Inside & Out Magazine – March/April 2016

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South Gloucestershire

March / April 2016

Promtastic Girls put on the style as excitement mounts for the Prom season Thornbury Arts Festival Your complete guide

Ready for Big School?

All the help you need

Snakes on the run Reptiles up close insideandoutmag.co.uk

I always promised you a herb garden Jekka McVicar’s Big date at Chelsea Flower Show

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Inside & Out Magazine ~ March / April 2016

INSIDE & OUT

Contents

The last thing we expected to do on launching this new magazine for South Gloucestershire was to start busting some of our favourite myths.

05 Wyatt’s World

32 What’s On

But that’s just what we’ve done with the Stetson Hat.

06 Making a splash

It may not have been the best-known “fact” about our lovely area but the experts were convinced - the Stetson Hat (as worn by John Wayne and all our favourite cowboys) was not only invented in Frampton Cottrell, but was first made in Frampton Cottrell.

We put our man James Garrett on the case, sat back and waited for a fascinating historical tale to emerge.

It didn’t. It’s not true. But how the myth evolved and South Gloucestershire’s hosiery history still makes for an enthralling story. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

When we launched Inside & Out - South Gloucestershire we wanted to bring you something we believe the area has been missing - a quality magazine all about the area where you live.

We’ve been delighted by the response. See page 63 for just some of the emails and social media comments we’ve received.

It’s our mission to tell you all you need to know about the area’s events and entertainment, hotels and pubs and shops and homes. We also explore the great outdoors and make sure you don’t miss a thing that’s going on.

This edition, Jekka McVicar opens her herb garden and her heart as she talks to us about turning a hobby into a successful business.

We have a look at the Tropical Garden Centre’s expansion plans (if you don’t like reptiles, they’ll be a bit scary) and tell you everything you need to know about the Thornbury Arts Festival.

The Alveston Twinning Association opened their doors to us for our popular “Out and About” feature and we meet some teenagers who are making sure they have a School Prom they’ll remember for the rest of their lives.

On the sporting front, we look ahead to Badminton, chat to one of women football’s biggest stars and visit a historical football exhibition in Yate.

As we said, all of South Gloucestershire life is here. Inside & Out - it’s a pleasure sharing it with you.

Let us know what you think of the magazine by emailing features@insideandoutmag.co.uk or calling one of the numbers below.

Richard has a spring clean.

Your round-up for March and April.

Wizards of Water Polo.

10 Growing pains

Herbs are heroes for Jekka McVicar.

35 Girl power

Grace shows the boys how it’s done.

40 The Big Apple

New York is child’s play.

14 Football crazy

44 Snakes alive

The local history of our favourite sport.

18 Pride of the Prom

50 Galloping on

Girls step out in their own creations.

21 Head first

Not to mention the lizards.

54 On the road

The story of the Stetson.

The secrets of Badminton.

The 4 x 4 that won’t break the bank.

26 Lay-by lunches

62 Inside Thornbury

The man with a van.

Past and present.

Kevan Blackadder, Editor, Inside & Out – South Gloucestershire

www.insideandoutmagazine.co.uk Twitter: @insideandoutmag facebook: /insideandoutmag Editor KEVAN BLACKADDER features@insideandoutmag.co.uk Sales team sales@insideandoutmag.co.uk 01454 800 210

Publisher RICHARD DREW office@insideandoutmag.co.uk 01454 800 120 Design CHRISTOPHER BIGSBY and LEIGH EVANS Production BRAVE BRANDS LTD inside@bravebrands.co.uk 07473 755 185

Inside & Out magazine Distribution distribution@insideandoutmag.co.uk is published by Brigstowe Media Ltd. 01454 800 120 insideandoutmag.co.uk

Disclaimer Inside & Out magazine in published

by Brigstowe Media, an independent company.

Opinions expressed in this magazine are those of the authors. We cannot take responsibility for the content or accuracy of advertising. Inside & Out is subject to copyright and is not to be reproduced in any form without the written permission of the publisher.

March / April 2016 ~ Inside & Out Magazine

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Inside & Out Magazine ~ March / April 2016

INSIDE & OUT COLUMNIST

WYATT’S WORLD

Richard Wyatt was once one of the best-known faces on local TV, fronting HTV West News. He went on to be the anchorman on BBC Radio Bristol’s Breakfast Show and now runs The Virtual Museum of Bath ~ www.virtualmuseumofbath.com

TIME FOR A SPRING CLEAN – THE WAY MOTHER USED TO DO IT

B

ack in the days when we had ‘seasons’ which actually followed the calendar, March was always regarded as marking the beginning of spring. A time when the Earth and its inhabitants began to show signs of life after so many cold, dark and slumbering days.

I remember it as a time when my mother’s entire collection of big yellow dusters was displayed along the washing line where - for a bright and breezy morning - they fluttered like Easter bunting in the weak but warmer sunshine. It was a signal along with snowdrops, daffodils and my pet tortoise waking up - that she was about to start the annual ritual of spring cleaning.

This was not your normal weekly dust and polish but a fullyarmed attack on the whole house with mop and bucket, brush and vacuum, a brand-new jumbo tin of lavender polish, Brasso, disinfectant, Windolene and a pile of those now freshly-washedand-dried dusters ready to mop up winter and shake it out of the now wide-opened windows.

All the above has been brought to mind by seeing on-line that we are having a National Spring Cleaning Week from the 16th to the 23rd of March. It’s been devised - apparently - to involve the media in giving tips and advice on household cleaning and how to organise a bit of a domestic clear-out.

In honour of this great event l was moved to spruce up my office. My partner had organised new shelving for an overspill of books and files and I had the job of clearing the desk top.

Amongst the papers going in the bin was a note from Stuart Burroughs - Curator of the Museum of Bath at Work - telling me about a special film showing he was holding back in January this year.

It was called ‘Our School’ and insideandoutmag.co.uk

had been made in 1962 to encourage teachers, children and parents that Secondary Modern schools were not a second-best alternative to the Grammar School but delivered a good general education. The intention being to refute the suggestion that such schools were just for Eleven-Plus failures.

If only one could spring-clean dark memories away. I was an Eleven-Plus ‘borderline case’ and remember being taken to the old Weston Grammar School for a written exam and then an interview with a line of frightening - and unsmiling adults lined up behind their desks. Turns out l failed to impress.

I remember - in particular - l didn’t know the name of the wooden clicking device they waved at football matches. On that fear and panic-filled morning that was the main thing l took away from a terrible experience, along with a vision of the curvy-waxed moustache sported by the ‘chairman of the panel’.

Many years later l was able to shake hands with him - having become both a journalist and television presenter - and it felt like a moment of triumph over the old system. However, it’s one that had left me with a cruel ‘second-class citizen type’ memory that no spring-cleaning duster would ever be able to scoop up and shake free.

The arrival of the Comprehensive system created a more level playing field for educational opportunity and l did put in enough work anyway to gain a satisfying career - but does anyone know if that football ‘clicker’ has a special name? It might help this old Sec-Mod boy sleep a little easier at night.

EDITOR’S NOTE: I know the answer Richard. I confess I’m old enough to have had one as a child.

What do the readers think? Tweet your answer @insideandoutmag.

March / April 2016 ~ Inside & Out Magazine

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WATER POLO

IN AT THE DEEP END It’s big in Europe, and will be one of the 28 sports at the Olympics in Rio this summer, but not many people in this part of the world will know too much about water polo.

There is one club in South Gloucestershire that is trying to change that. They say being a decent swimmer is optional, so Richard Drew dug out his trunks and went to find out more.

Alison Williams and Jon Woodland get to grips with water polo

Pictures by Olivia Woodhouse 6

Inside & Out Magazine ~ March / April 2016

Mathew Lockyer (number 9) is challenged by his brother Dillon

WATER POLO

I

t’s hot poolside, the swimming pool echoing with the sounds of splashing and shouting of those in the water. Nothing unusual about that, but a closer inspection will show all is not what you might expect at the Winterbourne International Academy.

There are balls in the pool, and those swimming around chasing the balls wear caps with ear protection. At each end are mini goals. Water polo training is in full swing.

For one night only, I am taking part.

It’s just as well that those behind the South Gloucestershire Water Polo Club are a friendly bunch because I’m feeling a bit out of my depth - in more ways than one.

The club is less than six months old, but the two men at the helm have decades of experience in both playing and coaching. Chairman Huw Rose has been involved with swimming and water polo for almost 50 years and feels water polo is a much more inclusive option for young people.

“We are the only club in the south west that’s not attached to a swimming club and we just want it to grow,” he said. “Swimming is very much, and I speak as an ex-swimming coach, going more and more elitist.

