into the office at 20-23 Hepburn Road – we love the company of helpful people!   We’ve also got a (small) library of books, so if you’re an avid reader, fancy learning lots about happiness and like the idea of reviewing/sharing your new-found knowledge, please do come and have a browse.

Finally, a quick announcement about the Happiness Challenge –we’re such a tiny core team that we’ve found lots of urgent and important things keep getting in the way of calling people to see if they’d like to sign up.  As a result, we’ve decided to postpone the first challenge until 25th January.  Right after this newsletter, we’ll be drafting a press release featuring those who are first in line, so if you’d like the publicity, get in touch!!

Here are the last Spots before the Clocks go back (don’t forget next Monday...)

Spot of Thanks to the lovely people at Unit 15 who allowed us to store a few things we can’ fit in our Happy City Office - their Launch Party (29th Oct) looks like a blast.

Mayoral Spots in theCity Mayors Foundation, which we discovered whilst hunting for European city rankings of happiness – a treasure chest of experience.

Spot less violence than in the pastis the message from Stephen Pinker, who’slatest research suggests we keep our fears in proportion.

Film Spots in theever-impressiveAfrikaEye film festival at the Watershed from 28-30th October – another thing Bristol can be proud of...

Spot of debate inthepresence ofnature at Communicate 2011 (2-3 Nov), an internationally recognised annual highlight for environmental communicators.

Restorative Spot at Resolving Conflict Together on 3rd Nov, a conference about helping Bristol become a City of Restorative Justice. Ffi. june@pieriancentre.com, 0117 924 4512

Last Spot for thePierian Centre’sLearning Forum on 28th Oct (10.30-4pm) when June Burroughs will talk about the Pierian Principles