⏩ The Gloucester Start: Thursday March 6th
Covid memorial | Crest lost and found | Manslaughter plea
Good morning, welcome to Thursday’s Start. As ever, a plea to please share or tell a friend if you’re finding these bulletins useful. I curate them by hand every morning to give everyone the easiest possible access to what’s happening in our city.
💙 A Covid-19 memorial will be unveiled in Gloucester Park this Sunday as part of a National Day of Reflection. It features eight trees surrounding a plaque, each representing a group of key workers who provided essential services and is near the Spa Road entrance. - Gloucestershire Live
🚧 One of the city’s crests adorning new metal gates in Eastgate Street has been removed, less than a week after installation. - BBC Gloucestershire
↪️ GLiveTV - a new podcast launched this week in Gloucester - claim the crest ‘fell off into their hands’ while reporting on the gates. It’s been returned to the city council. - GLiveTV
⛅ Today’s weather: More overcast but warm with temperatures hitting 15C. A higher chance of rain later in the day though.
🚨 Thieves stole a van from an address in Tuffley before immediately crashing it into a parked Audi and abandoning it. Police have released a CCTV image in relation to the incident on February 19th. - Gloucestershire Live
👮 An appeal to help find a vulnerable man missing for almost a month has been renewed. Police said 52-year-old John left an address in Horton Road on February 10th and hasn’t been seen since. - Gloucestershire Live
🫶 People in the community have been reaching out to see how they can help the Kings Theatre after it announced it had to shut for more than six months. The Barton Street venue needs £20,000 to carry out a range of structural and safety improvements. - BBC Gloucestershire
🏥 Temporary visiting restrictions are in place on some wards at Gloucestershire Royal and Cheltenham General hospitals to help stop the spread of norovirus. Visitors are being asked to check first before heading to see family or friends in the hospitals. - Gloucestershire Live
🤝 Devolution is coming to Gloucestershire, but what are the options and who wants what in a ‘once in a generation’ reorganisation of local government? BBC Gloucestershire have laid out what’s known so far. - BBC Gloucestershire
🗳️ Reform is targeting every seat in May’s county council elections. The party, led by Nigel Farage, plans to field 55 candidates across Gloucestershire. - Gloucestershire Live, via LDRS
☀️ GL1 Leisure Centre has 832 new solar panels on its roof. Their installation will reduce the venue’s dependency on mains power and was aided by a £430,000 government grant. - Gloucester City Council
⚖️ A care worker has denied the manslaughter of a resident at a Gloucester care home. Jane Barnard pleaded not guilty at Bristol Crown Court to killing 75-year-old Derek Davies. - BBC Gloucestershire
📈 Freezing Gloucester City Council’s portion of the council tax bill would have put the authority at risk of bankruptcy if it suffered another cyber attack, a meeting heard. Unsuccessful calls were made not to rise the bill by the 2.99% that eventually got voted through. - Gloucester News Centre, via the Local Democracy Reporting Service
🚌 Improvements worth £8million to Gloucestershire’s bus service have been approved. Gloucestershire County Council’s plan is to try and return public transport usage to pre-pandemic levels by upgrading several routes and areas of infrastructure. - Gloucester News Centre, via LDRS
🏉 Gloucester Rugby have added another new signing for next season. James Venter will join from South African side Sharks. - BBC Sport
📌 Community Noticeboard
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📌 SHED is a dance-theatre show that uses projection, spoken word and dance to raise awareness of the mental health issues many young people face. Thursday March 6th, 7.30pm, pay what you can. Takes place at GL1 leisure centre. Details here. -Thanks to subscriber Kate for this submission
📌 Gloucester is in for a musical treat as the world-renowned Salvation Army International Staff Songsters (ISS) take the stage on Saturday, 15 March, at 7pm at the Salvation Army’s Gloucester Hall. Tickets for this unforgettable evening are priced at £10 per person, promising an uplifting experience for all. Tickets sold at Ticket Source. More details here.
The top posts from Wednesday’s Start:
🏪 New shop buying and selling new and used goods opening in Kingsholm
⚖️ Sex assault taxi driver has sentence increased to four years
🛬 Sale of airport will be used to clear debts to councils