“If you’re not going to get into the county, district or national level by the time you’re early teens, then the sport passes you by. A lot of these kids will never be in that level of competition, but they’re playing league water polo”.

This year the club will enter a junior team in the Bristol and West Water Polo League. Although this mixed team of under 16s is important to the club, it is

Huw Rose, club chairman

insideandoutmag.co.uk

by no means their only focus. They are keen to attract novices of any age.

Their Tuesday night sessions aren’t all about water polo either - the first half of the night is a swim session which anyone can take part in. It serves as a useful warm up for the water polo that follows. At £3 a head, many of the parents of the players can be tempted to take to the pool.

Perhaps this open approach can best be illustrated by friends Alison Williams and Jon Woodland. Alison is a strong swimmer who has become hooked on water polo, whereas it was Jon’s first visit when I met him. Astonishingly, he had only learnt to swim six months before.

Jon said: “I could get in a pool and I could doggy paddle a little bit and thought it was about time I learnt to swim properly so I went to my local pool and got a book on how to swim, got the basics in, but then I really needed somebody to watch me and tell me what I was doing so Ali convinced me to come here.

“I was a bit nervous because I hadn’t had any lessons before, but the coaches got me in and they gave me a few pointers and exercises I hadn’t thought of before and it was brilliant”.

“It’s been a lot better than I thought it was going to be. I was a bit nervous, I didn’t know what sort of standard it was gong to be but there’s all sort of standards here; there are people just as bad as me”.

Darren Nash, the head coach, is the other leading light at the club and he’s not surprised that the sport can attract those not always at ease with the water.

“The one thing you do find is that even people who are not particularly strong swimmers, the moment they get a ball in front of them, they can focus on something else and it’s amazing how quickly their swimming then becomes secondary to taking part in the activity,” he said. “They become stronger and fitter as a result of that.”

Jon certainly has come on in leaps and bounds and can now swim 400 metres. His next goal is to get more involved in water polo.

Alex Young-Santos looks to pass during training

His friend Alison came to the club with friends after a discussion about trying to mix swimming and netball.

“I’m a competitive swimmer by background, but never played water polo before, never touched a ball and the coaches have led me through from drowning to actually being able to survive each week now,” she said.

“I love for me that it’s completely different and combines my swimming skills with my ball handling - I did play netball and basketball - and it’s something completely new with a fitness I’ve never felt before.”

Once you have a go at water polo, you realise it is an amalgam of several other disciplines.

Coach Darren said: “The comparison with other sports is quite obvious. In the same way that rugby involves a degree of controlled contact and aggression, water polo is very much the same ilk.

It’s fast moving, like basketball in that you move up and down very quickly, and I find actually for somebody that’s been involved in the sport for as long as I have, it’s a great way of maintaining a level of fitness without really thinking very hard about it.”

Water polo has had a bit of an image problem in the past, the sport a bit of an excuse for a punch up in the pool. Huw Rose admits that used to be the case, but that potential players shouldn’t be worried.

March / April 2016 ~ Inside & Out Magazine

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WATER POLO “It is a physical sport, there’s no doubt about it,” he said. “It used to be 20 years ago that people who played it were psychotic really, they just hit each other and forgot about the ball.

Because it’s turned professional in Europe, and it’s watched on TV quite a lot in Europe, they’ve speeded it up and it’s a lot more rigid in the rules. There’s a lot of pulling and shoving, but it’s not as brutal as it was.”

Dillion Lockyer

That’s probably just as well, given the number of young people taking up the sport in the area. The club works closely with Winterbourne International Academy. The school has its own teams and recently gave some private schools a run for their money in the quarterfinals of a school’s National Water Polo Competition. Now they’ve got a date in the Plate competition at Eton.

One of the teenagers who plays for both school and the club, Louis Merrett, summed up why this often overlooked sport is gaining popularity. “Each game is dynamic and unique, no two games are the same,” he said. “A lot of people don’t like just swimming up and down with the constant repetition, whereas with water polo you can have so many different things do in a game”.

The youngest player the club has

Matthew Irminger and Louis Merrett

is 10, the oldest 48. Both Huw and Darren are convinced this most inclusive of clubs has a big future in South Gloucestershire.

I

’m not sure you can have a baptism of fire when you are in a swimming pool, but my introduction to water polo was certainly a steep learning curve.

Despite my reluctance, coach Darren soon had me in the water and was giving me my first lesson in the dark arts of the sport. First up, how to catch the ball: one handed and letting the ball go back in the hand on contact to lose the momentum.

Then how to throw the thing. This apparently is all about the shoulders. Your free hand has to point where you want it to go, then the ball is thrown with a flick of the fingers, shoulder in line. A bit like the javelin, or cricket.

As a member of the Dad’s Army that makes up Frampton Cotterell Cricket Club’s third team it was music to my ears.

Next up the ‘dribbling’ - front crawl whilst keeping the ball within the arc of your arms. Tricky, especially as apparently the drag from my demure swim shorts was stopping my body getting high enough in the water.

Budgie smugglers from here on in then.

I was doing all right, despite the fact we were using the smaller and lighter junior version of the ball - oh, and we were able to stand up in the shallow end. Then came the tricky bit. A match.

Any confidence disappeared, looking at the school kids and college students that made up virtually everyone else in the pool. The eldest must have been 25 years my junior. I skulked on the side hoping not to be noticed.

Unfortunately Darren, who is my age, spotted me, and said I was to mark him.

And so it started. It’s true what they say, you really don’t think about the swimming or the physical effort you are putting in; your focus is purely on the game, and the ball, in front of you. Hesitantly at first, then with more confidence I got involved.

The game really is a blur of arms and splashing, noise from the players and the referee’s whistle bouncing off

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Inside & Out Magazine ~ March / April 2016

Richard Drew gets a lesson from coach Darren Nash

the walls. It’s played at a breathtaking pace. One minute you are attacking, the next the ball is 20 metres behind you. Front crawl in attack, backstroke to keep an eye on your opponent in defence.

I managed the odd tackle, although it was impossible to get the ball from wily Darren as he held me at arm’s length whilst launching the ball with his other hand.

I thought I had had my crowning moment in the second half, snatching the ball and making a telling pass.

Shame about the referee’s whistle. It turned out that in my excitement, I had committed the cardinal sin of using both hands.

Only when the game finished did I realise how hard I was breathing. It had been a good workout, and not as alien as I had feared. There are elements of cricket, basketball, handball and other sports. Most importantly it was a lot of fun. So much so, I might give it another go.

South Gloucestershire Water Polo Club: Winterbourne International Academy Sports Village pool Tuesday evenings 7.00 - 8.30 For more information: Huw Rose 07768 196 716

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March / April 2016 ~ Inside & Out Magazine

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Jekka McVicar Pictures by Barbara Evripidou 10

Inside & Out Magazine ~ March / April 2016

GROWING PAINS

Queen of Herbs Making a simple mint sauce as a girl was the start of Jekka McVicar’s lifelong enthusiasm for herbs. With scores of awards and fans that include royalty and celebrity chefs, she tells Lynne Hutchinson how she is now achieving a dream to create a garden at Chelsea Flower Show.

D

uring the past 30 years, Jekka McVicar has built up a collection of gold medals and top awards, become an ambassador for “green” skills and created herb gardens for some high profile clients.

But although this recognition of her knowledge and expertise makes her a horticultural A-lister, she has never lost her desire to simply make more people aware of herbs, their benefits and versatility.

Determination to promote the importance of horticulture as a whole and the people involved in it has also developed to become just as strong a driver for her work.

And despite admitting to “nearing retirement age” there is still much to be accomplished, including creating her first show garden at one of the most prestigious events of the year.

Chelsea Flower Show has been the scene of many of Jekka’s medal winning exhibits but she has long dreamed of designing one of its feature gardens.

In May she will achieve that ambition by unveiling her debut entry created for London’s St John’s Hospice. The hospice is sponsoring the garden, which will be dismantled after Chelsea is over and recreated at its site in St John’s Wood.

The garden, called A Modern Apothecary, was inspired by conversations with doctors and other care professionals about the benefits of plants and gardens to people’s health.

Jekka wanted to highlight the important relationship between medicine and nature, using plants known to be beneficial to the health and well-being of society, as well as creating a place of quiet reflection.

The work involved in the project is enormous and as Jekka and her team are also growing all the plants for the garden, it has been a constant battle insideandoutmag.co.uk

with the weather to try to get them in peak condition at just the right time.

However, it’s a challenge that Jekka has taken on with her usual enthusiasm.

