An update from Sara Messenger of the Bradley Stoke in Bloom group.

Twinned roundabout

Winter may have been a quiet time for our ‘in bloom’ group, but it seems that spring is not! Spurred on by the Twinning Association visit by a party from Champs-sur-Marne, we bought forward our April workday so that we could include the group in our ‘French roundabout’ project. Well, that was the plan! However, there was a clash in their schedule meaning they weren’t about to help on the day. We couldn’t get a French skep (straw beehive) or a ‘twinned with…’ sign, but apart from that, the day went well!

We chose Sherbournes Brake Roundabout (at the junction of Brook Way, Baileys Court Road and Orpheus Avenue) and have planted French lavender, campanula, penstemon, delphinium and phlox – only choosing plants that will have white or purple flowers. The centre piece is a rather English WBC beehive (named after William Broughton Carr). We know this, as a couple of members from Little Stoke Beekeepers’ Association stopped by and told us! But we did know some bee history that they didn’t: that Childeric the 1st was the first of the French monarchs to have used the bee as a symbol of ‘immortality and resurrection’!

The hive is just for decoration; as it has no base or combs, it isn’t a suitable home for any real bees.

Our thanks must go to Almondsbury Garden Centre for donating the bedding plants and to the neighbours, Lula and Brain who bought us out cold drinks and have promised to water the plants for us. The popularity of this project and its use as a handy landmark has made us think that we should bring forward our plans for some of the other roundabouts in the town.

More: Easter decorations, Jubilee Green and best garden competition »

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A popular car boot sale that takes place near Bradley Stoke is due to re-open for the 2017 season this weekend.

The weekly Trench Lane Boot Sale, held on Sundays on a farmland site opposite the entrance to Woodlands Golf Club [BS32 4JZ, map], will open for the first time this year on Sunday 7th May.

As in previous years, the sale will open to buyers at 7am. Trading goes on until around 3pm, although the number of buyers usually drops off after midday. Sellers are charged £7 for a car or £10 for a van.

For buyers, there is an entrance charge of £1 for a car or 50p for a pedestrian.

Free parking is provided in adjacent fields.

The organisers ask sellers to arrive no earlier than 6am (when the site opens), to avoid traffic queues forming on Trench Lane.

The final sale in 2016 will take place on Sunday 24th September.

Related link: Markets in and around Bradley Stoke (The Journal)

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Work to construct a tunnel to carry a new sewer pipe under the M4 motorway is due to begin in Bradley Stoke’s Three Brooks Local Nature Reserve on Monday 24th April.

The work, which is expected to last for approximately six months, will involve setting up a fenced site compound on the triangular area of grass near the bridge over Hortham Brook where it flows into the ‘duck pond’. A six-metre deep shaft will be constructed in this location, from where a tunnel will be bored to accommodate the new 1.8m-diameter sewer pipe.

The tunnel will form part of a new 5km-long link between Frampton Cotterell and Bradley Stoke, completing the final link in the Frome Valley Relief Sewer which was begun in the 1990s.

A temporary footpath will be in place and access will be maintained at all times.

Heavy construction plant and machinery will also have access to carry out the work. This will be achieved via a temporary access point on Bradley Stoke Way, close to the bridge over Stoke Brook.

A Wessex Water spokesperson said:

“While we carry out the work we will take care to protect the natural habitats and environment of the local wildlife. Once our work is complete we will return the local nature reserve to the condition we found it.”

“We apologise in advance for any inconvenience this work may cause.”

Further information about the work can be found on the Wessex Water website at www.wessexwater.co.uk/FromeValley

More: Cross-sectional diagram of sewer tunnel route »

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Volunteers from Bradley Stoke, Stoke Gifford and Filton among those honoured at annual awards ceremony.

Nearly thirty unsung heroes and their families attended the Chair’s Community Awards at South Gloucestershire and Stroud (SGS) College’s WISE Campus on Thursday 16th March.

The annual awards recognise and celebrate the valuable contribution local unpaid volunteers make to life in South Gloucestershire. These people give up their time freely to help others and bring our communities together, and were rewarded for their efforts at the special ceremony.

Chair of South Gloucestershire Council (SGC) Cllr Erica Williams attended, along with the Lord Lieutenant of Gloucestershire, Dame Janet Trotter, Vice Lord Lieutenant Robert Bernays, Group Chief Executive & Executive Principal of SGS College Kevin Hamblin and Principal and Deputy Chief of SGS College Sara-Jane Watkins.

Throughout the evening, award winners from across South Gloucestershire, and from a wide variety of backgrounds, were presented with their certificates by Cllr Williams and Sara-Jane Watkins. The final round was the Lord Lieutenant’s Special Award, which saw Dame Janet Trotter and Robert Bernays present £100 to Diya Barot and George Beaven for their valued services as mentors and anti-hate crime ambassadors in South Gloucestershire.

Cllr Williams said:

“I have been consistently amazed and inspired by the number of people from across our area who dedicate so much of their precious time in a voluntary capacity. These awards are a small way of recognising the effort and tireless service which volunteers provide for their local communities, and to say thank you to just some of them for continuing to make South Gloucestershire a great place to live and work.”

“Choosing from the nominations for this event has been a heart-warming and yet difficult task. All the nominees were clearly highly respected and admired for their commitment and hard work. It has been humbling to read all of the citations and I consider it to be one of the highlights of my role to be able to honour our award winners.”

The annual awards event is sponsored by SGS College. The evening also saw students from the Level 3 Musical Theatre Year 2 group, based at WISE campus of SGS College, perform some of their latest productions.

More: Photos and nominators’ citations for all the local winners »

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Bradley Stoke’s Willow Brook Centre has come under fire from birdwatching enthusiasts for chopping down around 20 rowan trees whose berries had attracted a flock of rare migrant waxwings over the winter months.

Just days after crowds of waxwing-seeking photographers in the shopping centre’s car park had made headlines in the Journal and been featured on BBC Radio Bristol, contractors at the site began felling the trees, resulting in a torrent of criticism on social media.

Birding enthusiasts noted that the centre management had previously welcomed their presence and praised their photos of the “beautiful birds”.

The Willow Brook Centre responded by saying that the rowan trees were being removed because they were in “poor condition”, with half their number having been removed two years ago and replaced with a species “more suited to poor drainage / little root space”.

In a more comprehensive statement published two days later on the Willow Brook Centre website, it was explained that tree surgeons called in to assess around a dozen rowan trees on the site had found them “dehydrated, undernourished and in a poor way”.

Centre manager Andy Wynn said:

“We fully appreciate it is a disappointment to cut down the trees, and therefore the habitat of these birds, however, given the condition of the rowans, we were left with no option but to remove them.”

More information and related links:

• Willow Brook Centre statement in full
• Waxwings in Bradley Stoke (Winter 2016/17)
• Bradley Stoke Rowangate

More: Birdwatchers’ reactions to the tree felling (on social media) »

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