Further to the mini-orchard planted at Meadowbrook Primary School last week, children at Bradley Stoke Community School have now been involved in planting their orchard, courtesy of John Lewis Cribb’s Causeway Partners and Forest of Avon Trust.
The orchard of English apple varieties was planted by students from the school (supported by teachers, John Lewis representatives and Jon Clark from the Forest of Avon Trust) on the afternoon of 27th March. The project is being co-ordinated by the Forest of Avon Trust, the local tree charity, which was on hand to help plant the trees and provide guidance about how to look after them.
Before the event, the Forest of Avon Trust was presented with a cheque from the John Lewis Partnership.
photo: John Lewis staff join children at Bradley Stoke Community School to plant an English apple orchard, sponsored by the company. (Also pictured Jon Clark, Forest of Avon Trust and Claire Wilson, teacher at Bradley Stoke Community School).
Claire Wilson, Bradley Stoke Community School, said
“This exciting opportunity has given our students here at Bradley Stoke Community School a real chance to engage more with the environment around them. We have recently been working on developing our courtyard areas so that they become more productive spaces and act as small allotments. The trees are a fantastic addition to this student led project. They are really excited about it. We are also able to plant some in our outside eating area which will provide shelter for the students in the summer.”
John Lewis Cribb’s Causeway Partners have voted for Meadowbrook Primary School to receive a mini- orchard donated by the company. The orchard of English apple varieties was planted by children on the morning of 21st March. The project was co-ordinated by the Forest of Avon Trust, the local tree charity, which will be on hand to help plant the trees and provide guidance about how to look after them. 
Sunday 8th April, start between 10 and 12, finish by 2pm, from Bradley Stoke Leisure Centre. Choice of either two miles or five miles on tracks and quiet roads. Solve the clues and win an Easter Egg!
Delighted, the children at Holy Family Primary School recently celebrated achieving their Silver ‘Sing Up’ award. Music and singing is an everyday occurrence at the school with songs sung in all classrooms, including songs about class topics to tidying up songs. A wondrous atmosphere is created as music fills the school when the year 6 prefects line up the key stage one children at break times and sing their way from the playground all the way to the classroom. Kieran Wilson, aged 10 stated, “As the year 2 prefect, I think it is a really good idea to sing because it stops the children from messing around in the line and they really love it too!”
To gain the Silver award, the teachers all had to lead singing in the school and in the community. Mrs Teucher, the music coordinator, took the excited school choir to the Galleries back in December to sing to the Christmas shoppers. They were accompanied by the very talented year 4 teacher, Mr Risdale, on his guitar. The fantastic choir also performed at the Christmas fayre and are already planning their repertoire for the summer fete. Erika Teucher was incredibly proud of the school’s achievement stating, “It’s wonderful to see all the children enjoying and engaged in their singing!”
Bradley Stoke Matters was pleased to once again be involved in supporting the Outstanding Women’s Awards this year and to be invited to the entertaining Awards night this evening (16th March), where the winners were announced.
Young Woman’s Award Winner: Lauren Potter
South Gloucestershire Council is making a number of improvements to cycle and pedestrian routes thanks to a £900,000 grant from the Government’s Local Sustainable Transport Fund (LSTF).
Bradley Stoke Town’s 1st XI put paid to the misery of defeat last weekend by claiming a 3-0 victory over Iron Acton Reserves. The win, thanks to goals from Matt Hull, Adam Hay and Matt Burgess, keeps the 1st XI’s promotion hopes alive and sends them into next Saturday’s home match against Bendix full of confidence.
On Friday 2nd March, children from the Wheatfield Primary School in celebrated the launch of Marie Curie’s Great Daffodil Appeal 2012 by wearing yellow to school and getting involved in a whole variety of exciting yellow themed activities.
All the money raised from wear something yellow to school day and the daffodil appeal will be used towards funding the charities network of local Marie Curie nurses, who care for people living with cancer and other terminal illnesses within their own home. This service is free of charge to the patients however it costs the charity £20 to fund one hour which is why fundraising activities like this are so important to them.
The celebrations of International Women’s Day continued as Bradley Stoke Radio presenters, Lucy, Rachael and Liz had a special ‘Ladies Who Lunch’ show Thursday tea time revolving around this momentous celebration of women all over the world. The show warmed up with classic girl-power hits, and Liz told us a bit more International Women’s Day(IWD) in other parts of the world, for example in some countries IWD is a public holiday! And did you know that there is also an International Men’s Day on 19th November?
Winsome then spoke about all the local events that had taken place so far this week in celebration, including a Unity coffee morning, which brought together women from all different cultures and backgrounds to share a coffee and taste food from all over the world. Lucy described Winsome as the “driving force for all events on IWD”, which is definitely true after all the things she had organised not only this year but many previous too, including a fashion show last year.
Local resident, Steve Harding, is appealing for any information on his £1000 bicycle which was stolen from his garage in Stoke Gifford on Saturday.
Jack Lopresti, MP for Filton and Bradley Stoke, has welcomed the launch of the second year of National Citizen Service. National Citizen Service is a scheme for 16-year-olds first proposed by David Cameron in 2005 and now introduced by the Coalition government. It brings together 16-year-olds from different backgrounds in the summer after they have taken their GCSEs to work together and give something back to their communities. After three weeks of team-building and outdoors activities, participants spend 30 hours helping improve their communities.
Henbury Singers are singing for research into Rett Syndrome this year. Very few people have heard of this severe neurological disorder and yet it has nearly the same frequency as Cystic Fibrosis, affecting about 1 in 10/15000 girls. It is not inherited and could affect any family. It most often strikes previously healthy little girls just after they have learned to walk and to say a few words, and it begins to drag their development backwards.
Officers investigating the murders of the Reverend John Suddards and Betty Yates are appealing for the public’s help in locating a rucksack and a mobile phone. Police believe the missing rucksack and phone could be vital to their investigations and may be on farmland or in an outbuilding or barn in the South East, potentially in the Eastbourne area.
Older people from Patchway, Filton and The Stokes can now enjoy a free tea party once a month thanks to Southern Brooks Community Partnership and Coniston Community Association. The tea parties are held the last Sunday in the month from 2.30 – 4.30 pm at Brooks Café, Coniston Community Centre in Patchway.
The tea parties are run by volunteers from Coniston Community Association with transport provided by Four Towns. Volunteers are always welcome, especially drivers. To raise funds for future tea parties, a raffle is held and prizes are always needed. To volunteer or donate a raffle prize please speak to Karen on 01454 868 570.