The Bradley Stoke Journal

A team of dancers from Bradley Stoke has clinched first prize in their category at the recent United Dance Organisation’s (UDO’s) World Street Dance Championships in Blackpool. Fahrenheit Dance Studio’s ‘Escape’ troop was victorious in the under-14s newcomers category, contested by a total of 14 teams from around the globe.

Fahrenheit’s Miraille Dehaney, who trains three teams of dancers every Sunday at Bradley Stoke Leisure Centre, described the girls’ achievement as “amazing”.

The competition took place at Blackpool’s Winter Gardens, in front of a crowd of thousands. The audience figures were boosted by a guest appearance from Britain’s Got Talent star George Sampson, whom the Bradley Stoke girls were delighted to meet.

Fahrenheit Dance Studio Bristol, home of the GWR Bristol Dance Team, runs classes on Thursdays in the Jane Austen room at Bradley Stoke Leisure Centre. Classes for under-10s run from 5pm to 6pm, with those for older children between 6pm and 7pm. Contact Miraille on 01454-614796 or 07875-101951 for further details.

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.

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].

The pond at Jubilee Green, Savages Wood Road has been cleared of rubbish by a team of volunteers from the local community. As The Journal reported last week, the pond had become polluted with shopping trolleys, bicycles, tyres, plastic seats and other debris, making it dangerous for people and wildlife.

The community action, inspired by two members (Mikey and Keith) of the local youth club, was coordinated by Ruth Cornish of Southern Brooks Community Partnership with help from Bradley Stoke Neighbourhood Policing Team and Home Housing Group.

Members of the youth club worked together with families from the neighbourhood adjoining Jubilee Green to collect debris from the pond and load it into a skip. Local Police Community Support Officer Pat Gardener was on hand to help direct the group, which consisted of about thirty people of all ages.

The pond was cleared in just under an hour, leaving the skip overflowing with mattresses, bicycles, an exhaust system, tyres, plastic furniture, computer equipment, a motorcycle, a vacuum cleaner and several shopping trolleys.

The hard work was followed by a well earned rest with the participants enjoying a barbecue back at the Jubilee Centre.

Lots more photos of the community pond clearance can be viewed in our PicasaWeb Gallery [album, slideshow].

As stated in our previous report, littering and fly tipping can be reported to South Gloucestershire Council’s Streetcare team (Tel: 01454-868000). If you are dissatisfied with the response you get from Streetcare team, you are advised to contact your local town or district Councillor [see The Journal’s Contact your Councillors page for how to do this].

Each home in South Gloucestershire is allowed one free collection of bulky waste (items that are too big to fit in your bin) in any 12 month period, while the Sort It! Centre in Station Road, Little Stoke accepts most types of household waste.

Abandoned Tesco trolleys should be reported to the customer service desk (Tel: 01454-847300) at the supermarket group’s Savages Wood Road store. The company told The Journal that it has a policy of collecting dumped trolleys when it is made aware of them. No comment could be obtained from the Aldi store at Patchway Brook roundabout, whose trolleys require a one pound deposit.