It was as a child that Jekka first become interested in herbs after being taught how to make fresh mint sauce. She went on to work at a herb nursery in Somerset – being part of a rock band and working in the BBC drama department also featured in her CV along the way - but it was in the mid-1980s when the idea of making a career out of her hobby developed.

At the time Jekka and her husband, Mac, were growing organic herbs in their back garden in Filton. Two years later, having outgrown the garden, they moved to Alveston, near Thornbury, with their two toddler children and began sowing the seeds of Jekka’s Herb Farm.

Jekka said: “We started with a wholesale business because of the children as I could work around them.

Then we began exhibiting.”

Starting with smaller events, it wasn’t long before the farm featured at the major Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) shows, including Chelsea and Hampton Court.

Jekka’s very first RHS gold medal was won at Hampton Court in 1993, followed in 1995 by the first of 14 Chelsea golds. She currently holds 62 of the top awards, together with the 2009 Lawrence Award for the best floral exhibit at an RHS flower show during that year - the first time a display of herbs had won the accolade.

As the awards kept coming in, the business changed from wholesale to mail order, which allowed Jekka to increase the number of herb varieties grown. From just a couple of dozen varieties at the very start of the business, it gradually increased to more than 600.

March / April 2016 ~ Inside & Out Magazine

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GROWING PAINS

“There was a view that only geeks and the brown rice brigade were interested in herbs. Now people have woken up to the potential of these plants.”

Jekka said: “I did the mail order for about ten years or so but it became a nightmare. People didn’t always appreciate that we had to grow the plants first and the carriers were not always so good. Sometimes things would get trashed before they arrived with customers.

“What I really wanted to do was teach practical horticulture so I started running masterclasses at the farm, which are great and often sell out as soon as they are advertised. We also introduced a series of annual open days so people could come in, see what we do and learn more about herbs.”

But although the farm boasted a massive array of plants, they were invariably young, small and in little pots ready to be grown on elsewhere.

As Jekka reflected on the library of knowledge she had built up, she realised she needed full-grown herbs to demonstrate their appearance and use and to show how to cultivate them.

So began Project Herbetum to ensure the history, culinary and medicinal use of herbs was not lost for future generations.

The feature, which opened in 2013, is the biggest collection of culinary herbs in the UK. It has hundreds of them planted in raised beds to make it easy for visitors to see, touch, sniff and taste and has already attracted visitors from around the world, including Japan and Australia.

Such interest in the herbetum is gratifying for Jekka and demonstrates how attitudes to herbs have changed

Chamaemelum

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Inside & Out Magazine ~ March / April 2016

Modern Apothecary Garden illustrated by Hannah McVicar

since her early involvement with them.

Even though they have a long history of being used by humans as food and medicine, they went through a phase of being viewed as plants only for witches and vegetarians.

Jekka said: “When I first started, people thought I was crazy. There was a view that only geeks and the brown rice brigade were interested in herbs.

Now people have woken up to the potential of these plants and how they are part of our everyday life.”

It is thanks to people such as Jekka and chefs who have achieved celebrity status - many of whom have been to Jekka’s farm and are among her friends - that there is now more awareness of them.

Jekka said: “People have much more respect for herbs, as well as a greater respect for horticulture as a whole and how important it is.

“If you work in horticulture, there is always something else to know. You never, ever stop learning. Using your hands and working with nature all of the time, there’s nothing better for the well-being of the mind.”

Jekka’s championing of the cause has now led to her being appointed an RHS ambassador, with the aim of bringing horticulture to everyone and to encourage people to learn more about it.

She said: “There are so many skills needed in horticulture - how to prune a plant, when to prune it, knowledge about soil, all these things, and passing on that practical knowledge is really important.”

Her services to horticulture, as well as excellence in organic herb growing,

design, education and communication about the subject, have already earned Jekka a Garden Media Guild life-time achievement award.

She is also president of the Friends of Bristol Botanic Garden, president of the West of England Herb Group and a member of the RHS Herb Group, while her first publication, Jekka’s Complete Herb Book, reached a million sales worldwide in 2014.

She has designed herb gardens for the likes of chef Jamie Oliver, who gave her the title the Queen of Herbs, and is soon to start developing a roof garden at Bristol’s Southmead Hospital.

Jekka said: “It’s a garden where the staff can sit out so the herbs will give off a good scent and can also be used in cooking. That means the patients will also benefit.”

If all that doesn’t keep her busy throughout they year, the first of her open days are also imminent, starting on April 1 and 2 and continuing to the autumn. Even if she had pondered it, retirement for Jekka may well be a long way off.

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March / April 2016 ~ Inside & Out Magazine

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We’re football crazy, we’re football mad Yate and District Heritage Centre is staging the Football Crazy exhibition, a history of local football from its earliest days through to the present day.

Kevan Blackadder, who likes to think he knows the odd thing about football himself, went along for a look.

of 1948, courtesy rell Rangers c ciety So ry Frampton Cotte sto Hi l rell Loca Frampton Cotte

Terry Staniforth , of Yate, and his great-g randson Isaac

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InsideWoodhouse & Out Magazine ~ March / April 2016 14 Pictures: Olivia

LOCAL FOOTBALL

T

here it was in the middle of the room. Without taking another step forward, the memories came flooding back.

The old, laced leather football - or caser as we called them when we were kids was begging to be kicked even though it was on a table surrounded by other memorabilia.

I was lucky enough to have a playing field across the road from my home in Whitehaven in West Cumbria and my earliest football memory is kicking (or trying to kick) that astonishingly heavy football in vaguely the right direction.

It could be a painful experience, particularly if you mistimed a header (something I continued to do throughout my football “career”) and the laces struck you across an eyebrow.

But the overwhelming emotion from this fascinating exhibition put together by the centre’s community heritage officer David Hardill, pictured left, and his team of volunteers was that I didn’t know how lucky I was.

My leather football was soon replaced by rubber varieties that I could kick as far as I wanted.

Football Crazy is full of anecdotes from locals like Graham Hulands, a goalkeeper for North Road in the 1950s and 1960s, who tells how the balls became so heavy in wet conditions that he could rarely reach the halfway line with a goal kick.

The exhibition is a snapshot not only of South Gloucestershire football, but of how much life in South Gloucestershire has changed over the generations.

In its heyday, local football was very much about local village teams, with bitter rivalries growing up and the teams made up almost entirely of players who lived in each village.

As one display board in the exhibition reports: “Not only did every village have a team, but some had two plus reserves.

Coalpit Heath had Coalpit Heath Corinthians and Coalpit Heath Athletic.”

The facilities were basic to say the least.

In the Village Football section, Laurence Walker tells of playing Uley away and having to get changed in a chicken hut that was still used as a roost at night.

As recently as the 1970s, tin baths were being used after games. Old Sodbury would fill its bath with water direct from a pond near the pitch. Hulands says that, as goalkeeper, he always seemed to be the last man in the bath. In Yate, the players insideandoutmag.co.uk

Frampton United presentation dinner c 1936, courtesy of Frampton Cotterell Local History Society

were slightly better off, with the landlord of the White Lion providing hot water for their tin bath.

For David Hardill, the planning of the exhibition started in October of last year. “The idea with all our local history displays is that they are community driven and that is very much the case with Football Crazy,” he said.

“Quite a lot of the stuff we had accumulated over the years and had in store already. But we also relied on former players and clubs giving us extra information.

“It’s going very well and we’re definitely attracting people who wouldn’t normally come to an exhibition here. We’re hoping they’ll come back again.”

Volunteer Sue Pountney agreed.

“Gentlemen are coming in and recognising people in the photographs from down the years,” she said.

David said his favourite aspect of the exhibition was the spotlight it throws on those village rivalries.

“A lot of the most intense games seemed to involve Hawkesbury,” he said.

“Fights happened regularly, both on the field and off it. These were working-class villages with working class teams, with many of the players working in the local quarries.

“There was clearly no love lost between Wickwar and Hawkesbury and if they didn’t have a fight at the ground, it tended to happen after a few pints in town later.”

It’s a sad indictment of how village life has changed that the Hawkesbury team disappeared many years ago.

Others mentioned in the exhibition, like Badminton and Cromhall, have gone too. But it’s not all gloom and doom. Football Crazy tells us that Old Sodbury continues to have flourishing youth teams and that Tormarton FC has recently reformed.

The history of the most successful local side, Yate Town, is told in some detail.

They began as Yate British Wanderers, with the first known reference to them being in 1895, with a report of their 11-0 defeat by Pucklechurch.

But through the heroes of the 1930s like goalkeeper Frank Boulton, who went on to play for Arsenal, to the team that made it to the Premier Division of the Hellenic League in the mid-2000s and the FA Cup first round and a defeat by Cheltenham Town, Yate have seen as many good times as bad.

