Be wary of who is at your door!

 

South Gloucestershire Trading Standards would like to reiterate to residents to be wary of those visiting unexpectedly.

 

Trading Standards have been made aware of rogue traders targeting vulnerable residents in the Yate area offering to treat roofing tiles.

 

The contact details given by these traders have proven to be false. Incidents such as these are linked to distraction burglaries and residents are encouraged to report them to Trading Standards.

 

There are a number of steps residents can take to try and avoid becoming the victim of a rogue trader.

 

• Be wary of traders who cold call and the deals they offer you – it is unusual for genuine tradesmen to need to cold call to drum up work!
• Do not allow any unknown and unexpected visitor into your home.
• If they claim work needs doing, get a second or even third opinion from other professional tradesman.
• If you agree to work you are afforded cancellation rights by law, and these should be given to you in writing.
• Ensure you have the correct company name and/or owners name and the full postal address – this will not guarantee the work is done satisfactorily but may enable you to take further action if things go wrong.
• If you are unhappy or feel intimidated by the visitor – shut the door and call the police.

 

If you do have work you wish to be carried out, why not use a trader who is a member of the Trading Standards operated Buy With Confidence scheme?

For a list of approved traders, visit www.buywithconfidence.gov.uk or contact South Gloucestershire Trading Standards on 01454 634001 or email trading.standards@southglos.gov.uk.

 

If you believe you have fallen victim to a rogue trader, or would like some further pre-shopping advice, please contact Consumer Direct on 08454 04 05 06.

 

If you have been a victim of a distraction burglary, contact the police immediately.

Thornbury Library

Redecoration

Thornbury library will be closed for redecoration from Monday 27^thSeptember until Saturday 16^th October and we will re-open on Monday 18^th October. While we are closed you can use any South Gloucestershire Library or indeed ANY library in the LibrariesWest consortium of libraries. You can also use the South Gloucestershire Mobile Library.

See www.southglos.gov.uk/libraries for details or ring 01454 86 8006

We hope to hold a number of events in November to celebrate our re-opening including another visit from musical harmony group Fascinating Rhythm on Wednesday evening 3^rd November, a cookery demonstration on Saturday morning 13^th November, an illustrated talk about life on a (local) farm on Wednesday evening 17^th November, an illustrated talk about cycling around the world on Wednesday evening 1^st December and finally a ‘take away’ aviation quiz will run throughout November.. On Monday mornings we are also hoping to reintroduce a pension’s surgery together with help on making a will, power of attorney and probate. Details of all events will be confirmed in our November article.

1.     Pre-school story-times and musical rhyme time

Just a reminder that we hold FREE Monday afternoon pre-school story-times from 2.15pm-2.45pm and a monthly rhyme time for younger children on the last Monday of each month also from 2.15pm-2.45pm. Pre-school children and their parents and carers are most welcome to attend these FREE fun activities which are also an opportunity for them to meet up with one another in a relaxed setting.

2.     New careers advice website-What’s your Next Step?

Next Step, a new FREE adult careers service, is now available which serves the needs of all adults in England, aged 19 and over, whatever their prior skills, qualifications or employment status.

Adults will experience a high quality service offering them expert, impartial advice and resources. Next Step will support them to make informed choices about future skills, careers, work and life.

Call 0800 100 900 lines are open from 8am – 10pm, 7 days a week, and speak to an adviser on the telephone or arrange a face-to-face appointment in your local area, or search online for Next Step.

The Next Step adult careers website will be coming soon. In the meantime, adults can access online services through the Careers Advice website www.direct.gov.uk/careersadvice  and the Skills Accounts website www.direct.gov.uk/skillsaccounts

3.     Libraries in stitches!
The Poetry Society did it last year, and now South Gloucestershire Libraries have had a go! We have commissioned local poet Marcus Moore (supported by Poetry Can and Arts Development money) to write a poem celebrating libraries and each library has been responsible for knitting one line, letter by letter. The lines are almost complete now and Marcus unveils it on National Poetry Day 7^th October at Yate Library. Anyone who has helped with the knitting is welcome to come along and meet Marcus for tea, a chat and a sneak preview of the finished poem at Yate Library on 7 October between 4.00pm and 5.00pm. Again at Yate library from 7.30pm in the evening, Marcus will unveil the poem, perform it and talk about his working life as a poet and the experience of writing his poem to be knitted.

