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Amplify Stroud
@amplifystroud.com
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Voice of the Valleys. Long-form slow news and journalism from the Five Valleys of Stroud District. Art, Culture, Politics, Society, Activism, Resistance
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AMPLIFY STROUD is 100% reader supported. Sign up now as a paying subscriber from as little as £5 a month and help us to document the living social history of Stroud
February 7, 2026 at 8:22 PM
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The blessing forms part of a global campaign to give rivers fundamental rights: to flow, to be understood as having sentience, to be free from pollution; to restoration and to be treated as living entities with legal guardians.
A woman with long grey hair, wearing a pink jacket and a green, pink and blue tartan scarf stands amongst a line of people on the grass. She is holding a small bodhran (Irish hand drum) and watching the celebration closely. In her pocket she has a red woolly hat. The image is half covered by a pink panel on which is written the following text: ”There is a campaign across the world to give rights and sovereignty to rivers and watercourses and this is in direct opposition to the continued pollution of our rivers by water companies. 

“Many local councils up and down the country are engaged and committed to this shared outcome.” — Robin Layfield
February 7, 2026 at 8:22 PM
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Robin Layfield takes us on a deeply personal journey of inspiration and celebration, of chanting and wishing, of practical magic and climate activism.
In the foregound a small brazier is set on the grass. It is stacked with wood and it is burning with the flames leaping into the air a few inches above it. This is where people will cast their fears and doubts and where they will draw in the warmth and heat of Brigid, Celtic goddess of the end of Winter. A woman dressed all in white stands in the background. She is a Water Maiden, part of the celebration and there to channel the energies of the Frome into the ritual. A pink panel covers half of the image, overlaid is the following text: “THERE IS SOMETHING DEEPLY MAGICAL about reconnecting with the land and the water around you, about acknowledging that we are all just a tiny part of this world and that no amount of tarmac, river pollution, AI or doomscrolling can take away our fundamental links to and our origins within nature.” — Robin Layfield
February 7, 2026 at 8:22 PM
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THANK YOU for reading, you don't know how important your support is!
December 28, 2025 at 11:38 AM
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Voice of the valleys
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December 28, 2025 at 11:37 AM
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If YOU would like to write for AmplifyStroud, please visit our pitching guidelines on the website and send a submission in to [email protected].
December 28, 2025 at 11:37 AM
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What we aim to do is produce evergreen content that captures a mood, a spirit or a feeling. We are building a social history of Stroud from 2015 onwards and we are capturing each moment as it happens
Cover of a recent article, titled "REDS - Stroud's new youth hub". The image features a group of young people standing with their arms outstretched and cheering. The tag line reads "Community" and there is a small amplify brandmark in the cornre (a lower case underlined white letter 'a' on a pink squircle — square with rounded corners)
December 28, 2025 at 11:37 AM
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We recognise that our work is not in breaking news - there are many other outlets in Stroud doing this and as an independent news provider, we rate Stroud Times amongst the best locally.
December 28, 2025 at 11:37 AM
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We have covered a diverse range of topics from the hyper local, to the global, from community activities, to local government and national policymaking. We've had good representation from Dialect Rural Writers and from the young people of the RYSE, which is a point of pride for us.
A selection of recent articles from 2025. The titles are as follows The Ghost of Christmas Future 50 Years of Rising Stars FC — Nikki Laine interviews Ayoob Moulla It's not just workers calling for a wealth tax — millionaires are too! Requiem for a Protest? — A response Emergence Re-Stock — the Campaign to reduce textile waste Common Ground World Suicide Prevention Day ”Music is the Key to Radical Resistance” — Los Fastidios
December 28, 2025 at 11:37 AM
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Thank you to PINF @publicinterestnews.org.uk - the Public Interest News Foundation for your support and to This Ends Now for your "Words Matter" campaign, which we hope to see make a real impact on on the media.
December 28, 2025 at 11:37 AM
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Props also go out to Joe Magee, Matt Bigwood (from Stroud Times) and Alexander Caminada for generously donating photographs and cover images for some of our articles.
December 28, 2025 at 11:37 AM
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An older man with short spiky hair smiles at the camera. He has a distinctive gap between his front teeth and the lines on his face show that he has seen a lot in his career. This is the former MP David Drew. He is wearing a suit jacket and stripy shirt. On his jacket is a small cross badge depicting his Christian faith. A young Brown man with a beard and a baseball cap is at a protest. The banner behind him reads "Stop Rosebank". He is wearing a Palestinian Kuffiyeh. The label reads "KAM" A young woman with brown-blonde hair and a blue scarf smiles into the camera. An older Jewish man with rectangular glasses and spiky hair looks into the camera. Behind him a demonstration is taking place. He looks concerned and intense.
December 28, 2025 at 11:37 AM
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A woman with smart glasses and shoulder length dark brown hair is looking thoughtfully towards the camera. The label reads "SARAH" A young man smiles into the camera. He has short black hair and a trim black beard. He is wearing a blue / grey teeshirt A Syrian man with a short black beard and rectangular glasses tilts his head to the side and looks into the eyes of the viewer. He is wearing a green jacket and smiling slightly A young person with small hoops in their ears and short spiky hair looks into the camera.
December 28, 2025 at 11:37 AM
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Thank you Alex and Alyssa (top Deputy Editors), thank you David, Emma(s), Nikki and Alun.

Thank you Sarah, Roma, Kam, Rami, Eli, Jezza, Tattie, Milly, Will @willluker.bsky.social from The Shire News, former MP David Drew, and Chikara Shimasaki from the Stroud Commons.
A young person looks away into the distance. They have long brown-blondish hair and several ear piercings. An older man in a smart grey jacket with a navy shirt and a green and navy scarf. He has short grey hair and a short grey beard. He is wearing an 'XR' badge and has an 'XR' patch pinned onto his jacket. He is staring off into the distance A man with piercing blue eyes stares directly into the camera. He is wearing a flat cap and standing behind the peeling bark of a Silver Birch tree. A smiling young woman with long red hair is holding a black labrador to her as she looks towards the camera. The label reads "ROMA"
December 28, 2025 at 11:37 AM
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If you would like to support us in this work, please consider upgrading to a paid subscription from only £5 per month.

Thank you for reading & we'd like to wish you a very Merry Christmas
December 23, 2025 at 7:24 PM
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Amplify Stroud is dedicated to platforming new writers and giving a voice to the social history of Stroud. We work entirely voluntarily, on a shoestring, to bring you stories and articles that add texture, culture and background to living in Stroud.
December 23, 2025 at 7:24 PM
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Trinity Rooms are trying to raise enough money for a community purchase of this much-loved building before Christmas Day.

You can help here

www.stroudtrinityrooms.org/help-buy-tri...
Help Buy Trinity | Stroud Trinity Rooms
Help secure Trinity Rooms Community hub
www.stroudtrinityrooms.org
December 23, 2025 at 7:24 PM
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Emma paints a picture of a place that is full of life and humour, kindness and community spirit and invites us all to step through the doors and join in the celebration.
Read the full piece here on Amplify Stroud
December 23, 2025 at 7:24 PM
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The boys save up to buy a football and start playing in the park — 25-a-side, they have dreams of starting a club and joining the Sunday League.

Fifty years later Rising Stars FC takes the county championship.
December 11, 2025 at 3:00 PM
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Here is Shalize at TEDx Stroud talking about Zero-Waste clothing in 2021

www.youtube.com/watch?time_c...
What is Zero Waste clothing? | Shalize Nicholas | TEDxStroud
YouTube video by TEDx Talks
www.youtube.com
October 22, 2025 at 12:43 PM