There is plenty of detail too on one of the oldest clubs in the area Chipping Sodbury (for whom WG Grace’s brothers George and Arthur played), factory teams and the history of women’s football locally.

Volunteer Sue Pountney began working for the museum in December 2015 after retiring from working in a doctor’s surgery.

The overall theme is repeated in the telling of the Yate Town story though.

Gone are the days when Yate were represented by the ordinary men of Yate.

Its players are semi-professional and come from a wide geographical area.

Looking round the exhibition during my visit, with his three-year-old greatgrandson Isaac, was Terry Staniforth, aged 71, from Yate. “It’s great to go back in time and see so many objects that I’d forgotten about over the years,” he said.

“I remember getting many a headache from those old footballs.”

He’s glad it won’t be quite the same for Isaac. But, as the youngster dashed excitedly around the displays, it was clear this story has many more chapters yet.

Another generation is already Football Crazy.

Football Crazy runs at the Yate and District Heritage Centre in Church Road, Tuesdays-Thursdays and on Saturdays from 10.30am to 4.30pm until March 19.

March / April 2016 ~ Inside & Out Magazine

15

RESTAURANT REVIEW

Photos: © Luxury Family Hotels

A MEAL FIT FOR A KING – AND A QUEEN Thornbury Castle hotel and restaurant has always had a reputation for fine dining. Vicky Drew found you could have a very special evening there without breaking the bank.

D

ining at Thornbury Castle is not just about the food. Taking the turn off Castle Street is quite amazing. It is easy to forget that this gem of a location is tucked away, almost hidden from view in this delightful market town.

Driving along the road leading to the main reception you can feel the history all around. It is no surprise that this castle was once owned by Henry VIII. He even spent 10 days there on one of his honeymoons. The one with Anne Boleyn.

On a wet and windy evening my fellow diner and I arrived straight from work.

It had been quite a week and something very special would be needed to take my mind off it. Within minutes of arriving we were seated in front of a roaring fire, a very comprehensive wine list in hand.

Thornbury Castle had delivered, we were 16

Inside & Out Magazine ~ March / April 2016

transported back in time. The service suggested: relax, take your time, we are ready when you are.

Throughout the evening the service was superb. You feel that nothing is too much trouble. Suitable wines were suggested, orders taken and canapés, including a very memorable cheese soufflé, arrived swiftly. Once our table was ready we asked for a delay as we needed just a few more minutes by the fire.

For starters we opted for the seared Orkney scallops and the salmon MiCuit. Both were excellent. The sharpness of the fruit complemented beautifully with the delicate flavour of the scallops.

Accompanied by a surprisingly light black pudding coated in breadcrumbs, as a starter I was very satisfied and it justified its £10 supplement. My fellow diner enjoyed the salmon, accompanied with blood orange and fennel.

As a main I chose the shin of beef, which was served with pomme puree and shallots. The beef was as tender as you would expect and the braising liquor added a richness of flavour. My companion enjoyed the duo of lamb with Jerusalem artichokes and port jelly, but we were both in agreement that the beef had the edge.

Deserts were a tough choice and in the end we settled for a vanilla panna cotta and duo of rhubarb. The panna cotta came with an unremarkable shortbread, but rather delicious roasted plum, a

winning combination. Again my fellow diner felt his course was not quite as impressive, with the jellied rhubarb being somewhat tough and tasteless. The accompanying rhubarb sorbet, however, was very good.

Dining in the castle is a very special experience and is not as expensive as you would expect. Three courses cost £50 per person and it is worth noting that there is a very comprehensive vegetarian menu and a children’s menu. The children’s menus includes staples such as penne Bolognese and knickerbocker glories and at around £15 for three courses it should appeal to children and parents alike.

Leaving Thornbury Castle was hard to do. We drove the car very slowly towards the exit, willing to be surrounded by its magnificence for just a little bit longer.

The food was good, but it is the overall experience of the location and service that makes Thornbury Castle stand out from the crowd.

Would we recommend?

What: Thornbury Castle Restaurant Where: Castle Street, Thornbury Price: £50 for three courses Rating: ★★★★✩ Do we recommend? YES

Pauline and Bob Prince, Ian and Nic Woolford

(L-R) Diane Roper-Marshall, Jackie Crespin and Angela Matthews

OUT AND ABOUT Photography by Barbara Evripidou Bill and Betty Cain

The Alveston Twinning Association held a fund-raising quiz night.

Ray and Sharon Hunt

Mike Stutter

Money raised will help to pay for activities when visitors from their French twin town of Courville-sur-Eure, visit in August.

Alveston will celebrate 30 years of twinning with the French town, which is near Chartres, next year.

Peter WIldman and Tom WIlson

Pat Poole (vice-chair) and Valerie Fergyson (chair)

Mac and Lynne Cullen

Garry Purchase, Kay Keebil, Trudy Wood and Dave Messenger Paul Bazzone and Val Neel

insideandoutmag.co.uk

March / April 2016 ~ Inside & Out Magazine

17

FASHION

ALL DRESSED UP – AND A PROM TO GO TO

By Jayne Taylor

“It’s a big event,” said 14-year-old Olivia Cushley.

“It’s exciting because you get the chance to glam yourself up. You want to be the prettiest one there.”

S

he must be talking about the Prom, an American phenomenon which, whatever your thoughts might be, is here to stay. Embracing the school leavers’ special day is retail giant John Lewis.

For the past three years the Cribbs Causeway store has held a competition for local schools to come up with designs for a Prom outfit. The young finalists get the opportunity to see their sketches and ideas turned into reality via the store’s haberdashery department.

They will then sashay down the catwalk wearing their creations at a charity event.

Olivia, who is studying GCSE textiles at Chipping Sodbury School, is one of this year’s seven lucky finalists who impressed judges with her vision of her ideal prom outfit - a short blue dress with a detachable train, giving the impression of a much more sedate outfit than it strictly is.

She is knuckling down in one of John Lewis’s staff meeting rooms, which has been transformed into a design studio during half-term. With concentration etched on her face, Olivia is clearly keen to pick up as many tips as possible from the John Lewis sewing experts, Georgie Hale and Nicki Brain. Like many young women, Olivia believes the Prom is an important part of her transition from childhood to adulthood and, frankly, looking good is key.

Pictures by Dave Betts 18

Inside & Out Magazine ~ March / April 2016

FASHION

Left to right: Shannon Locke, Talia Hacker and Lily Mai Cole with their designs

Sales assistant Nicki Brain with Talia Hacker

Shannon Locke at work on the sewing machine

Lily Mai Cole makes adjustments to her dress

Melbourne House onceSusan home with to Susie Mahler, owner of CafĂŠ Max, Culver, Indiana, who Talia hosted the launch No Place To Hide.

Edward Jenner Hacker on theof sewing machine

insideandoutmag.co.uk

Lily Mai Cole with sales assistant Georgie Hale

March / April 2016 ~ Inside & Out Magazine

19

FASHION

Left to right: Olivia Cushley, Lucy Tiley, Tierney Mannion and Zoe Roberts

Tierney Mannion

Sales assistant Georgie Hale and Lucy Tiley Zoe Roberts Olivia Cushley works on her dress

“I think I’d like to wear the dress I’m making to my actual Prom,” she says wistfully.

“It’s unique and no-one else would be wearing the same. It would be awkward turning up at your Prom in the same dress as someone else.

“I’m really proud of myself. I never thought I could design and make a dress. I was quite nervous but now I’m excited. It will look really good on my CV. I would love to win but I’m happy to get this far.”

Competing alongside Olivia are six other young people, Lily Mai Cole, Shannon Locke, Tierney Mannion, Talia Hacker, and Lucy Tiley, all from Bradley Stoke and Patchway Community School, and Zoe Roberts from Castle School.

By the end of their four-day stints at the sewing machine, they emerge pretty much experts in the art of cutting patterns, pinning, sewing, interfacing, boning and ironing. They are also dab hands in working with gemstones, 20

Inside & Out Magazine ~ March / April 2016

sequins, organza, lace and netting.

John Lewis PR and marketing coordinator Nicola Mason said it was great watching the girls grow in confidence during their time at the store.

“The Prom is something that is so important to many young people and marks a time where they are about to embark upon the next phase of their lives,” she tells me.

“When you see our finalists look at themselves in the mirror in the dresses they have made, it’s priceless. You can see in their eyes that they’re really happy. It makes it all worthwhile.”

Involving local schools is part of John Lewis’s philosophy of building relationships in the community. It’s a win, win situation, with the charity YoungMinds benefiting from all proceeds of the Prom event. The young finalists will all be present and it will feature models wearing Prom outfits, as well as personal stylists offering advice on how to shop for your

body shape and colouring.