Tickets for this event are free and will be available from any library in South Gloucestershire.

 

For more information on any of the above items please give the library a ring on 01454 868 006 (24 hour renewal line 08450 020 777) or visit our web-site on www.southglos.gov.uk/libraries.

Remember you can also access the web-site to renew your books, check the catalogue, reserve items and consult a wide range of on-line reference materials. You will need your borrower number and pin number (available from the library). We also offer a telephone enquiry service on 01454 866 900 or you can email your enquiry to askthelibrary@southglos.gov.uk

 We also offer free internet access and word processing in the library. Please note we can send your reservation and overdue notifications by text, email or voice message and we will also send pre-overdues if we have an email contact.

Local biodynamic vegetables
 Do you prefer home-grown vegetables? Are you too busy to grow your own? Then
a new organisation, Thornbury CSA, is the answer for you. This scheme is
like having an allotment without doing any work. There are over twenty
families in the scheme already, and we would like to expand to about fifty.
            CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture, and the idea is that the
grower works with consumer members so that we know how the vegetables are
grown while the grower has a guaranteed market.
            Vegetables are grown by a paid grower on land at the Sheiling School.
Vegetables are seasonal, locally grown and biodynamic. Biodynamic means
organic with a bit extra, and no artificial sprays or fertilisers are used.
            Members get a share of vegetables each week. A standard share is enough for
two average adults and costs £9.50 per week or £41 per month. Or you can
have a half share, enough for a single adult, for half the price.
            Vegetable shares can be collected each week between 4pm and 7pm on Thursday
from the Sheiling School. Or for an extra £2 each week they can be
delivered.
            This year the vegetables include potatoes, onions, carrots, parsnips,
turnips, beetroot, cabbages, spinach, broccoli, brussels sprouts, beans,
peas, courgettes, squashes, lettuces, tomatoes and apples. In future years
there could be more salad crops, more exotic vegetables and more fruit.
            This season we will only have vegetables until February, but in future years
we hope to extend the season with better storage and polythene tunnels.
            For more information, please see the website www.thornburycsa.org.uk or ring
01454-416778.

MURDER! MURDER!

Well you will certainly witness one or two of those in “JEKYLL and HYDE” - but there’s lots more too!  The musical is based on the novella by Robert Louis Stevenson (with a somewhat embellished story!) and is being performed by Thornbury Musical Theatre Group in October. Jekyll, a young doctor, is convinced of the duality of the human character and wishes to separate the two in order to attempt to release his father from the mental illness which is imprisoning him. Denied the opportunity to try his formula on another human, Jekyll decides to experiment on himself and Hyde is “born”! Jekyll can, perhaps, be seen as a flawed genius; he is well-intentioned, but we all know where good intentions lead! As well as the familiar theme of conflicting good and evil the show has not one but two entwined “love” stories; Jekyll is engaged to the devoted Emma but also finds himself attracted to the prostitute Lucy whom he meets on his stag night. For her part Lucy is overwhelmed by Jekyll’s kindness when she turns to him when she is injured by Hyde and muses on what might be as she sings “If Someone Like You”; at the same time she finds herself both attracted to and repelled by Hyde. Many twists and turns ensue with much drama, passion and pathos along the way, culminating in a dramatic climax - definitely a show not to be missed! The music is awe-inspiring with wonderful songs like “This is the Moment”; if you liked “Les Miserables” you will love “Jekyll and Hyde”! The show will run from 20^th - 23^rd October at the Armstrong Hall, 7.30 nightly with a 2.30 matinee on the Saturday. Tickets are £9, £8 concession and on Wednesday 3 full price tickets for the price of 2, on the other performances buy 10 tickets get one free! The box office will open at Wildings on Wednesday 6^th October or ring now on 01454 415850. Tickets can also be reserved, but not paid for by e-mailing boxoffice@tmtg.org.uk. If you would like to know more about the show and the group why not take a peep at our website www.tmtg.org.uk ?

 

‘Taste’ Local Food & Drink Festival 1 – 17 October 2010

www.southgloslocalfood.org

South Gloucestershire’s ‘Taste’ Local Food & Drink Festival kick starts on Saturday 2^nd October in Staple Hill with theatre in shops performed by Bedminster-based Show of Strength Theatre Company and titled “Trading Local”.  5-minute monologues will be performed in shops up and down both High and Broad Streets, Staple hill, starting at 10am with the last performance at 4.20pm. 

