⏩ The Gloucester Start: Monday March 24th
Attempted murder arrests after city shooting | Underground Festival returns | Things to do this week
Good morning, welcome to Monday’s Gloucester Start and I hope you had fun weekends. A reminder that I have some extra work commitments this week so I’m running a reduced schedule for these bulletins. Tomorrow’s will be out as normal, then a two-day break before returning on Friday. Onto today’s edition.
☀️ Today’s weather: Bright and sunny with temperatures in the low teens for most of the day.
🏕️ Gloucester’s Go Outdoors store has had a full refurb and is fully open again to customers. There’s an official opening party this Saturday with freebies on offer. - Gloucestershire Live
🚒 Firefighters protested outside Shire Hall over plans to change their shift patterns. Gloucestershire Fire & Rescue wants to shift from nine-hour days and 15-hour nights to 11-hour days and 13-hour nights for their stations, but the impact on those with caring responsibilities has been criticised. - BBC Gloucestershire, via the Local Democracy Reporting Service
⚽ Children in Kingsholm are benefitting from free football coaching being delivered by Gloucester City AFC after receiving community funding. The sessions take place every Saturday morning in Sebert Street. - Gloucestershire Live
💼 Unemployment has risen in Gloucester and across the county. The latest figures, covering February, show 3,270 people in the city are claiming unemployment benefits, an 8% year-on-year rise. - Punchline Gloucester
♝ An ‘interpretation panel’ has been installed in Gloucester Cathedral to explain the ‘difficult history’ of former Bishop of Gloucester Peter Ball. He’s included on a list of Bishops, where the panel has been added, having held the position in the early 90s. - Diocese of Gloucester
↪️ Ball, who died in 2019, was convicted of a string of sex attacks and jailed in 2015. - BBC News (from 2019)
🤘 Gloucester’s Underground Festival, an annual celebration of new music, returns this Saturday across four city venues. The Guildhall, Thirsty Pine, Blackfriars Priory and Cafe Rene will be hosting shows from 3pm onwards. - Gloucester Guildhall
👑 Legendary Gloucester Town Crier Alan Myatt reckons he’s spent ‘thousands’ on costumes over the years for roles from Father Christmas to Hagrid. He’ll be holding court as Henry VIII at The Folk on April 19th as part of Tudor Day. - Gloucester Civic Trust
🎖️ Did you see the parade in the city centre on Saturday? It was held to mark Back Badge Day, organised annually by the RGBW Association 👇
🚨 Crime and police news
🚨 Two men have been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after a shooting in Gloucester earlier this year. The pre-planned raid in Birmingham saw nearby properties evacuated as a 39-year-old and 41-year-old man were detained. - Birmingham Live (I can’t see that this has been published anywhere locally yet - I’ll link to Gloucester-based news sites when they have updates)
🚨 Alleged threats with a knife led to two teenagers being arrested in Coney Hill on Saturday. A large police presence, including the force helicopter, was dispatched to the area. - Gloucestershire Live
🚨 Missing man Lee Horton, from Evesham, was last seen leaving Gloucester’s Asda superstore and heading up Station Road on March 11th. There’s an ongoing active search to find him, with any information or possible sightings potentially vital. - BBC Gloucestershire
🚨 An appeal has been made by police to trace wanted man Brendan Fenemore. He’s from Eastgate Street and officers want to speak to him in relation to an assault on a woman and criminal damage. - Gloucestershire Live
🚨 A 12-year-old boy was hurt in a crash with an e-bike before being threatened by its rider in Stroud Road. The boy was cycling at the time and the e-bike rider left the scene. - BBC Gloucestershire
📌 Community Noticeboard
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📌 Gloucestershire County Council will provide families in receipt of Free School Meals (FSM) who sign up to a holiday offer with vouchers to assist with food costs during the school breaks. Applications for the Easter holidays are open now. The vouchers are funded through grant funding received and are separate to that of term time free school meals. Details here.
📌 Blackbridge Community and Sports Hub will open officially on April 28th. The brand new centre in Podsmead, run by Freedom Leisure, has been built from scratch. More details.
↪️ You can meet the manager at another Freedom Leisure-run site in the city - GL1 leisure centre - to offer feedback and hear about future plans. It’s on April 10th all afternoon. More details.
📌 Gloucester Cathedral’s Fabric Advisory Committee (FAC) is seeking to recruit new members with skills in various areas associated with the upkeep of historic buildings. The role of the FAC is to advise the Cathedral’s Chapter on the care, conservation, repair and development of the building, its setting and the significant objects it holds. More details.
📌 Business heads, this one’s for you. B Corps (companies that meet high societal and environmental standards) in Gloucestershire have grown by £20million and added nearly 150 jobs to the county economy in the last 12 months and more businesses are being encouraged to aim for the accreditation. Find out more by joining the B Local Gloucestershire group on LinkedIn. - Thanks to subscriber Angharad for this submission
📅 Things to do this week
📖 Groups and classes including Computer Buddy, Story Time, Poetry Cafe and more at Gloucester Library | Throughout the week, times vary | Free | Details
📽️ The Last Showgirl, Conclave, Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy, A Real Pain, Twiggy and Mickey 17 at Sherborne Cinema | All week, times vary | £6/£7 | Details
🎨 Let’s Paint N’ Sip Fabulous Highland beginners paint class at The Boat Cafe | Tuesday, 6.30pm | £24 | Details
🎸 Music with Mike Dawes at Gloucester Guildhall | Tuesday, 7pm | £20 | Details
🏉 An Evening with Kevin Sinfield CBE at GL1 leisure centre | Friday, 8pm | £27.50 | Details