Jubilee beacon!

The beacon at Shire Way Community Centre was lit again for the Jubilee. The beacon, which was created for one of the previous jubilees, was renovated for the occasion by the Community Centre. Local artist Val Robinson, who designed and made the Shire Horse motif for the beacon many years ago, was present to see it in use once more.

Jubilee celebrations

A big "Thank You" to everyone who has been organising the many street parties and local events this weekend.

Here's just one event - the Jubilee Big Lunch at Abbotswood, Yate, organised by Jacobs Well Church, Abbotswood Action and volunteers from St Nick's.

Having a Field Day!

Dodington Parish Council "had a field day" on Friday when they officially declared Kelston Close as a Queen Elizabeth II "Field in Trust" so that it will remain Playing Fields permanently. They ran a sports-themed event with children from Abbotswood Junior School, Culverhill School, and Phase Five Pre-SChool Playgroup. 

The field was officially "opened" by Dame Janet Trotter, the Lord Lieutenant of Gloucestershire. Two volunteers from Asda brought lots of freebies - thank you! Dodington Football Club provided very popular football activities, and Sports 1st ran lots of different sporting games.

Paul Hulbert with the Diamond Jubilee Fields in Trust plaque. The lovely oak carving will be on display in a while - it was only in a temporary position for the event.

Waste and recycling arrangements for Jubilee bank holidays

South Glos council has announced that all waste and recycling will be collected as normal on Monday 4 and Tuesday 5 June.

Collection times may vary in order to avoid street parties or similar events, so please put all waste and recyclables out for collection by 7am on the correct day.

Residents organising a street party can contact the council on 01454 868 000 if their event falls on their scheduled collection day, and every effort will be made to collect from their road before street party preparations begin.

Additional waste outside wheeled bins can be taken to the nearest SORT IT!* Centre, which will be open as normal.

Plant a Jubilee Hedge for Mothers Day!

This splendid woodland in Wapley Bushes Local Nature Reserve was planted by volunteers in a single morning on Mothers Day in 1994. Eighty people took part, half of them children. The trees are now over twenty feet tall, and now they need a hedge to mark the border between the woodland and the Upper Meadow.

Please come and help this Sunday morning, March 18th. It would be lovely to see some of the parents and particularly the children, now grown up, who took part in the original planting so long ago. Who knows, maybe they could bring along some of the next generation too?

Everyone is welcome - meet at 10.00 am at the Shire Way entrance to the Nature Reserve, near the zebra crossing opposite Cherington, South Yate. Please wear wellies or similar, and bring a spade if you can.

The trees for the hedge planting morning are being provided by the Woodland Trust as part of their Queen Elizabeth's Diamond Jubilee Year Project to plant 6 million trees nationwide. A second length of the Jubilee Hedge has been funded by South Gloucestershire Council's Biodiversity and Landscape Grant scheme and by Dodington Parish Council's annual grant to Wapley Bushes Conservation Group.

The Wapley Bushes Conservation Group is very grateful to all its partners and supporters. Without the necessary funding and advice they wouldn't be able to improve this lovely area for future generations.