South Gloucestershire Council’s (SGC’s) element of the council tax levied on local residents is to increase by 5.99 percent from April, meaning it will have risen by almost 11 percent in just two years. Meeting on 14th February, councillors agreed to set a revenue budget of £215.9 million, with the increase in the council-controlled element of council tax being made
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Spring singing for Stokes Singers
Spring is in the air for Stokes Singers as we look forward to marking the 25th anniversary of our choir later in 2018, writes Sue Callow, publicity officer. Several new members have joined us and we enjoyed a quiz evening and a visit to Crossbow Singers at Frampton Cotterell to share one of their rehearsals. Nick Breeze, who founded the
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Bank staff help out at local school
Twelve willing volunteers from the Bradley Stoke offices of TSB Bank recently spent two days helping to build a chicken coop at Wheatfield Primary School. With partners at TSB actively encouraged to volunteer in their local community, Chloe Mitchell, TSB finance manager, parent and governor at the school, volunteered her team. In November last year and again in January, the
Continue reading![Waxwing pictured at the Willow Brook Centre. [Photo credit: Chris Teague]](https://www.bradleystokejournal.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/waxwing-tesco-bradley-stoke.jpg)
Council steps in to replace lost berry trees
Bradley Stoke Town Council (BSTC) has stepped in to ensure that, in future years, there will be a plentiful supply of food for a rare category of occasional visitor to the town. In recent winters, the town has become well known amongst the bird watching community as a favoured feeding ground for waxwings, unusually coloured birds which are native to
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Storm Emma brings driving snow and high winds to Bradley Stoke
Bradley Stoke was hit by Arctic conditions on Thursday (1st March) as two meteorological features clashed over the West of England. As predicted by an earlier ‘amber’ weather warning, Storm Emma combined with the ‘Beast from the East’ to produce significant quantities of fine snow and biting winds from around midday. Temperatures hovered around minus 3C throughout the day, not to mention the additional
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Nominations open for Stars of the Stokes 2018
Willow Brook Centre has once again launched its popular annual community awards programme, Stars of the Stokes. 2018 is the third year of the awards, which cover Bradley Stoke, Stoke Gifford, Winterbourne, Patchway, Almondsbury and Frampton Cotterell and comes on the back of increased nominations in 2017. Willow Brook Centre works with a variety of local businesses to sponsor and
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Local groups benefit from Tesco’s community fund
Three local organisations are currently battling it out to receive the maximum amount of funding from the Tesco Bags of Help fund. Blue tokens are being given out to customers at Tesco stores across the Stokes to vote for the three different projects until 28th February, when they will all be collected and counted. The group with the highest number
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Community Engagement Forum to discuss local issues in Bradley Stoke
The next Community Engagement Forum (CEF) for Bradley Stoke and Stoke Lodge takes places at 7pm on Thursday 22nd February, at Patchway Common Pavilion, The Avenue, Patchway BS34 6BD. This venue is located on the opposite side of the playing field behind the Brook Way Activity Centre / Bradley Stoke Surgery site. Community Engagement Forums, previously known as Safer and Stronger Community Groups
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Two more local bank branches to go by June
Local residents wishing to make use of over-the-counter facilities at high street banks will find themselves with a further reduced choice later this year as another two branches close for good. The Barclays branch on the east side of Gloucester Road, Patchway has been temporarily closed since June 2017 when it suffered damage as a result of a fire
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Jack Lopresti MP: News round-up (January)
An update from Jack Lopresti, MP for Filton and Bradley Stoke. With Christmas over and the new year in full swing, I have returned to Westminster eager to represent my constituents in Parliament. At Business Questions, I called for Parliament to hold a debate regarding the impact of crime on rail travel after cable theft caused havoc for commuters in
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