The February edition of The Wotton Times is available at all the usual retailers and is packed with news and features.
Supporting the High Street - this month there are discount vouchers for businesses in the town, Daisy, Daisy, Cookability, The Royal Oak, Relish, Crafters, Good Food Fruit and Veg, Fish Out of Water and Loving Home.
We are very excited to announce that from March The Wotton Times magazine is merging with our increasingly popular publication, The Wotton Directory.
The Wotton Directory has established a much-loved reputation in the town over its 16 years of publication where it is delivered free of charge and is read by more than 5,000 local residents.
Congratulations to TERESA WALTON. A pair of tickets to AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS will be on their way to you soon!
There are still a few seats left for the matinee performance on Friday, 28th January. Tickets available from The Cotswold Book Room or 03306 600541. Rain or Shine Theatre Co
The January issue will be on sale in all the usual places from Friday, 7th January. Look out for the competition to win a pair of tickets to AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS on Friday 28th January performed by Rain or Shine Theatre Co at Under The Edge Arts
Packed with news and features including the best of the local photos submitted this month by members of I Love Wotton for the Grid of Greatness, a feature on popular local garage, The Car Clinic - Kingswood LTD, an interview with Martin Clarke and much more!
And we are off! Wotton Christmas Under The Edge has started. Come and buy the brand new December issue from Jan and Jason.
WCSF - Wotton Community Sports Foundation is celebrating a £100,000 award from Persimmon Homes' Building Futures fund. Persimmon Homes, with the support of Team GB, has given away more than £1 million in 2021 to help projects for young people aged under 18 across England, Wales and Scotland, supporting children's health, sport, education and arts. This year 96 groups were shortlisted, with WCSF named the national winner after gaining more public votes than any other group in the country. William Cruickshank, Director of WCSF, explains what the award means. (Video by Matt Bigwood)
Halloween week visit to The Ancient Ram Inn
The 12th century The Ancient Ram Inn, a Grade II* listed building, has gained a worldwide following and is the subject of regular investigations by teams of ghost hunters from across the globe and regularly features on television and social media.
The former pub in Wotton-under-Edge was bought by John Humphries in 1968 and quickly gained a reputation as a paranormal hotspot.
Caroline Humphries, owner of the historic pub, invited psychic medium Jessica May to look around once more. During her visit last week, she experienced some of the weird anomalies the building is renowned for.
The October edition of the Wotton Times hits the streets tomorrow, Friday October 1st! This month's edition is available at all the usual retailers and has a great round-up of local stores plus: a global broadcast from the Ancient Ram Inn; a feature on jazz drummer Tony Orrell; an ace day at Tubbs Turf; a fantastic sculpture exhibition at Newark Park - National Trust; long Covid - you're not alone ; jazz at Under The Edge Arts; Matthew Adams' study of the soil; Wotton Bowls Club; sewing the seeds of wellbeing, plus all the usual features and columnists. Buy your copy here: https://www.cotswoldpublications.co.uk/wotton-times/about-wotton-times/#Stockists
Calling all art lovers... From noon until 7pm tomorrow (September 11th) the Eye in Art exhibition will be open at Kingswood Village Hall. The show features a large body of work by the late Pat Harty, a long time Kingswood resident who produced a fantastic selection of paintings, photography and art work over more than 30 years. Pat was passionate about the village and the exhibition features work from other Kingswood residents who were inspired by him. The bar will be open and a selection of the work will be for sale with proceeds going to the British Heart Foundation and Kingswood Village Hall.
The September edition of Wotton Times is on sale tomorrow, Friday 3rd. Inside this month's magazine:
- Wotton’s golden couple.
- Charfield’s cheese business goes from strength to strength.
- On the world stage: scenic painting in Wickwar.
- An epic ocean voyage.
- Sean’s ceramic art boosts Rory’s Well.
- The brewery that’s a hidden gem.
- Traditional scything techniques are used in a Wotton wildflower meadow.
- A virtual holiday in the French Pyrenees.
... and much more.
On sale at the usual retailers: https://www.cotswoldpublications.co.uk/wotton-times/about-wotton-times/
Brand-new women's football team Kingswood WFC is looking to recruit more players ahead of their first season. Training sessions take place on Wednesday evenings at Kingswood Playing Field and are open to anyone aged 16 or over. See August's Wotton Times for a story and photos - out on August 6th.