Head of branch Lucy Ramseyer said all thoughts were now turning to the charity event. “I have been really impressed by the designs submitted this year,” she said. “They are stunning and made the final selection process extremely difficult. We are delighted to be able to offer students this opportunity and I am looking forward to seeing their ideas come to life in the reveal in March.”

The grand final will take place during the charity Prom event at Old Down Estate in Tockington on March 21 at 7pm where the finalists will be seen parading their gowns. The transformations will be polished with help from John Lewis’s Clarins team and Worle-based hair stylists Em².

Tickets cost £5 and are on sale at John Lewis Cribbs Causeway customer support department.

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Inside & Out Magazine ~ March / April 2016

HEALTHY LIVING

Tony Harding with a felting bow standing outside Old Factory House, Factory Road

THE STETSON? Invented in South Gloucestershire?

That’s a load of old hat

By James Garrett. Pictures: Olivia Woodhouse

The cowboy hat, I was informed when asked to write this article, was invented in South Gloucestershire. Yes sirree, the ten-gallon hat worn by high plains drifters from Victorian times onwards and immortalised in countless western films, was the product of a factory at Frampton Cottrell. And, although known universally as the Stetson, it should really be called the Christy, after a famous firm of hat-makers that once had a factory there. But should it?

insideandoutmag.co.uk

March / April 2016 ~ Inside & Out Magazine

23

CHRISTYS

I

n researching the story it became easy to see why one might think that the Stetson hailed from little old South Gloucestershire. Christys’ own history backs up the claim: “JB Stetson built a hat empire based on this flat wide-brimmed, high-crowned, robust felt hat – a hat that was designed by Christys and for which Stetson paid a royalty.

This iconic hat was worn by stars of the early cowboy films such as Tom Mix – the good guys in a white felt hat, baddies wearing a black one.”

The Brizzlebornandbred website repeats the claim, adding a touch of academic respectability: ‘Bristol University lecturer John Moore, said: “Few people know that the ten gallon hat was invented in Frampton Cottrell but it’s well documented in the records of the hatmakers who built and owned the factory last century. JB Stetson fought a long patent case with Christys - and lost. The result was that he had to pay a licence fee to market the famous Stetson hat.’’ But he won in the long term - that style of hat is known universally as a Stetson, and Christys’ role is completely forgotten.’

So far, so Hollywood-comes-to-South Gloucestershire.

Yet, the more I looked into the story the harder it became to stand it up. Where was the hard evidence of the court case or a South Gloucestershire ten-gallon hat that pre-dated the Stetson? John Moore, a respected local historian, is no longer alive so could not be asked to provide chapter and verse.

However, Chris Heal, who spent five years researching a PhD thesis on South Gloucestershire’s hatting industry, is convinced the tale is an urban myth which has become ‘true’ simply through being retold and reprinted often enough. He insists: “There is absolutely no ten-gallon hat in Christys’ sales brochures from the 19th Century and there was absolutely no mention of a court case against Stetson in either Christys’ or Stetson’s records.

“Not long before he died I had a beer with John Moore who, I must say, was a top man, and challenged him. He said he thought it was probably not true. Many years ago he had gone with a chum to look through Christys’ archive. The man who went with John, who is also now dead, claimed to have found the Stetson story and, because it was a good story, it went into one of John’s local history talks. It was then followed up by the press and the next thing you know it’s accepted fact.” Mr Moore had admitted that he had not personally seen the evidence, said Mr Heal.

Chris Heal investigated the claim as part of his PhD thesis by looking through Christys’ own records, which are stored in Stockport. “A large part of the archive comprises factory records and letters,” he said. “The correspondence with Stetson is affable; they were friends and business acquaintances. If anything untoward had been going on it would have come out in the letters but there’s nothing there.”

Indeed, would JB Stetson and Christys really have been corresponding over how best to handle employee relations as they did - if they were at daggers drawn over the pirating

24

Inside & Out Magazine ~ March / April 2016

Hatters at a felting kettle, left, and a feltmaker using a bow to separate fibres in a pelt.

of a hat design? Mr Heal added: “If there was a court case, where did it take place? I’ve checked in the UK and I got some legal students to do it in the USA and, again, there’s nothing to be found.”

All this is not to say that there wasn’t once an important hatting industry in Frampton Cottrell and neighbouring Winterbourne. There was and it is estimated that it may have produced as many as 40 million felt hats over the 300 years that it existed, from the late-16th to the late-19th centuries.

Tony Harding, local historian and chair of the Watleys End Residents Association, has published Hatters’ Trails, a popular walkers’ guide to this neglected part of the area’s heritage.

“Something like 4,000 people were employed and a whole village, Watleys End, was created entirely by the hatters,” he says. “The 1841 Census shows that two thirds of the men living in Watleys End were hatters, 121 of them.”

Yet by the end of the 19th Century the industry had more or less ceased to exist in the area. Mr Harding says three principal factors caused its decline. First, abolition of the slave trade had a drastic effect on the market. South Gloucestershire had produced hats, known as Wideawakes, for slaves working the plantations of British colonies in America and the West Indies. Increasing competition from French silk hatmakers and American factories using slave labourers also hurt South Gloucestershire’s hatters. They also failed to adapt to increasing mechanisation in the workplace, allowing competitors to steal a march.

In 1871 Christys closed its large factory in Frampton Cottrell, which had opened earlier in the century, and moved

CHRISTYS

Farm land on the edge of Watleys End where the rabbit fur was sourced from the many warrens

Ian Haddrell with his felting kettle

to Stockport. According to Mr Heal’s research in Christys’ papers, “From 1840 the South Gloucestershire factory was a shell, employing at most 20 people. There are letters to the company’s head office begging for orders. There was no research and development, which is another reason why they couldn’t have invented the Stetson 20-plus years later.”

And the South Gloucestershire men were strongly unionised – the first use of the word ‘strike’ in an industrial relations context relates to a dispute in the hatting industry – and more biddable workers could always be found.

As their old jobs disappeared many hat workers went to work in the South Gloucestershire coalfield, exchanging one dirty and dangerous job for another. “There was no thought of health and safety whatsoever in hatting,” says Ian Haddrell of Frampton Cottrell Local History Society. “You had all these industrial processes going on, involving mercury, hot water and acid, in tightly confined spaces with no ventilation.”

Felt hats were made from the skins of animals such as rabbits and beavers, which were plentiful around the villages.

The pelts would first be hit with a bow to separate out the fibres into the required shape, known as a batt. This would then be degreased and roughened on wooden planks

insideandoutmag.co.uk

arranged around a metal basin full of heated sulphuric acid solution, called a hatter’s kettle. “People’s hands must have been an awful sight,” says Mr Haddrell, Strictly speaking, the South Gloucestershire hatters did not make hats. Rather, they produced felt hoods which were then made into hats in Bristol and London.

If one looks closely enough it is still possible to see vestiges of the industry. The Hatters’ Trail guides, more than 2,500 of which have been sold, direct visitors to Old Factory House and Factory Road in Watleys End, while Christys’ three-storey factory building can still be seen in Park Lane, Frampton Cottrell.

Historically, the company dates from the mid-18th Century, when Miller Christy, a Scot, began learning his trade as a hatmaker, eventually setting up a business in London.

Winston Churchill loved the firm’s trademark Homburg hats but Christys went into decline in the latter half of the 20th Century along with the rest of the British hatmaking industry.

The current company, based in Witney, Oxfordshire, bought the Christys’ name and the new management set about doing what the company always did best.

According to public relations manager Emily Dennis: “For 175 years, hat-wearing was effectively an obligation and, as the company’s product catalogues show, there was a vast range to choose from, ensuring the right hat for the right occasion.

“Nowadays hat-wearing is a choice, and a choice that is increasingly embraced by both the style-conscious as well as the more practically minded. Christys are the hats to be seen in!”

The company’s celebrity clients include will.i.am, who has worn three of its vibrant hats on BBC1’s The Voice, including its Classic Fedora and Clifton trilby. Others are models Kate Moss and Cara Delevingne, as well as Justin Timberlake, Dawn French and the members of One Direction.

A historic Hatter’s Blank (a declaration of good character for a hatter searching for work) from 1810.

March / April 2016 ~ Inside & Out Magazine

25

LAY-BY LUNCHES

Drive-by dining For many people in South Gloucestershire, getting in the car to drive to dinner doesn’t necessarily mean heading to a gastro pub or fine restaurant. Lots still enjoy the down-to-earth delights of the catering van - both day and night. Drew McDowall decided to head to one hot spot for his own lay-by lunch.

