The Bradley Stoke Journal

Bowls legend David Bryant CBE, three-times world champion and four-times Commonwealth Games champion, is to perform the opening ceremony of the new Bradley Stoke Bowls Club on Saturday 1st May.

Representatives of  the City & County of Bristol Bowling Association and the Gloucestershire  Bowling Association are also expected to attend the event.

The sport is returning to the Baileys Court green two years after the former Northavon Bowls Club was controversially evicted from the ground by Bradley Stoke Town Council in a dispute over rent.

A spokesperson for the newly-formed club says they have already signed up 62 members and are expecting numbers to grow even more by the time the new season gets underway.

Annual membership of the club has been set at £35 and new bowlers are being offered training from two qualified coaches.

Bradley Stoke Town Council’s Finance Committee recently agreed to set the new bowls club’s first year rent at £1,500, inclusive of maintenance of the bowling green – an estimated £8,000 p.a. cost previously borne by members of the Northavon club.

The deal received cross-party support from members of the Finance Committee, with the notable exceptions of Cllr Julian Barge and spouse Cllr Elizabeth Todd, who both abstained.

The agreement must now be ratified at a meeting of Full Council later this month.

The club is holding its ‘Spring Meeting’ on Tuesday 13th April (7pm start) at the Baileys Court Activity Centre and welcomes enquiries from new and experienced bowlers.

More information: Bradley Stoke Bowls Club (The Journal)

Discussion is open - be the first to comment - click here to respond.

Conservative Councillors have welcomed the signing of an agreement between Bradley Stoke Town Council (BSTC), South Gloucestershire Council (SGC) and Southern Brooks Community Partnership (SBCP) that secures annual funding of £93,000 for youth work in Bradley Stoke.

Councillors claim that the new agreement will produce “better value for the money that both Councils put into youth services in the town”.

Under the ‘Commissioned Service Agreement’, £93,000 of  annual funding – made up of £60,000 from BSTC and £33,000 from SGC – will be paid to Southern Brooks Community Partnership to provide:

• A full-time qualified youth worker managing and co-ordinating the development and delivery of youth provision in Bradley Stoke, working closely with Bradley Stoke Youth Committee and South Gloucestershire Youth Service
• Four nights of centre-based youth sessions per week for the 13 – 19 age group
• Two centre-based activity sessions per week for the 10 – 13 aged group
• Two ‘detached’ youth sessions per week – where youth workers engage with young people ‘on the streets’

The agreement requires centre-based sessions to be provided for a minimum of 44 weeks per year.

Young people are said to have sat on the panel that chose the provider and quarterly reports will be provided to ensure that requirements are being met.

Read the rest of this entry »

Discussion is open - 1 comment (view) - click here to respond.

Organisers of the second Bradley Stoke Aquathlon, a swim and run event based at the Leisure Centre, have announced that the race is now full.

Sandra Webber of Thornbury Running Club says that a maximum field of 140 athletes will line up for the event on Sunday 14th March, which represents a 50% increase over the number that contested last year’s inaugural race.

The field includes large contingents from Bristol & District Triatheletes and the Kingswood Triathlon Club. Other competitors are travelling from Yeovil, London and Wales to take part in the event.

The first competitors will begin their swim at 8.30am and the event is expected to finish by 11:30am. A  prize giving ceremony will take place at around 12:30pm.

Sponsors are ZeroG, who co-own the Giant bike shop at the Willow Brook Centre, Easy Runner, Sweatshop, Kudos and Rapid Building Services.

Members of the public are advised that the main and small pools at Bradley Stoke Leisure Centre will be closed until noon on the day of the event.

Discussion is open - be the first to comment - click here to respond.

Councillors on Bradley Stoke Town Council’s Planning Committee have taken exception to proposals from South Gloucestershire Council (SGC) to install a number of ‘raised table’ cycle crossings in the town.

As reported last month, SGC has opened a consultation on plans to install the crossings on Baileys Court Road, Fiddlers Wood Lane and across the access road to Bradley Stoke Leisure Centre.

The crossings will bring the carriageway up to the level of the footway, allowing cyclists and wheelchair users to cross the road without a change in level.

In a unanimous decision, Councillors voted to object to the scheme on the grounds of “unnecessary expense; raised tables offering no protection to cyclists; causing damage to vehicles; and slowing the passage of emergency vehicles”.

The motion was proposed by Cllr John Ashe, who also drew the meeting’s attention to a statement in the SGC proposals that claims the crossings can “help to maintain the low speed of traffic within any 20mph zone”, adding that he feared this could be the first step towards introducing unwanted 20mph speed limits in the town.

The crossings are part of the Cycling City Route 3 scheme, which will link Parkway Station to Bradley Stoke Leisure Centre.

Construction work has recently started on parts of the scheme, including the installation of a short stretch of new cyclepath along Bradley Stoke Way, close to its junction with Fiddlers Wood Lane.

It is seems unlikely that the Councillors’ objection will prevent the crossings being implemented as the current consultation is on the Highways Act notice that represents the final stage of the approval process.

A widely-publicised month-long public consultation on the whole Cycling City Route 3 scheme was held in September 2009 but Councillors failed to discuss it at any of their meetings held around that time.

Discussion is open - 2 comments (view) - click here to respond.

A meeting of the Southern Brooks Area Forum this evening (Tuesday 2nd March) will allocate funding of £29,220 to a selection of projects proposed by local voluntary organisations under the Small Grant Scheme.

A total of 27 applications have been received, from organisations which include:  Four Towns Play Association (£3,000 for equipment, staff training and publicity), Three Brooks Nature Conservation Group (£391 for bat walk equipment), Holy Trinity Youth Group (£3,000 for equipment) and Willow Brook Townswomen’s Guild (£500 for hall hire).

Area forums, organised by South Gloucestershire Council (SGC), give local people the opportunity to talk about issues and concerns that affect their neighbourhoods. They champion local needs and aspirations and gather the views of residents about specific community issues.

Other items on tonight’s agenda include a presentation on emergency planning and consultation on the South Gloucestershire Compact, a partnership agreement between the statutory sectors and the voluntary and community sector.

The meeting takes place at Patchway Community College, Hempton Lane, Patchway (7pm start).

More info: Agenda (SGC)

Discussion is open - be the first to comment - click here to respond.