The 6^th festival runs this year from 1-17 October and there are loads of opportunities to join in cookery demonstrations (and tastings!) – either in a small group with a local cook or at a farmers’ market with chef Ron Faulkner from Ronnie’s in Thornbury. You can also join in other bakery, brewery and farm visits.   New for this year is the Chipping Sodbury Food Festival (Sat 9 October) organised by the Chipping Sodbury Chamber of Commerce. 

For full details of this year’s festival, visit www.southgloslocalfood.org and go to the festival page.  Or you can pick up a programme at your local library or One-Stop-Shop, or get one sent to you by ringing 01454-863883. You can also have one e-mailed to you – contact:  localfood@southglos.gov.uk

 

Val Harding, Local Food Officer, South Gloucestershire Council, Tel: 01454-863883

Val.harding@southglos.gov.uk

Diocesan Letter | What is it like? – from Very Revd David Hoyle, Dean of Bristol

 

Friends, who mean well, ask me, ‘So, what is it like? What is it like being the Dean of Bristol?’  Well, so far it has been marvellous, challenging, and fascinating (that was the first week) then fascinating again and a bit bewildering (second week) exhausting (that was pretty much the third week).  Eleven weeks in, it is still surprising me. The truth is, I can’t tell you what it is like being the Dean of Bristol.

I could try describing it, I suppose.  A description would go something like this.  ‘I have preached a lot of sermons and presided at a lot of services.  I have bowed to a verger more times than I can count and got lost three times.  I have discussed cathedral finance, cathedral worship, education, cathedral fabric, health and safety and staff appointments.  I have processed behind the canons for quite a long time; I have processed behind my wife, round Ikea, for even longer.  I have met a host of fascinating people.   I have set fire to a tea-towel, found the supermarket, been ill, got locked out, sat with the bereaved, talked to the anxious and been to a lot of meetings.’  Even that list is woefully incomplete and gets boring.

I never will be able to sum up ‘what it is like’.  None of us can.  There is always work in progress, things we have not understood, bits of the conversation we have not finished.  I used to teach history and one of the things historians have to live with is that you never, finally get the history right.  I can write a book about Seventeenth Century Cambridge (strange thing to do, but it seemed like a good idea at the time) then other people will come along with different bits of evidence, different ways of thinking and the history will change.  It really is only God who sees thing whole, sees them as they really are.

So, two things to bear in mind.  First, we need a little humility.  We are not good judges, however well informed we are.  Unable to know ourselves properly, we will forever make the wrong assumptions about other people.  Leave final judgements to God and think charitably.  Then (and it is every bit as important), remember what it is we hope for.  Christians have spent too long talking about the past, or talking about context.  Theology is full of historians and sociologists.  Talking about the past and the present is interesting, but it is actually a bit of a distraction.  What is really interesting is not what was, but what will be.  Jesus came preaching the Kingdom that is coming; he rose from the dead on the first day of a new week.  It is what we will be that really matters.  It is time for all of us to start talking with more enthusiasm and more imagination about what we hope for.  It is the future, God’s judgement and what God’s grace will do with us that will actually define us.  Let us begin to imagine the Kingdom in its justice and its righteousness.  Then we might better see injustice and unrighteousness around us and strive for something better.  Let us hope and describe what we hope for.

So don’t ask me what it is like.  Ask me what I hope for.

Thornbury Quakers – An evening of U A Fanthorpe’s work

When Thornbury Quakers began to arrange an evening of U A Fanthorpe’s work,   I had to admit I didn’t know any of her work.   Amazingly next day at the library a slim volume of her work almost leapt out of the shelf to greet me!   I found her poems a real joy – funny, sad and very down to earth.    U A Fanthorpe’s first volume of poetry was published in 1978 and after that she went from strength to strength becoming a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature  and receiving a CBE in 2001 for services to poetry.  She received the Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry in 2003.

 

For many years U A Fanthorpe worked with Rosie Bailey, a Bristol academic and Teacher and we are delighted that Rosie has agreed to come to Thornbury to read some of her work at this event arranged for Quaker Week.    Some poems have been set to music and there will be a performance by a local professional baritone.   There might also be an input of the work of Flanders and Swan as well.

