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.

Stagsden community unites to launch cheeky charity calendar for men’s health

Villagers in Stagsden aged 18 to 80 have stepped in front of the camera for a cheeky charity calendar raising funds for men's mental and physical health charities across the borough...

Everyone’s Gang launches free summer youth training and apprenticeship ‘LinkUp’

A community-led organisation has launched a free summer programme in Kempston for young people aged 12 and over, combining educational workshops and CV-boosting skills...

Bedford River Festival dragon boaters raise £33,000 as Starlight Hike returns

Sue Ryder raised £33,569 at Saturday's Bedford River Festival Dragon Boat Race, as organisers invite local people to sign up for October's Starlight Hike at Everard Meadow...

Michael R Peters raises over £600 for local charities at Bedford River Festival

Bedford business Michael R Peters has thanked family, friends and staff after raising over £600 for Bedford Hospital Charity, Food etc and Sue Ryder St John's Hospice at the River Festival...

Bedford friends new to running raise £1,860 for East Anglian Children’s Hospices

A trio of Bedford friends who only took up running a few weeks ago have smashed their charity target by raising £1,860 for East Anglia's Children's Hospices...

Monthly column: Why is it important that communities come together to celebrate National Windrush Day?

National Windrush Day commemorates the arrival of HMT Empire Windrush at Tilbury Docks on 22 June 1948. It is a day to celebrate the courage, resilience and achievements of the...

Bedford artist aged 21 dies weeks after suspected ear infection

The sister of a 21-year-old Bedford artist who died from an incurable brain tumour just four weeks after being diagnosed with an ear infection is campaigning to increase national research funding...

Obituary: Michael Herd (1958-2026)

Tributes have been paid to a true champion of Bedford's grassroots music scene, Michael Herd. The team at Esquires, and local record shop, Slide, were among the first to share their...

Teenagers from the West Bank to visit Bedford and share their experience of living in Palestine

A Bedford group twinned with a village in Palestine is welcoming a group of teenage visitors from the West Bank. Bedford Friends of Al Walaja is bringing the group to Bedford on Thursday...

Opinion: I won’t sit back and accept bigotry as the new norm; so why should Ofcom?

After GB News allowed another segment to air that included unfounded tropes against LGBT+ people, Bedford Independent's Sport Editor, Tom Carr asks why the authorities won't act...

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