The Bradley Stoke Journal

Parents of school-age children in Bradley Stoke looking to keep their offspring occupied during the summer break can choose from options offered by (amongst others) Southern Brooks Community Partnership (SBCP), Bradley Stoke Leisure Centre and Bradley Stoke Library.

SBCP, through its Five Alive scheme (previously Four Towns), will be providing four weeks of free activities for children aged 5-11 at three different venues throughout the town:

• Monday 28th July to Friday 1st August:
  Baileys Court Youth Club, Baileys Court Road
• Monday 4th August to Friday 8th August:
  Jubilee Centre, Savages Wood Road
• Monday 11th August to Friday 15th August:
  Bradley Stoke Community School, Fiddlers Wood Lane
• Monday 18th August to Friday 22nd August:
  Bradley Stoke Community School, Fiddlers Wood Lane

More details can be found in the Five Alive leaflet [PDF, 258KB].

Bradley Stoke Leisure Centre’s Summer Holiday Programme runs from Monday 28th July to Friday 29th August. Activities are focused on the 4-11 age group and include roller-skating, trampolining and fencing.

Bradley Stoke Library’s “Team Read” reading challenge gets underway on Saturday 19th July, with young readers being set the target of reading six books over the holiday period. Free activity sessions for children aged 5-10 will be held at the library on Sunday 27th July, Monday 4th August, Monday 11th August and Thursday 21st August, while a “Just Do It” session for those 11 and over is planned for Wednesday 13th August.

The Three Brooks Nature Conservation Group is hosting a birdbox making session on Saturday (5th July) - meet at the Three Brooks lake at 10am. You can take your finished birdbox home (for a donation of £5) or have it put up in the local woods.

The Group stages regular conservation days on the first Saturday in each month - the upcoming August and September meets will feature traditional haycutting at two sites within the Three Brooks Local Nature Reserve.

Saturday also sees three of Bradley Stoke’s schools staging their annual summer fayres:

• Baileys Court Primary School (12pm to 2pm)
• Bowsland Green Primary School (12pm to 6pm)
• Wheatfield Primary School (from 11am)

It’s high season for primary school summer fayres in Bradley Stoke and this weekend saw crowds flocking to events at Meadowbrook and St Mary’s. Naturally, The Journal was on hand to record all the fun - see the album in our PicasaWeb Gallery or view the slideshow (broadband recommended).

Next Saturday (5th July) sees further fayres at Baileys Court and Bowsland Green primary schools. The Baileys Court event runs from 12pm to 2pm, while Bowsland Green’s programme extends from 12pm to 6pm.

Commuters from Bradley Stoke are being encouraged to swap their car for two wheels for a day and cycle to work. People who take part will be treated to a free breakfast for their efforts, ranging from a full English to continental pastries and healthy juice drinks.

Free breakfasts will be available tomorrow (Weds 18th June 2008) from a marquee erected by the Avon Ring Road near the MoD roundabout between 7:30am and 9:30am. This location is convenient for commuters working at Sainsbury’s, the MOD, Hewlett Packard, UWE and other organisations located in the Abbey Wood area.

Simply turn up on the day and your breakfast will be waiting. The menu includes bacon rolls, pastries, croissants, cereal bars and fruit.

Related links:

• South Gloucestershire Council - Cycling
• Cycle West
• Bike Week 2008

The third running of Bradley Stoke’s Festival Run, organised by Sole Sisters Running Club, took place today (Sunday 8th June) in warm and sunny conditions over a 10km course around the town’s roads and conservation area trails.

Bradley Stoke Mayor Robert Jones got the race under way at 10am from a point on Bradley Stoke Way south of the Leisure Centre. The race route first took the runners in a loop towards the south of the town before returning to the start point, from where a second loop saw the runners heading north, crossing Primrose Bridge before heading back down Bradley Stoke Way to cross the start line for a third time. The final 2km of the race then followed the Three Brooks Nature Trail, crossing Brook Way before arriving at the Jubilee Centre, where a lap of the football pitch had to be completed before crossing the finish line.

Winner of the men’s race was Brian Penny of Team Bath AC, who completed the course in 35:20, a time more than two minutes faster than the winning time of last year’s race (when the course was slightly different).

The women’s race was won by Trinity Booth of Chipping Sodbury club Hogweed Trotters in a time of 44:09. Full results are scheduled to appear on the Sole Sisters website tomorrow (Monday).

The Journal’s photographer was on hand to record the race and we have over 200 photos in our PicasaWeb Gallery [album; slideshow].

Please contact us if you would like a free full-size copy of any of our photos. In due course, we will add captions to our photos (e.g. race number), which should make it easier to find the photos you are interested in.

If you have photos of the race and have uploaded them to the web, please let us know and we will publish your link. Alternatively, we would be happy to publish your photos in The Journal’s PicasaWeb Gallery.

Warm and sunny weather saw crowds flock to the Jubilee Centre in Savages Wood Road for the main day of Bradley Stoke’s Community Festival 2008.

The day got underway at 11am with a demonstration of gamegoers’ dogs, falcons and ferrets and continued throughout the afternoon with events alternating between arena and stage. Highlights of the day included performances by Queen tribute band Monarchy and James Dylan Stuntworld (motorcyle riders). The day was rounded off by musicians and dancers from the South Gloucestershire Asian Project at around 5:50pm.

Over on Jubilee Green, the annual Community Fair took place between 1:30pm and 5:30pm, featuring stalls from local charities, community groups and businesses.

The Leisure Centre in Fiddlers Wood Lane was the venue for a skate park competition organised by Southern Brooks Community Partnership.

Fine weather is also forecast for tomorrow (Sunday 8th), when the main Festival event is the Bradley Stoke Festival Fun Run at 10am. The Journal’s interactive map of the race route shows you where (and when) you can see the runners go by.

The National Association for Colitis and Crohn’s Disease (NACC), Mayor Robert Jones’s nominated charity for his year in office, will benefit from the proceeds of the weekend’s events.

There are more than 140 photos of the day’s events in The Journal’s PicasaWeb Gallery:

• Jubilee Centre [album; slideshow]
• Skate Park Competition [album; slideshow]

Please contact us if you would like a free full-size copy of any of our photos. In due course, we plan to add captions to our photos, so please also let us know if you have any information (e.g. website address of your charity/group) that you would like us to include.

Youngsters in Bradley Stoke are eagerly looking forward to this coming Saturday’s (7th June) Skate Park Competition organised by Southern Brooks Community Partnership. The event, which gets underway at 2pm in the skate park by the Leisure Centre, Fiddlers Wood Lane [map], forms part of the Bradley Stoke Community Festival.

Separate contests will be held for BMX bikes, skateboards, in-line skates (blades) and scooters, with prizes awarded in two age categories: under-14 and 14-plus. Each rider will have just one minute to show his/her skills in a maximum of three runs over the ramps.

An entry fee of £2 will be charged and all contestants are required to wear a helmet and give emergency contact details.

Flynn Trotmann of the Fifty Fifty Skateboard Supplies store in Park Row, Bristol, has the unenviable task of choosing the winners. Shopping vouchers to the value of £20, £10 and £5 (redeemable at The Mall, Cribbs Causeway) will be awarded to the first three in each category.

A total of three DJs will be on hand to create a party atmosphere and refreshments will be on sale.

More photos of youngsters warming up for the weekend’s Skate Park Competition can be seen in The Journal’s PicasaWeb Gallery: [album, slideshow].