 

So come along to the United Reform Church on 7th October at 7.30 and be prepared to enjoy yourself!   Programme and refreshments available. You will also have the opportunity to meet Thornbury Quakers.   For more information contact Maggie Jeffery on 01454 413535.

WATCH OUT … THERE’S MAGIC ABOUT

Watch out for a magic show coming to Thornbury next month.  Back by popular demand, local man Barry Smith (now a Member of the prestigious Magic Circle), will be returning to the Cossham Hall to perform his new magic show ‘A Touch of Magic’, along with his assistant, wife Sue. 

This rarely seen type of entertainment, suitable for those aged 12+, will take place on the evenings of 19 and 20 November.  If you did not manage to see Barry’s sell-out debut magic show in Thornbury two years ago, or in Olveston last year, don’t delay in getting tickets to witness his fantastic new show.  Look out for full details in next month’s edition.

 Enquiries 07849 638804 or 01454 851762, or e-mail magic@barrysmith.co.uk. 

 

A Project to Build a New Performance & Arts Venue in Thornbury

Reg. Charity No. 1120422

Founder Patron: Catherine Johnson    Company No. 6009419

ACT.Thornbury@yahoo.co.uk                   www.ACTthornbury.org.uk

A night at the pantomime!

Chris Harris's name is synonymous with the delights of pantomime and ACT (Arts and Community in Thornbury) is proud to present his acclaimed one man show at Thornbury's Armstrong Hall on Friday 5 November at 7.30 pm.

It may be Bonfire Night, but Chris will provide all the fireworks one needs, with his dazzling display of skills, mime, dance, jokes and song.  Besides an in -depth knowledge of theatrical history, his great love of the genre, from dames to principal boys and from slapstick to spectacle, will intrigue and entertain all those lucky enough to secure a ticket.  Chris advocates all forms of amateur theatre; recently lending strong support to ACT's vision of a theatre-based community complex in Thornbury, with a fascinating sell-out fundraiser, full of hilarious anecdotes.

Originating from Bridgwater, Chris studied in England, Prague, then under Jacques Lecoq in France and finally Moscow State Circus School.  His global career included travelling throughout America with Sam Wannamaker, Michael York, Douglas Fairbanks Jnr, Cleo Laine and Johnny Dankworth (to name a few!), fund raising for London's Globe Theatre.  Television work has abounded and his one man shows such as Kemp's Jig, Ally Sloper's Half-Holiday and That's The Way To Do It! are extremely popular.  Having co-written and produced pantos for 9 years at BOV, Chris has directed and played Dame in nine Bath Theatre Royal pantomimes.  Who better to enlighten us?

Tickets (£12/£11 for FACTs) are available from Thornbury Garden Centre.  Visit www.ACTthornbury.org.uk for more information on our project and becoming a FACT.

 

 

Editorial

 

I’d like to start this editorial by thanking everyone who has sent their best wishes to me for my new role. It is very much appreciated that you have taken the time to do this. I would also like to thank everyone who sends me such a vast array of different articles each month. The diversity of subjects is amazing and proves that we are living in a really great community – there is so much going on in the area and I just wish I had the time to join in with lots of the activities I find out about each month.

 

I also wish there was room in the magazine to print each and every one of the articles I receive but we can only print a finite amount of pages. I realise that when something has to be left out people are disappointed but I just wanted to let everyone know that we do our very best to print as much as possible. Also, if you have the internet, the Inview website is packed with articles, useful information and local activities, some of which we haven’t managed to fit into the magazine.

 

I think I have caught up with most of the regular contributors to let them know that the Tiscali email address will be discontinued soon – emails need to be sent to inviewmag@btinternet.com and I look forward to receiving them.

 

That’s about it from me for this month apart from a few snippets of news which I’ve listed below.

 

Best wishes to all - Jenny

 

 

News snippets – did you know?

 

A committee has recommended to the government that the retirement age be 72 years old by 2020 to solve the pension deficit.  This will cause considerable adjustments to people who can no longer retire before 60 and who can work as long as they wish.

 

Since 2008 the use of free supermarket plastic bags has nearly halved.

 

Some Freeview channels have changed recently so for those readers who use Freeview and access more than channels 1-5, you may need to retune your boxes to get the most out of this service.