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9 November 2026
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Community & Charity

All the latest community and charity news from across Bedford Borough. Everything you need to keep you up to date with what’s happening in Bedford Borough on your mobile or desktop via the Bedford Independent.

The Bedford Independent was founded to provide the people of Bedford Borough with a modern news desk that would give them easy access to genuine and unbiased Bedford news. We are independent in ownership and opinion.

Our mission is to inform and inspire the people of Bedford. To do this we will work hard to bring them the news that matters to them from our town centre to the most rural of the Borough’s villages.

Our editorial team are NCTJ trained and follows a standards code set out by the independent press regulator IMPRESS Standards.

A planter on Stanley Street that had "hollyhocks cut down and removed before they could self seed". Image: Teresa Walshe.

“We made a mistake”: council promises to replant shrubs after Black Tom planter damage

Bedford Borough Council has admitted that its maintenance team made a mistake while tidying up planters in the Black Tom area of the town, and that they shouldn't have been strimmed...
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Ravi Singh Gill in Nepal. Image: supplied via Cllr Paul Edmonds.

Obituary: Ravi Singh Gill (1971-2026)

Ravi Singh Gill, a much-loved member of Bedford’s Sikh community and a tireless supporter of people in need, sadly passed away on 6th July, 2026, aged 55. Ravi was born on 1 March 1971, in Queen’s Park...
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Planter strimmed to the mud on Park Road West, Bedford Inset how one of the planters used to look before being cut down

Black Tom community gardeners heartbroken as street planters “strimmed to mud”

Community gardeners in the Black Tom area of Bedford have been left heartbroken after council maintenance crews strimmed community-tended planters and shrubs back to the bare ground...
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Camden Abu Dis Friendship Association with St Thomas More students at a Culture and Diversity Day. Image: QPCO.

Monthly column: Bringing Bedford’s communities into the classroom

In today's increasingly connected world, education extends far beyond reading, writing and arithmetic. Schools play an important role in helping young people understand different cultures...
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Anjulita Court

Manager of Bedford home to run Great North Run to raise money for MHA Anjulita Court

On September 13 Ernie and his partner Fiona will be running the great north run for the first time to raise funds for MHA Anjulita Court and MHA. Ernie Botley, a home manager at…
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Young people around a table playing a game at a youth club.

Opinion: Youth-friendly spaces are essential for the future of Bedford

Bedford borough has a strong community, but young people between 16 and 18 can’t help but feel they are missing out.   Despite large events such as the River Festival and the...
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A stone circular well, inside a deeper hole, cordoned off by orange netting, shows where archeologists have found a well, believed to be from the 1870s, uncovered at the construction site for Universal United Kingdom Resort Image Project Universal

Archaeologists uncover 150-year-old well at Universal United Kingdom Resort site

Drone footage of archaeological digs at the Universal United Kingdom Resort site in Bedford Borough has revealed a 24-metre well dating back to 1873, uncovering a piece of local Victorian history...
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An elderly patient lying in hospital bed receiving a comforting touch from a female nurse. Image: AnnaStills/Shutterstock

Bedford Borough Council to review exemption from council tax for terminally ill

Bedford Borough Council has confirmed it will review council tax exemptions for terminally ill local people in its 2027/28 Budget following a campaign by end-of-life charity Marie Curie...
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Two burns survivors receiving therapy through the Katie Piper Foundation Image Katie Piper Foundation

Rugby legend Jason Leonard OBE to headline charity gala for Katie Piper Foundation

A charity dinner at Bedford Blues' CMC Marquee featuring rugby legend Jason Leonard and a unique auction prize, raising funds for the Katie Piper Foundation will take place in September...
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Soon to be Madad charity shop in Harpur Centre

Bedford charity shortlisted for national business award moves into the Harpur Centre

Bedford-founded charity and social-impact micro-business, Madad, is entering a new phase of growth after moving its Bedford charity store to the Harpur Centre…
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