The Bradley Stoke Journal

An agency branch of Santander Bank is to open soon at Bradley Stoke’s Willow Brook Centre.

The branch will occupy the same shop unit as the former Nationwide Building Society branch, which closed in mysterious circumstances earlier this year.

Hundreds of savers in Bradley Stoke were shocked to hear of the closure and say they never received a satisfactory explanation from Nationwide as to why the branch was closed.

The new Santander agency will be operated by 1st Equity (part of financial services company 1st Group UK of Thornbury), who also ran the Nationwide branch prior to its demise.

The move came to light when posters advertising “vacancies for customer service associates at a new Santander agency opening shortly” appeared in the window of the former Nationwide branch earlier this week, listing a 1st Group UK email address and telephone number.

More details of the Santander vacancies can be found on our New Town Centre Jobs page.

A source at 1st Equity told The Journal they were “unable to make any comment at this time”.

Santander claims to  be the third largest bank in the UK, having taken over Abbey National, Alliance & Leicester and Bradford & Bingley in recent years.

A number of summer holiday clubs and play schemes for school age children are now up and running in Bradley Stoke.

The Four Towns Play Association is staging its annual 5 Alive play scheme for children 5-11 years old at Bradley Stoke Community School. The free holiday club runs for four weeks, until 20th August. No need to book – just turn up with a completed registration form. It’s first come first served, so arrive early to avoid disappointment!

Older children (11+) are the focus of the Freespace activities being held at Brook Way Youth Club. Events planned include a skate park trip, It’s a Knockout competition, cricket match, football festival and a number of day trips.

There’s a sporting focus over at Bradley Stoke Leisure Centre, where children aged 4-16 can enjoy sessions that include multi-sport camp, girl heaven, active camps, rollerskating, tots time, fun & games, Active FIT, fencing, cheerleading, tri golf and kids’ fun time.

Read on to find out about more activities at Bradley Stoke Library and the Willow Brook Centre »

The annual Summer Reading Challenge was launched at the recent official re-opening of Bradley Stoke Library, following a major extension to allow the library to improve services to children.

This year’s ‘Space Hop‘ Challenge, which invites youngsters to help the young crew of the Ex Libris to set up the first library on the moon, is an adventure to help keep children reading throughout the school summer holidays.

The Summer Reading Challenge is an immensely popular and successful national reading initiative which encourages children to read six or more books of their choice during the holidays with collectable incentives and rewards, plus a certificate or medal for every child who completes the challenge.

Last year, 4,200 youngsters took part across South Gloucestershire and it is hoped that this year’s ‘space’ themed event will encourage even more.

Cllr Heather Goddard, executive member for communities, said:

“I know that children really enjoy taking part in the Summer Reading Challenge. It’s a great way to keep them entertained over the holidays, but more importantly, we know that children who take part read more books and read more widely than those who don’t, with potentially life-changing results.”

“I hope that children take part in this year’s challenge and visit the library during the holidays – many of which have been extended and refurbished to offer an even better service to children and young people.”

The official re-opening and Reading Challenge launch was performed by Cllr Janet Biggin, Chair of South Gloucestershire Council, on Saturday 17th July. Also attending the ceremony were Bradley Stoke Mayor Ben Walker and South Gloucestershire Cllr Brian Hopkinson.

Read on for more details about the expanded Bradley Stoke Library

The Friends of Jubilee Green (FOJG) are throwing a party on Saturday (24th July) to celebrate the first anniversary of the Jubilee Green Park.

The £160,000 park, next to the Jubilee Centre on Savages Wood Road, was officially opened twelve months ago by the then-Mayor Cllr Mark Forsyth only to be temporarily closed days later to “allow completion of the site”.

The park has since become a favourite with children of all ages and has recently been enhanced by the addition of an avenue of fruit trees and a bed of sensory plants. Sadly, a number of silver birch trees planted around a seating area at the back of the park have been snapped off by vandals, but despite this, the Friends’ Group says it is determined to press on with further planned developments.

On Saturday, a ‘fun in the sun’ session will run in the park from 1pm to 3pm. Buckets and spades, footballs and soft cricket sets will be provided for everyone to enjoy.

The Woodlands Suite of the Jubilee Centre will be open from 1pm to 2pm, where a children’s drawing competition and ‘make a party hat’ craft session will be held. The best pictures will be used as a backdrop for FOJG’s future publicity posters.

Refreshments will be available – for which people will be asked to make a donation, with all monies raised going towards future projects.

Read on for details of the birthday parade with party bags for all »

Bradley Stoke Radio is holding an open evening on Thursday (22nd July) for anyone looking to find out more about the town’s new community radio project.

The event, which takes place in the Culbone Suite of the Aztec Hotel & Spa (7pm start), will be an informal get-together for anyone interested in getting involved with the radio station. Members of the Committee will be on hand to discuss all aspects of the project.

The last few weeks have been very busy for Bradley Stoke Radio since their debut presence at the Community Festival in June.

The group’s programme covering the Community Festival was recently broadcast on air on BCfm (Community Radio for Bristol)  and a number of interview podcasts have been published on the station’s own website.

More recently, an interview with Bradley Stoke schoolgirl Abigail Newton Smith, an 8-year-old cerebral palsy sufferer who is hoping to travel to the USA for surgery, has been picked up for broadcast on the BBC.

Read on for more details of the station’s aspirations and plans »

Work is due to begin today (Monday 19th July) on a Council-run park and ride site at Hunts Ground Road, Stoke Gifford, close to Parkway Station.

The facility, which will cater for up to 200 cars, is being built on the site of an old brick works on the north-west side of Hunts Ground Round [map] between the Esporta gym and Parkway Station.

South Gloucestershire Council puts the estimated construction time at 32 weeks, with completion scheduled for March 2011.

The car park will include lighting and a CCTV system and the gates will be locked at night and opened early in the morning to enhance security.

Parking charges at the new facility will be £5 a day during the week and £3 a day at weekends. Payment machines will accept credit/debit cards only. By comparison, the official APCOA car park at Parkway Station (capacity: 1140 cars) currently charges £6.90 on weekdays and £4.80 on Saturday and Sunday.

Cllr Brian Allinson, Executive Member for Planning, Transportation and Strategic Environment said:

“This is an exciting step in the provision of improved public transport facilities in South Gloucestershire and will provide much needed car parking for those commuters wishing to access the many bus and rail services that call at Parkway.”

The capacity of the current park and ride scheme is much reduced from that envisaged in earlier plans. The Council lost an option on land on the opposite side of Hunts Ground Road, which had originally been earmarked for the scheme, by failing to meet the required Section 106 trigger dates.

Then, the discovery of a colony of the locally rare small blue butterfly on the current site meant that the number of parking spaces had to be reduced by one third in order to leave sufficient space for kidney vetch, the species’ larval food plant, to flourish.

Read on for details of proposed new parking restrictions in Hunts Ground Road »