Pictures by Olivia Woodhouse

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Inside & Out Magazine ~ March / April 2016

LAY-BY LUNCHES

I

Kevin Brewer - runs day-time burger van

insideandoutmag.co.uk

t’s late winter and still dark as the procession of car lights heading towards Yate from Bristol herald evening rush hour. On the embankment beyond, occasional snakes of light burst onto the horizon; trains bringing commuters back to Parkway station.

There’s more light flooding from the lay-by on the Badminton Road. Ali Baba’s Kebab van is open for business, and the tea time rush is just starting.

It’s a scene replicated scores of times around South Gloucestershire. Forget fine dining, it would seem the world of the burger and kebab vans is more than holding its own.

This particular hotspot is bringing diners from miles around. At night, this lay-by is a kebab van, but during the day it’s a burger van. And they attract two very different kinds of clientele.

The first to pitch camp, in the daytime sunshine, is Kevin Brewer. His burger van has been a fixture here for 20 years. Loaves of bread and baguettes are lined up ready for the day’s work.

It’s a finely tuned machine for Kevin, a foreman of a printing factory before he decided to take a radical career change.

“I wanted to do something on my own and work for myself and I ended up getting a burger van and it started from there,” he said. “I had young children at the time and I wanted to get a job where I was independent and I could leave early and do my own thing; pick my children up and do something with them.”

This Fishponds man is well suited to the job; amiable and chatty and proud of the fresh food he produces week in, week out. He says the best thing about the job is the people he meets.

“You get to meet stacks and stacks of different characters,” he said. “You meet everybody here, young and old;

every walk of life, even to down-andout people who come by. Every now and again somebody comes by who says: ‘You couldn’t spare us a cup of tea?’, and you’ll give them a free cup of tea. They’ll chat to you because they’ve got no-one to chat to.

“It’s the same with other people, you play the Marjorie Proops thing, you listen to people’s problems, their relationship problems. You’ve got to listen and absorb it all and try to be friends with most people. I’ve made a lot of great friends over the years.”

Many who take the curving road past this unassuming lay-by won’t even register the white van parked there, but there are a steady stream of customers to see Kevin. This lunchtime, lorries are packed around, but there are also a fair few regulars.

Pete is from Oxford and just passing through, but couldn’t resist stopping by. “To be fair,” he tells me, “It’s the first one I’ve seen, but it’s very nice.

It’s quick, it’s easy and it just keeps you going, doesn’t it, otherwise you pay loads in the services and you can get the same thing here cheaper.”

Matt Nource, from Southmead, is enjoying his lunch in the sunshine.

He says Kevin’s van is always on his culinary radar. “I don’t get much chance these days because I’m normally over the other side of town but I stop whenever I can,” he said.

“It’s convenient food isn’t it for us lorry drivers? You have to stop at certain times of the day and lay-bys are the best places.”

Vic Norman is a local man who is also a fan of the van: “This is my local place. I mustn’t have had a sandwich in a month or more, but the last one I had was here. In three weeks time I’ve got a job up the road, I shall be up there three weeks and I will be here every day.”

David Alex is from Exeter but is working on a building site nearby. He’s another convert to Kevin’s fare. “I’ve only just known that he’s here and I’ve been here now a month, and I’ve been down twice this week,” he said .”And I’ll probably be down tomorrow and definitely Friday”.

For Kevin, business is tougher than it was 20 years ago as competition has increased. New petrol stations, shops and cafes in the area have March / April 2016 ~ Inside & Out Magazine

27

LAY-BY LUNCHES

Charlie Harris of Kingwood is served

Kadir was the first to make his way to England in 2007, when he was just 16.

He says he’s very happy to be working in a family business: “It’s hard work, working with your dad sometimes, but it’s a bit safer than working with other people. You work hard for your business because it’s a family business. When you’ve got staff in it; staff really don’t care about the job, they just don’t care about what they do. You can lose a customer then.”

Burger van favourites “It’s the best bacon and sausage sandwich anywhere.

It’s big, it’s cheap, it’s my favourite one.” Charlie Harris “Just sausage and egg or something like that. If it’s greasy, it’s good.” Matt Nource “I love it. It’s cheap, good food – decent food, love the bread – he’s a geezer, nice chap; why wouldn’t I come back?” David Alex

encroached on his customers. “It’s convenience with a lot of people. They don’t seem to have the time now to get in their car from Yate when they can just walk across the road and buy a cold sandwich and a packet of crisps in these meal deals.”

After two decades though, Kevin insists he’s going nowhere: “I will stick with it, I do enjoy the job. The biggest problem with the job is winter in the cold; in summer, it’s the best job in the world, sat in a deckchair, lovely, enjoy it!”

As daytime gives way to the deepening twilight, there’s a changing of the guard in the lay-by.

With Kevin heading back into Bristol, a new van arrives. The sign above it is getting brighter as the light around get’s dimmer; it proclaims ‘Ali Baba’s Kebabs’.

Kadir Isitmen is resplendent in his orange Ali Baba’s polo shirt. Alongside him is his father Aydin, his lustrous grey hair setting off his handsome olive skin.

The pair, and their brother Murat, have been running the van for five years after buying the business from Kadir’s uncle.

The family are originally from Turkey; 28

Inside & Out Magazine ~ March / April 2016

Aydin Isitmen cooking and Kadir Isitmen serving

The family care about their customers and have a good rapport with them. Kadir says it’s one of the best bits of the job. “You have a nice chat with the people and it’s a bit easier than kebab shops,” he said. “You can just do your own things, you just drive here and then go. With a shop it’s more difficult.”

The teatime trade is soon booming to the background soundtrack of the cars and lorries passing on the Badminton Road behind. Andy Baker has just popped in on his way home after a quick stop at a pub up the road.

“It’s always on the way back from the Swan,” he said. “If I go to the Swan for a drink, from the way home from work, we come in here”.

Kebab van favourites “I’m here at least once a week, sometimes two. It’s good service, the food’s excellent. I love the kebabs, especially the chicken.”

Kevin Baker

“I love a kebab and it’s better coming here than going to kebab shops.” Rob Homer

“It’s not something we do very often, maybe once a month, but a bit of chicken, a bit of salad, a nice pitta - it’s very good. The service is very good, we always ring up, they’re very friendly boys, good as gold.”

Kevin Baker is another local man picking up his tea, part of a regular habit. “It’s easy isn’t it, simple,” he said.

“You can even ring up and order it, but I like to stand here and have a chat with them, they’re so friendly, and it’s an old thing isn’t it, it goes back years, starting with the burgers, kebabs have taken over a bit now. It’s great, I love it.

It would be nice if they had a bar here, I’d quite happily have a pint whilst I’m waiting!”

Kadir is looking forward to the warmer weather and the light evenings as the cold winter nights can be a bit of a struggle. The other hard part of the job can be the late-night customers, although he says it’s not such a big issue in this part of the world.

“We have tea-time customers mostly,” he said. “We get late, drunk customers as well but not as much as you get in town centre vans. We still get them from the local pubs, which is good. I know them, they are local people and it doesn’t make it too hard for me because they know me and I know them - I’m always polite to them and then they are friendly to me.”

As I take my leave, a chilly wind is picking up, but there is still a queue for Kadir and his dad to serve. By the time the sun rises again over this unremarkable stretch of road, Kevin will be setting up for another day. This unheralded cuisine is still holding its own against all comers.

“It’s just around the corner and it’s just easier, especially if you’ve got a busy day and you haven’t got time to cook.”

Kirsty Pemble (pictured with friend Chloe Burden and three-year old Harvey)

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29

EDUCATION

MOVING SCHOOLS IS NO BIG DEAL Secondary education in South Gloucestershire has been in the headlines for the wrong reasons in the last couple of years. So should parents whose children are moving up to ‘big school’ in the summer be worried? Probably not, says education writer Linda Tanner.

W

e’ve all been to school, so we think we know what secondary education is like – and our view is not always positive.

Even if we had a largely good experience between the ages of 11 and 18, we probably have some unpleasant memories of our secondary years, whether they were spent at the local comprehensive or an expensive boarding school.

It’s natural to want to protect our own children from the horrors we faced and to be fearful of the added challenges they might come up against in the 21st century.

But any teacher, leader or parent involved with the education system now will tell you that this is the wrong starting point, because schools are vastly different places from a generation or more ago.

So if you’ve just received your offer of a secondary school place for September for your 11-year-old, don’t panic. Accept it, or quickly find an alternative you are happy with, and start doing your homework on how to support your child through the transition and the following years at ‘big school’.

