⏩ The Gloucester Start: Tuesday February 25th
Cycle spine work to start in city centre | Free school breakfast clubs | Parishes devolution call
Good morning, welcome to Tuesday’s Start. A nice little milestone was reached yesterday as we sent our 5,000th online visit to the local news sites, community pages, events listings and more included in the links in these bulletins. There’s plenty more to come. Don’t forget to hit share to keep our support for community activity growing.
🫶 Ukrainians living in Gloucester marched shoulder-to-shoulder with friends and neighbours to mark three years since the Russian conflict began. The vigil gave a chance for voices to be heard and messages of peace to be shared on a route through the city. - Call Me Will
🚧 Work on the city centre section of Gloucestershire’s new cycle spine is due to start on March 10th. The full route will ultimately extend from Stroud to Bishop’s Cleeve and is being delivered in phases. A drop-in event runs from 10am-6pm on March 5th at St John’s Lane Northgate Methodist Church. - Gloucestershire County Council
🥣 Two city primary schools are among the first 15 in the county to begin offering free breakfast clubs in a flagship government initiative. Grange Primary School and Calton Primary School will start the scheme in April. - Gloucestershire Live
☀️ Today’s weather: Bright and sunny with temperatures set to 10C peaks. A slightly higher chance of rain in the early after noon though.
🤝 Parishes surrounding Gloucester should fall into the same local authority as the city in any reorganisation under a devolution deal, says city council leader Jeremy Hilton. The likes of Brockworth, Churcham, Hardwicke, Innsworth, Upton St Leonards and others identify ‘historically and culturally’ with Gloucester, he said. - Gloucestershire Live, via the Local Democracy Reporting Service
↪️ The public should be able to have their say on what devolution looks like for Gloucestershire as a petition calling for one idea - to split the county into two separate authorities - to be rejected passed 1,600 signatures. - Gloucester News Centre, via LDRS
🥎 The Padel Club, which took over Gloucester’s old Toys R Us building last year to bring the fastest-growing sport in the UK to the city, already wants to expand. It’s lodged plans to turn little-used car parking to the rear of the unit into an outdoor court. - Punchline Gloucester
🪴 Celebrity gardener David Domoney will open the new British Garden Centres branch near Haresfield on March 8th. It’s replaced Dobbies, which closed down numerous sites in recent weeks, and the first 100 customers on the day will get a free gift bag. - Gloucestershire Live
🛏️ A new 66-bed care home can be built in Brockworth after planners gave permission for work to go ahead. Existing buildings at Mill Farm will be demolished to make way for the purpose-built facility. - Punchline Gloucester
🚗 A drunk driver travelled for almost three miles with one of his car’s wheels missing before being forced to a stop by police at Whitminster, heading towards Gloucester. Clive Simpson, 45, from Churchdown, apologised to magistrates as his case was adjourned ahead of sentencing in April. - Daily Mail
📌 Community Noticeboard
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📌 The King’s Theatre is having to close for more than two months for ‘essential and unexpected safety improvements’. The announcement has been made ‘with a heavy heart’ and means several shows will have to be cancelled. 👇
📌 Coffee shop Bakers + Baristas, in Gloucester Quays, has joined the Chatty Cafe Scheme to help tackle loneliness. It’s the first coffee shop in the city to be listed on the non-profit’s nationwide map and will have designated ‘chatter and natter’ tables where customers can share conversations. More here.
📌 The 2nd Gloucester Ukraine Festival runs May 16th-18th with an art exhibition starting from May 3rd at the Folk of Gloucester. If you would like to participate by performing, loaning art, running workshops or in any other way, please get in touch at robin@robinburton.co.uk. See here.
The top posts from Monday’s Start:
🏃 Half marathon and 10k return to Gloucester next month
📌 Gala Club rebrands to Oxstalls Community Hub
🚬 Men in balaclavas use wheelie bin to steal £3k of cigarettes
And finally, yesterday we asked if the £189,000 salary that will be paid to new Gloucestershire County Council chief executive Jo Walker is a fair amount. Here’s what you said:
