The Bradley Stoke Journal

McCarthy & Stone, the UK’s leading retirement builder, has donated specialist fencing from its new development in Bradley Stoke to the town’s Cricket Club so they can safely secure their cricket practice facilities.

Bradley Stoke Cricket Club was in desperate need of some fencing to secure the new cricket nets the club had recently purchased. When Mark Wilson, Chairman of the club, contacted McCarthy & Stone to enquire about any spare fencing, the developer offered a helping hand.

Mark commented:

“We have just spent £9,000 on new cricket nets and they were getting damaged as the fencing we had around them was not up to the job and we’d also experienced a small amount of vandalism. We had looked into buying some fencing but money at the club is tight and we just didn’t have the spare cash to purchase any.”

“I noticed that McCarthy & Stone is building a new development just down the road from us and they had security fencing all around the site which was being replaced. When I went to enquire about the fencing, the site team generously donated some to us.”

“It’s made such a huge difference to our club. We can now rest easy knowing our practice facilities are well protected and we are really appreciative of this help from McCarthy & Stone. It is fantastic that a company new to Bradley Stoke has chosen to support us to such an extent and we wish them every success with their venture in the town.”

More: Building firm happy to help local community »

Bradley Stoke Cricket Club (BSCC) is looking for new players of all ages and abilities for the coming season.

The club, based at the Baileys Court Activity Centre, says it will have seven adult teams playing on Saturdays and Sundays.

Games are also staged on Tuesday and Thursday evenings, when teams from six local companies compete in a round robin 15-over tournament.

Local youngsters are well catered for, with youth teams at the U9, U13 any U15 levels. Youth training and coaching is held regularly on Sunday mornings throughout the season.

On Good Friday (2nd April), youngsters from the club will be staging a ‘kwik cricket’ and fielding demonstration in the Town Square at the Willow Brook Centre. The event will start at 11am and continue until 1pm.

For more information on joining the club, contact Mike Mundy on 0117 9697293.

More information and related links:

• Profile of Bradley Stoke Cricket Club (BSCC)
• Cricket in Bradley Stoke (The Journal)

Local police have named Bradley Stoke’s new Council-funded Police Community Support Officer as Paul Baxter, who currently works on the Filton beat.

PCSO Baxter, who has been with the force for two years, will join the Bradley Stoke beat team in September.

Bradley Stoke is one of five neighbourhood police teams being strengthened by the addition of a PCSO funded directly by South Gloucestershire Council.

News of the appointment comes in the August/September edition of the Bradley Stoke neighbourhood policing team newsletter.

The newsletter also contains a report on a cricket match that took place recently between police and residents.

Sgt Steve Ives and a team of PCSOs from Bradley Stoke and Patchway took on local people in a contest on Patchway Common on Sunday 9th August. On this occasion, the residents’ team cam out on top by 202-160 but police say they are looking for a rematch to even the score.

Residents are invited to suggest further ideas for improving contact between police and local residents.

More Information and Related Links:

• Bradley Stoke Police Newsletter, Aug/Sep 2009 [PDF, 295KB]
• Bradley Stoke Police (The Journal)

The U15 team of Bradley Stoke Cricket Club has received a youth team kit bag from cricketing charity The Lord’s Taverners.

The organisation provides grants of over £750,000 p.a. to encourage participation in cricket by young people. Hard ball equipment bags with enough items to equip a full team are awarded to a limited number of applicants, who must be put forward by their local cricket league.

The kit bag contains three sets of batting pads and gloves, three bats, six balls, wicket keeping pads and gloves, a set of stumps and it all comes in a professional bag with wheels for easy transport.

Andy Stovold (pictured left), Western region representative of The Lord’s Taverners, presented the kit bag to U15 team captain Lewis Wentland at the club’s Baileys Court clubhouse on Friday evening.

Bradley Stoke Mayor Mark Forsyth and Cricket Club officials Barry Radford (Junior Coordinator) and Paul Hardwick (Chairman) also attended the ceremony.

Barry Radford commented:

“This is the U15 team’s first season but we also have established U13 and U9 sides. All in all we have 55 members under the age of 18 enjoying regular cricket at Bradley Stoke CC.”

Related Link: Cricket in Bradley Stoke (The Journal)

The Bradley Stoke Community Festival six-a-side Cricket Tournament, held at Baileys Court on Sunday (14th June), saw Holy Trinity defeat the Indian 1st X1 in the final by 43 runs to 41 with just one ball remaining.

A total of five teams contested the tournament, with Mayor’s Maidens, Bradley Bruisers and hosts Bradley Stoke Cricket Club completing the starting line-up.

The Mayor’s Maidens team, made up of Bradley Stoke Mayor Mark Forsyth, Councillors Roger Avenin, Brian Hopkinson, Robert Jones and Benjamin Walker and Council Premises Manger John Rendell put up a brave fight against more experienced opposition. Spirited performances from (relative) youngsters Jones and Rendell were however unable to bring the underdogs further than the round robin stage.

The action on the pitch, which lasted from 1pm to 7pm was interspersed with playing demonstrations from the BSCC youth section and accompanied by the sounds of the Bristol East & Kingswood Band.

Entertainment laid on for all the family included a football shoot-out, bouncy castle, barbecue and a karaoke competition in the clubhouse.

More photos of the cricket tournament: album; slideshow

On Friday (18th April) representatives of Bradley Stoke Cricket Club signed on a new rental agreement with Bradley Stoke Town Council, bringing months of often acrimonious negotiations to an end. The deal is reported to secure the club’s future at the Baileys Court cricket ground for the next forty years.

Bradley Stoke Town Council issued a press release about the agreement on Friday evening, while Mayor Julian Barge can be heard talking about the deal in an audio clip interview published on the sadlybroke website. This sudden wave of publicity is likely to be interpreted by cynics as a sign of the Council’s relief that one element in the long-running dispute over the Baileys Court rental agreements has finally been brought to a conclusion. However, many people in the town believe that the problems are of the Council’s own making, following their decision to unilaterally increase rents by massive amounts in 2007.

In stark contrast, negotiations with Northavon Bowls Club, who also have a ground at Baileys Court, continue to be deadlocked. A source within the Club has informed The Journal that recent attempts to bring in a mediator from South Gloucestershire Council have been rejected by the Town Council. However, a spokesman from the Council gave a different account, stating that the mediator, having examined the history of the case, decided that no useful arbitration would be possible.

Sources from both sides in the dispute have confirmed that the Club has been ordered to remove all its effects from the Baileys Court pavilion by 1st May 2008.