The biggest culture shock for mums and dads who may have had daily interaction with their child’s primary is no longer knowing all the teachers and students.

But that does not mean that all parental involvement with the school should cease. While in the late 20th century parents’ evenings could be as infrequently as once a year and it was not easy to contact anyone at the school if you had a concern, nowadays all schools place great emphasis on working with families to support students.

Dave Baker, executive head teacher and chief executive officer of the Olympus Academy Trust, said that although children needed to develop independence it was important that parents did not step away and allow young people to fall 30

Inside & Out Magazine ~ March / April 2016

New starters at Hanham Woods Academy

behind in their learning.

“One of the key messages is ‘don’t back off’,” he said. “Schools are much more user friendly now. Parents can expect reports on children’s progress several times a year, and some schools provide access to live data. We have online booking for parents’ evenings, and more information sessions for parents of different year groups. There’s also online homework setting, so parents can find out via website, text or app what their children should be doing in their own time, and what families can do to help them.”

Schools in the 21st century have extensive pastoral structures run by people who are not teachers. This means it is easier for parents to contact the school with any concerns, so that any problems can be nipped in the bud.

Many have moved away from organising by year group to a house system, with ‘vertical tutoring’ – students in mixed-age groups with a teacher and possibly a support staff member who knows them well.

It’s important to find out who are the points of contact - tutor, head of house, head of year – and how to speak to them.

Some schools prefer phone calls; others use email or text systems.

“If you have a concern, don’t wait. Get

in touch - there will be someone to help you,” said Mr Baker.

Parents can also play an important role by encouraging their children to take part in the many clubs, trips and extracurricular activities on offer, which build skills that will help them in their future lives.

Ask any child what they most fear about starting secondary school and they will almost certainly reply ‘getting lost’.

The new school seems so big and scary compared with their familiar primary.

But over recent years, programmes to manage the transition have been stepped up from a single ‘induction day’ to a series of events. Secondary teachers go into primary schools and often organise joint sports activities and competitions to enable children to get to know one another. Youngsters have a number of opportunities to visit their new schools, which all help make it easier to cope with the change. Some even organise summer schools.

Many schools in South Gloucestershire are now in multi-academy trusts, collaborations or partnerships that include primary and secondary sectors.

There’s a move towards all-through schools, offering a seamless education experience from the age of three to 19.

This comes out of a recognition that

EDUCATION children are not best served by a system where the two phases are separate.

Primary and secondary teachers are learning from each other, so that when the children arrive at the new school staff have a more realistic knowledge of what they can and cannot do.

“We are looking at Years 5 to 8 (children aged nine to 13) as more of a continuum,” said Mr Baker.

Olympus and other trusts including Cabot Learning Federation and The Ridings Federation have key subject experts who work across the age range.

One of the reasons for this more co-ordinated approach is to try to lift the performance of schools in the district as a whole. In the past decade, South Gloucestershire has slipped down the local authority league tables and a number of its secondary schools have had poor ratings from the watchdog Ofsted.

The council launched an Education Commission to find out reasons for the decline and as a result an Education Partnership was formed, including school leaders, the local authority and business representatives.

Its chairman Will Roberts, executive head teacher at Downend and Mangotsfield Schools, said there was a real determination to raise standards for all students.

“There has always been co-operation between schools but now there is much more sharing of good practice, not only within academy trusts but between them.

There is a real recognition that we are all

here for all of the children and we are all pulling in the same direction,” he said.

While parents might feel nervous about the drop in results in South Gloucestershire, both Mr Baker, who has been a head in the district for 11 years, and Mr Roberts urged caution.

The headline figures have for some years concentrated on the proportion of children achieving five or more GCSEs at A*-C or above. This is a narrow measure and is historic - so it bears little relation to what you can expect your child to achieve in five years’ time.

From this year, the tables are changing to reflect the progress students make.

Head teachers say that this system, although not perfect, is fairer.

“People can get a misleading impression,” said Mr Roberts.

“South Gloucestershire is a couple of points below the national average.

Writing looks like fun at John Cabot Academy in Kingswood

That is not good enough - but it doesn’t mean nothing good is happening in schools.

“The challenge for us is trying to make sure our schools’ performance is not just solid but exceptional. We want every child to fulfil his or her personal potential.”

“Parents want their children to be happy, confident and successful. That’s what schools want as well.”

Education Secretary Nicky Morgan speaks to students at King’s Oak Academy in Kingswood

“Big School” was a natural transition for one family Jo McCormick, from Downend, a mother of three boys, admits she was worried before her eldest son, Duncan, started secondary school.

Eighteen months in, her message to other parents is: “It’s never as bad as you think it will be.”

The family looked round a number of schools before opting for Downend School because it “felt right”. The fact it was the nearest to their home was an added advantage.

“Duncan can make his own way home and be more independent,” she said. “That helps me and is better for him.”

The biggest difference Jo found was

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the size of the school and the number of different teachers her son has each year.

“I have much less involvement with the school. At primary school I am in the playground every day. I see the teachers all the time and I know the parents of all my children’s friends.

That is different at secondary. It is part of growing up - but it is a bit of a culture shock!”

The family was attracted by the house system at Downend, which breaks down the big secondary into smaller communities and encourages a sense of pride.

“I have not needed to go in to

the school to intervene. Duncan is encouraged to sort any problems out himself. When I did have to contact the head of house about a missing book, it was dealt with very quickly,” Jo said.

Overall, she said, the experience has been much less traumatic for her and her husband Ken than they had feared when their children were smaller and teenagers seemed intimidating.

“By the time it came around, it seemed a natural transition. Our middle son Alistair will go to Downend in September and our youngest, Euan, who’s eight, can’t wait to go too.”

March / April 2016 ~ Inside & Out Magazine

31

DIARY DATES

Our look at What’s On ~ from theatre to dance and from music to film. If you have an event you’d like to tell us about, get in touch at features@insideandoutmag.co.uk

Inside & Out in March...

FAMILY

Iphigenia in Splott Wednesday 30th

Lubmoyr Melnyk Monday 14th

Lost Terraces Tour Tuesday 1st

Bristol Old Vic Studio

Colston Hall

Dyrham Park

MUSIC

James Morrison Tuesday 15th

Mother’s Day Flower Planting Sunday 6th

Leona Lewis and special guests Tuesday 1st

Colston Hall

Dyrham Park

Colston Hall

Welsh National Opera Tuesday 15th (to 19th March)

Chipping Sodbury Mop Fair Friday 18th (to 19th March)

Roo Panes Wednesday 2nd

Bristol Hippodrome

Colston Hall

Peter Andre Wednesday 16th

Saul Williams Thursday 3rd

Colston Hall

Colston Hall Moogmemory Friday 4th

Heroes and Aliens: Epic Galactic Soundtracks, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra Thursday 17th

Colston Hall

Colston Hall

Stages 2016 Saturday 5th (to 6th March)

Bristol International Jazz and Blues Festival Friday 18th (to 20th March)

Wedding Fair Saturday 19th The Park Hotel Toy and Train Collectors Fair Sunday 20th Abbeywood Community School THEATRE Matthew Bourne’s Sleeping Beauty Tuesday 1st (to 5th March) Bristol Old Vic Studio The Trojan Woman Friday 4th (to 12th March) Bristol Old Vic Studio Hairspray The Musical Monday 7th (to 12th March) Bristol Hippodrome Tiddler and other Terrific Tales Thursday 10th Bristol Old Vic NT Connections Monday 14th (to 23rd March) Bristol Old Vic Studio Long Day’s Journey into Night Wednesday 23rd (to 23rd April) Bristol Old Vic

Colston Hall The Deer Hunter Monday 7th Colston Hall Ludovico Einaudi Tuesday 8th (to 9th March) Colston Hall The Marylebone Trio Tuesday 8th Chipping Sodbury Town Hall Scott Bradlee’s Postmodern Jukebox Thursday 10th

Colston Hall Collabo Monday 21st Colston Hall Paul Heaton and Jacqui Abbott Tuesday 22nd Colston Hall Kathryn Roberts and Sean Lakeman Wednesday 23rd Colston Hall

Colston Hall

Jason Donovan Thursday 24th

Oslo Philharmonic Friday 11th

EVENT

Colston Hall

Colston Hall

BBC Radio 4’s Any Questions Friday 4th

Thoroughly Modern Millie Wednesday 23rd

Bristol Choral Society with Music for Awhile Saturday 12th

Armstrong Hall, Thornbury

Colston Hall

FILM

Mamma Mia! Friday 25th (to 7th May)