100 Acer Wood Conservation Project open day this Sunday 25th July 2021. A full day of activities planned from 9.30 until late. Also a more in-depth interview with the project to come in August's Wotton Times.
Rotary Club Car Run 2021
Organised by Graham Peake, today saw the 13th running of the The Rotary Club of Dursley Car Run. More than 100 cars took part, including a number from the Wotton area. See pictures and story in next month's Wotton Times.
Alan Swain - The sun has got his hat on.
Here's Alan Swain enjoying the sunshine during an interview about his work with the Welsh National Opera and his community music plans. Read all about it in the new July issue of the Wotton Times. Pick up your copy from this Friday 2nd July.
March edition of The Wotton Times
ON SALE TOMORROW!
BAD news sells papers. So the saying goes.
If it’s true, sales of the March issue of the Wotton Times are going to be a disaster.
This month, just about every story that has come our way has been about optimism. Against the shadows of lockdown 3, this issue is so packed with original and home-grown tales of determination and triumph that it really should come free with every doctor's prescription.
We lead on the remarkable story of a medal, dug up in a Kingswood garden in 1986 and left to languish in a box – until pandemic boredom motivated the finder to blow away the dust and trace it back to the family of the WW1 soldier to whom it originally belonged.
Next, Mark Pasco is a man likely to become known as Mr Swift. Mark has set up a brilliant scheme to ensure Wotton’s summer skies continue to team with this migratory acrobatic species. I loved the idea so much I’ve signed up to his housing list. Read it and you might, too.
Parents, as if they weren’t busy enough, are also achieving amazing things: in Hawkesbury Upton, they’ve pulled out every stop, including some you’d never guess existed, to support their primary school. Kingswood mums and dads are showing similar ingenuity.
And with a keen focus on the future and our green heritage, a new woodland is being planned and has already begun to grow in Wotton. We delve in.
Our collective loathing for litter is also in the spotlight – thanks to a new group of trash-busters who have decided to take matters into their own hands and form an action group to tidy our corner of the Cotswolds. Wait till you read the horrors they’re bagging.
Elsewhere, we have people walking their socks off to raise cash for mobile cancer treatment; a campaign to preserve ancient stone stiles; a recap of February’s Winter Wanderland festival (and how it captured the nation’s attention) and - just when you hope to get your breath back – an aerobic catch up with the slightly bonkers but inspirin
UPDATE 11.45am:
Extinction Rebellion Stroud has condemned the work being carried out in Wotton today.
"Cutting down mature trees is essentially madness at this point in the ecological decline of our planet," said a spokesperson.
"The window of possible action is shrinking everyday and we simply cannot afford to lose more mature trees and the biodiversity they support, especially here in Britain."
Biodiversity fragmentation in Britain is at a critical point, unnecessary vanity projects like HS2 for example are threatening a very fragile balance of nature and unfortunately, despite XRs continued campaign to raise the alarm it is still slipping off people's radar."
XR Stroud added: "We cannot be at every tree felling which is why we are pushing for systemic solutions."
9.00AM:
Workmen are cutting down a substantial tree on Symn Lane this morning to make way for the beginning of the project to build a car park and 12 houses on the AONB green field behind the fire station.
In the past few weeks, local developer Colburn Homes is understood to have walked away from the controversial project which has divided local opinion.
A neighbour overlooking the work told the Wotton Times: “This is such a sad day for us. We live in a town where trees are usually protected, but if you’re going to rip up the rules and build in ‘protected’ green space I guess one tree doesn’t matter. It’s one rule for little people and no rules for greedy developers.”
It is believed that Welsh builder GDH is now commencing the work, having requested technical variations in the order of progress to enable an access road to be built between the Chipping Surgery and the fire station.
Wotton Area Climate Action Network
New woodland has been planted on town council-owned land near Knapp Road allotments by Wotton Area Climate Action Network Read more in the March edition of The Wotton Times
Window Wanderland 2021 goes live!
WITH DRY weather forecast for tonight, conditions are perfect for the launch of Wotton Window Wanderland 2021.
As Under the Edge Arts spokesman Martin Clarke says, this hugely popular weekend event is going ahead with strict compliance of Covid-safe guidelines.
And if you buy your copy of the Wotton Times today, from all good retailers including the Co-Op, you'll get a pull-out step-by-step guide map to show you where all the displays will be.
So be safe, but don't stay at home – enjoy the fresh air and admire the panes* Wotton has gone to!
*worst pun of 2021 (so far)
KLB students and Rotarians help spread Christmas cheer
