⏩ The Gloucester Start: Friday March 28th
Car boot questions | Pet owner banned | Moomins and things to do this weekend
Good morning, welcome to Friday’s Start. Thanks for bearing with me while I had to pause for a couple of days this week - which means a bit more to catch up on in today’s weekend edition. Here goes…
⛅ Weekend weather: Sunny and mild today, more overcast on Saturday before a bright and warm Sunday arrives.
🚗 Gloucester City Council needs to ‘put everyone out of their misery’ and announce who was been awarded the right to run car boot sales at Hempsted Meadows. Reg Daldry, who ran the car boot and has applied to do so again, is increasing his calls for answers after the last event was held back in November. - Gloucestershire Live, via the Local Democracy Reporting Service
↪️ Protesters, including Mr Daldry, sat through a city council meeting last night where they heard a decision was ‘days away’. - Gloucester Carboot
🧗 The upper deck of Gloucester Quays could be turned into a climbing centre and play area if new plans are approved. The proposal would bring ‘underutilised space within the city centre into economic use’ according to the planning application. - Punchline Gloucester
🏪 The former Clarks shoe shop in Eastgate Street is set to be filled once more. Insurance company Howden is opening a branch in the city next month. - Gloucester BID
🆘 Help is needed to finish fitting out the new, bigger home of a day centre which supports vulnerable adults. SHARP Life & Learning has moved into the old Thunder Road motorbike dealership in Spinnaker Road and needs extra funds and support to realise its full plans there. - Punchline Gloucester
🏥 The boss of Gloucestershire’s hospitals was ‘completely transparent’ during his appointment about an employment tribunal in which he was accused of bullying in a previous role. Kevin McNamara joined as chief executive of Gloucestershire NHS Foundation Trust in January 2024. - Gloucester News Centre, via the Local Democracy Reporting Service
🦴 Archaeologists have found 317 skeletons during work on Gloucester’s old Debenhams building to transform it into a new University of Gloucestershire campus. Other finds included 83 brick vaults, the footings of a Roman townhouse, fragments of a 16th Century tobacco pipe, Roman pottery and pieces of a post-medieval wine bottle. - BBC Gloucestershire
🍜 Chinese restaurant The White Horse, in Sandhurst Lane, is to have its licence reviewed after illegal workers were found there. Owner Lee Yap Kheang was also issued a civil penalty notice, which he has appealed. - Punchline Gloucester
🫶 More than £4,000 has been raised in just a few days for a young family who ‘lost almost everything’ in a house fire in Elmbridge Road. Friends and neighbours have rallied round after flames tore through the home on Monday. - GoFundMe
🏆 Gloucester-Hartpury’s third straight Premiership Women’s Rugby title win will be celebrated with a public party at Gloucester Docks. Live music, chances to meet the players and a big screen showing the men’s game against Montpellier will go ahead on April 5th from 3pm. - Gloucester Rugby
🕰️ The response to news that the famous Beatrix Potter clock is returning to the Eastgate Shopping Centre has been ‘fantastic’, says the venue’s boss. It’s being restored after more than a decade away and will go on display on April 12th. - BBC News
🛒 Free goodie bags were handed out to the first 100 customers of a new Morrisons Daily convenience store in Gloucester. The Barton Street branch was officially opened by the Mayor of Gloucester. - Morrisons Daily
🚨 Crime, court and police news
🚨 Men with bats chased, attacked and injured a man in his 20s in Old Spot Walk, St Oswald’s. A 25-year-old has been arrested and police are seeking any witnesses to what happened. - Gloucestershire Live
🚨 A woman has been banned from owning animals after her dog, a chow chow, was found in ‘horrendous condition’ with a rotting wound and had to be put to sleep. Magdalena Handzlik, from Scott Avenue, was found guilty of causing unnecessary suffering. - Gloucestershire Live
🚨 Concerns for a man’s welfare led to a large police presence outside Gloucester Cathedral yesterday morning. He was helped to safety and given support. - Gloucestershire Live
🚨 Armed police arrested a man in Barton Street after reports someone was seen carrying a weapon. An air-powered weapon was seized on Wednesday. - Gloucester News Centre
🚨 A woman was threatened by masked men with a knife who stole jewellery and a ‘substantial amount’ of money during a robbery in Magdala Road on Wednesday. She was left shaken and with minor injuries and police are looking for CCTV and dashcam footage. - Gloucester News Centre
🚨 A body has been found in the search for missing Lee Horton, who vanished in Gloucester while apparently heading home to Evesham on March 12th. - Gloucestershire Live
↪️ Lee’s brother Kieran has thanked people for their ‘love, kindness and support’ in helping to search for him and support his family through a heartbreaking time. - Gloucestershire Live
🚨 Thieves stole two classic Triumph motorbikes in the dead of night from a house in Abbeydale. It happened on March 17th. - Gloucestershire Live
🚨 A violent robber who threatened people in their homes with a knife and meat cleaver will spend more than three years in jail. Paul Salisbury stamped on one victim’s head and threatened to kill another. - Gloucester News Centre
Things to do this weekend
Ⓜ️ Moomin 80: Moomin ABC - visit the magical world of the Moomins throughout spring and summer at the Museum of Gloucester | 10am-4pm daily | £8.50 adults, £5 children (under-4s free), £20 family | Details
📽️ Dogman, Sonic the Hedgehog 3, Twiggy, Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy, Mickey 17 all showing at Sherborne Cinema | All weekend, various times | £6/£7 | Details
🔮 Fireflies Holistic Alternative Fayre at Llanthony Secunda Priory | Saturday, 10.30am-4.30pm | £2 donation | Details
🤘 Underground Festival - an annual celebration of new music at Gloucester Guildhall, The Thirsty Pine, Cafe Rene and Blackfriars Priory | Saturday, 3pm onwards | Pay what you choose | Details
🥚 An Egg-cellent Easter Trail at Gloucester Cathedral | Throughout April, beginning Sunday | Free, no booking needed | Details
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📌 Gloucestershire Symphony Orchestra Spring Concert Saturday 5th April 7pm Gloucester Cathedral. Programme to include: Copland Fanfare for the Common Man; Rossini/Britten Soirées Musicales and Strauss Four Last Songs. £18 (Under 18s free). More here. - Thanks to subscriber Katy for this submission
📌 Fundraisers braved a walk over hot coals at Gloucester Brewery to support various charities on Wednesday night. The Chamwell Centre was among those to benefit alongside others 👇
