Beating the Bounds of Yate Common, Sunday 26 May

Beating the Bounds is an ancient custom that is practised on The Common in Yate. The Reverend, Town Mayor, Friends of the Common and local residents will walk the boundaries of The Common.
Traditionally, children are turned upside down at the corners to teach them the boundaries of their Common, which they should protect (nowadays sweets may be used as an incentive)
 
Beating the Bounds of Yate Common starts at 3pm from the St Briavels Drive entrance of Yate Common. The walk is suitable for pushchairs and takes about 60 - 90 minutes. 

If you would like to find out more about the custom, please follow this link

Work starts to extend changing rooms at Sunnyside

Lib Dem Focus Team Councillors, Yate Town Council staff and contractors celebrating work starting work on extending the changing rooms for all the sports users of Sunnyside Lane and Yate Common using grants they worked hard to get.

Casualty filming big bang now happening on Thursday evening

*** UPDATED 10TH MAY ***
As many people will know, BBC TV's Casualty programme has been filming on the Road to Nowhere. The storyline involves a motorway crash and a petrol tanker blaze.

The BBC has now told local residents that the big bang(s) will now happen by 10.30 pm today Thursday, May 10th (Not Saturday 5th or Wednesday 9th - they're running behind schedule)

More details and photos of the set are on the Gazette website

*** UPDATE AFTER THE EVENT ***
If you want to watch an impressive video of the explosion, it's on the Gazette news item about the final night's filming.

Casualty filming big bang now happening on Thursday evening (delayed again)

*** UPDATED 10TH MAY ***
As many people will know, BBC TV's Casualty programme has been filming on the Road to Nowhere. The storyline involves a motorway crash and a petrol tanker blaze.

The BBC has now told local residents that the big bang(s) will now happen by 10.30 pm today Thursday, May 10th (Not Saturday 5th or Wednesday 9th - they're running behind schedule)

More details and photos of the set are on the Gazette website

Beating the Bounds on 6th May

Yate Town Council's annual Beating the Bounds walk takes place on Sunday 6 May - an ancient tradition revived as a family walk to explore Yate Common. Meet at the kissing gate opposite St Briavel's Drive at 3 pm.

Beating the Bounds is a traditional local activity for Rogation Sunday, walking round the boundaries of the Common so that people know what they hold as a community asset. In some places they beat the bounds of an entire parish, or ride round the boundaries of larger parishes.

The Common was nearly sold off for housing some years ago, but a determined campaign by local people (many now in the Focus Team) kept it in public ownership. This gives beating the bounds of the Common a special meaning. Please bring your children to show them what a lovely area we have just on the edge of the town.

Please come and join the walk. Dogs are welcome, and if you can bring a small child even better.  As long as they are don’t mind (too much) they get turned upside down at each kissing gate/corner and then given sweets, which is the local take on the original practice of beating them with sticks and then giving them a coin.

Dog owners beware - meat being dumped on Yate Common

If you're visiting Yate Common with your dog, please keep a close eye on them. Several batches of meat and other food have been dumped there lately - raw meat, cooked chicken bones, even Baby Bel cheeses.

We don't know whether someone thinks they're "feeding the wildlife" but the foxes and birds aren't touching it.

This will obviously become potential danger to pets as it decays. Several people are dumping it and it's sometimes appearing daily.

Please warn other dog owners.

Beating the Bounds of Yate Common

After all the problems on Yate Common lately, here's some good news - an event for all the family.

Come and join the Friends of the Common and the Yate Town Mayor. On Rogation Sunday each May, an ancient custom, Beating the Bounds is practised on The Common in Yate.

The Reverend, Town Mayor, Friends of the Common and local residents will walk the boundaries of The Common this coming Sunday, 21st May 2017.

Traditionally, children are turned upside down at the corners to teach them the boundaries of their Common, which they must protect.

Beating the Bounds of Yate Common starts at 3pm from the St Briavels Drive entrance of Yate Common. The walk is suitable for pushchairs and takes about 60 to 90 minutes.

Street Care using the Road to Nowhere

The South Glos Council's Street Care team are going to be using the end of the Road to Nowhere nearest the Badminton Road offices as a temporary storage and compound area to support the implementation of the new waste strategy. This is the bit north of the railway line, at the end of Culvert Avenue - it's NOT the part of the Road to Nowhere on the Yate Common side.

Initially the site will be used to store vehicles overnight while the existing yard at Dean Road is re-developed. The site will then be used to store the new recycling vehicles and finally will provide space to support the changeover of household bins. All the activity is temporary, they will be off the site by the end of 2017 and no waste will be stored on the site at any time.

This week they have cleared the overgrown vegetation and will be laying some additional gravel over the next few days before securing the front and back with a fence to link the existing side fences. The large rocks will stay in place at the entrance until the site is fully secured. Once in use there will be additional security.

Beating the Bounds of Yate Common - Sunday 1 May

Beating the Bounds is a traditional local activity for Rogation Sunday, walking round the boundaries of the Common so that people know what they hold as a community asset. In some places they beat the bounds of an entire parish, or ride round the boundaries of larger parishes.

The Common was nearly sold off for housing some years ago, but a determined campaign by local people (many now in the Focus Team) kept it in public ownership. This gives beating the bounds of the Common a special meaning. Please bring your children to show them what a lovely area we have just on the edge of the town.

Please come and join the walk, which starts from the kissing gate opposite St Briavel's Drive at 3pm on Sunday 1 May. Dogs are welcome, and if you can bring a small child even better.  As long as they are don’t mind (too much) they get turned upside down at each kissing gate/corner and then given sweets, which is our take on the original practice of beating them with sticks and then giving them a coin.

Yate Common stream frothing at the mouth

Foaming at the mouth - photo by Pat Cotterell

The stream on Yate Common has been contaminated, it's become brown and frothy. This is quite sudden, as it was fine the previous day. The stream runs down to the River Frome.

Friends of Yate Common have informed Yate Town Council and South Glos, and asked them to investigate.

Road to Nowhere becomes a Casualty of mud

Photo by Pat Cotterell

As local people will know, the BBC TV series Casualty frequently film on the Road to Nowhere, the piece of dual carriageway that was half-built in the 1970s and then abandoned. In fact it's probably been the site of more "major accidents" than any other road in South Glos.

Casualty filmed there this winter, drove large waggons over the slope at the end of the Road to Nowhere, then complained about the muddy conditions. Not surprising! It's also made a mess of this popular walking and cycling route.

South Glos Council has however said that they will be putting down stone to stop it being so muddy - they get an income from the filming.