The Hollies Sunday 13th

Leviathan (15 Friday 18th

Bristol Hippodrome

Bristol Hippodrome

Thornbury Picture House, Cossham Hall, Thornbury

32

Inside & Out Magazine ~ March / April 2016

Castle School, Thornbury

DIARY DATES

...and April FAMILY

Explosions In The Sky Saturday 23rd

Family Floral Friends of Frampton Spring Fair Saturday 23rd 10.30am - 2.00 pm

Colston Hall Sean Lock Thursday 28th (to Friday 29th)

Brockeridge Centre, Frampton Cotterell

Colston Hall

St George’s Day celebrations Saturday 23rd Yate Heritage Centre

Chris Cornell Saturday 30th

THEATRE

Colston Hall

Boxy and Sticky 7th (to April 9th)

Long Day’s Journey into Night starring Jeremy Irons and Lesley Manville, March at the Bristol Old Vic. Photography by Seamus Ryan

Bristol Old Vic Studio Thornbury Country Music Club Saturday 2nd Armstrong Hall, Thornbury Gregory Porter Wednesday 6th Colston Hall Chipping Sodbury Folk Club Thursday 7th The Beaufort Hunt National Children’s Orchestras of Great Britain Saturday 9th Boxy and Sticky, Bristol Old Vic Studio

Dark Land Light House Wednesday 20th (to Saturday 30th)

Colston Hall

Bristol Old Vic Studio

Newton Faulkner Monday 11th

The Massive Tragedy of Madame Bovary!

Tuesday 26th (to Saturday May 7th)

Michael Bolton Tuesday 12th

Bristol Old Vic

Colston Hall

DANCE

Harbour Winds Tuesday 12th

Trinity Warriors Dance Workshop Friday 8th

Chipping Sodbury Town Hall

Dodington Parish Hall

Bellowhead Wednesday 13th (to Saturday 16th)

MUSIC

Pride (15) Friday 29th Thornbury Picture House, Cossham Hall, Thornbury COMEDY Stephen Grant and Micahel Fabbri Friday 15th Colston Hall Comedy Night Saturday 16th Old Sodbury Village Hall Richard Herring Sunday 17th Bristol Old Vic

Colston Hall

Colston Hall

Maddy Prior Friday 1st

Patience by Gilbert & Sullivan Wednesday 20th (to Saturday 23rd)

Colston Hall

Winterbourne Musical Theatre, Winterbourne Community Centre, Watleys End

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FILM

Dark Land Light House, Bristol Old Vic Studio

March / April 2016 ~ Inside & Out Magazine

33

ART SCENE

SPEAKING UP FOR THE ARTS If you have a passion for art, want to meet new people or just fancy learning something new, then the South Gloucestershire Decorative and Fine Arts Society (South Glos DFAS) might just be the thing for you. Rebecca Williams finds out more.

T

he society meets for lectures on the third Thursday of each month at Bradley Stoke Community School, where a guest speaker introduces the group to different facets of art and sculpture through history. The lecture season runs for nine months, from October to June. Each lecture tackles a new and fascinating subject.

You don’t need to know anything about art to join the society and you don’t need to be a dab hand with a paintbrush either. All you need is an interest because what you don’t know, you will soon learn.

Sally Kitching, chairman of the South Glos DFAS would like to encourage people in the local area to come along.

She said: “People think it’s to do with being an artist but it’s not. When I first joined [a similar society] I didn’t have a clue what to expect, but I learned things I didn’t know and was fascinated. Each lecture is different. We cover so much, so many subjects, it’s sure to be of interest to everyone.”

The talks are certainly very popular with more than 80 people present at most lectures. Sue Punnett, from Frampton Cotterell, joined the society on the recommendation of friends. “I have been to half a dozen lectures now,” she said. “I read about it somewhere, then several friends mentioned it to me so I wanted to join for a long time.

The South Glos DFAS audience at Bradley Stoke Community School

34

Inside & Out Magazine ~ March / April 2016

The lectures are excellent.”

The committee chooses each lecture carefully, looking through their directory of experts and what they each have to offer. One such lecturer is Dr Justine Hopkins, who spoke to the society in November 2015 about challenging perceptions of 20th Century Sculpture in Britain.

Dr Hopkins kept the crowd South Glos DFAS committee, from left, Sally Kitching, chairman; absorbed during her lecture, Mike Neal and Eileen Hellyeur, committee members; Dr Justine with slides about famous Hopkins, speaker; and Russell Hellyeur, committee member sculptures and a whistle-stop tour of the way sculpture has developed about the arts. It’s close by and the through time. lectures are really interesting. There is no The most inspiring aspect was commitment, just come along and listen.

Dr Hopkins’ advice on how to find I don’t know anybody. I come on my your own meaning in art. Here, art own but it doesn’t matter, you can just was demystified, giving the audience turn up.” confidence that they don’t need a relevant Sally said: “Our committee members degree to understand or appreciate it. look after people. We keep it sociable.

The take home message was that “we There is free tea, coffee and handmade as viewers give sculpture its life and biscuits. They can also have a glass of purpose.” wine if they give a donation.”

Sue McGowan travels from WestburyMembers of South Glos DFAS on-Trym to attend the meetings. She also get together for planned trips, said: “I come for an evening of escapism, including a visit to the American looking at lovely art and learning Museum in Bath and a trip to the something. I’d definitely recommend it.”

Royal Academy in London for a major Many of the group’s members exhibition, covering Monet to Matisse, come alone. Gill Worswick, from and host coffee mornings.

Almondsbury, said: “The reason I came Sally Kitching has a great deal of is that I wanted to know a bit more experience of the decorative and fine arts.

She was involved with the national association South Glos DFAS lectures take for more than 25 years place on the third Thursday of and has also been an every month, 7.00 for 7.30pm, area chairman. at Bradley Stoke Community Ultimately Sally School, Fiddler Wood Lane, would like the South Bradley Stoke, BS32 9BS. Glos DFAS to have There is a free taster evening, 150 members so that after which the charge is £7 it can become part or £45 for a whole season. of the national For more information, visit the association and, just website: http://sgdfas.org.uk/ two years since their or contact Sally Kitching on formation, they are 01454 774401. well on their way.

Amazing Grace – in and out of Africa As career choices go, professional footballer has traditionally not been very high on the list for young girls, but as the women’s game booms in the UK, role models like Grace McCatty are laying a pathway for others to follow. Nigel Turner reports.

Pictures by Barbara Evripidou insideandoutmag.co.uk

March / April 2016 ~ Inside & Out Magazine

35

GIRL POWER

G

race McCatty, 26, is captain of the newly re-named Bristol City Womens FC who play their home games in the FA Women’s Super League 2 at the Stoke Gifford Stadium, part of the SGC College Wise Campus.

Previously called Bristol Academy, central defender McCatty and her team mates have enjoyed the highs and lows of the professional game during her nine years with the club, including beating the mighty Barcelona to reach the quarter finals of the UEFA Women’s Champion League on a memorable night at Ashton Gate in 2014.

Grace grew up in Gloucester in a male-dominated household and, under the influence of her three brothers, she started playing aged four with Quedgeley Wanderers and the die was cast.

“When my twin brother and I were born we followed what our elder brother had done and played for his team who were coached by my Dad so it was an easy route in to playing 36

Inside & Out Magazine ~ March / April 2016

football,” she said.

Grace laughs when I suggest that she is the most successful footballer in the family, but it is true.

“My twin, Jordan, now lives in London and still plays, but more recreationally,” she said. “My brothers play for the love of the game, but for me it’s different, wanting to compete and with the pressures that brings, although of course I enjoy it.”

Despite the McCatty name, Grace is as English as they come and played for her country at youth level. The surname is actually Jamaican from a distant relative. Despite an early allegiance to Manchester United, she admits she would rather coach and play the game than watch and that really Bristol City WFC is her club.

“I did play in Gloucester until I was 16 but now with the level I have reached I would call Bristol my club,” she said. “Even with the name change this year, this is the club I love and this is where I’d like to enjoy my own success both on and off the pitch.”

Although she has a semi-professional contract, Grace has a full-time job as a sports development officer in Gloucestershire, which pays the bills.

But she spends increasing amounts of time devoted to her football and has seen the club and the women’s game take giant leaps forward “Sometimes we say we don’t have the same financial resources as Chelsea or Arsenal, but nine years ago we were training at the BAWA Club just down the road doing ‘the bleep test’ and the manager would have to drive his car on to the pitch and turn the radio up full blast because that was the only way we could hear it!” she said.

“Now we train at SGS College, we’ve got the gym on site, we can eat on site and we’ve got our own pitch. So we’re not badly off. Sometimes you can undervalue what you have and can be jealous of what others have, but in my time at the club the change has been phenomenal.”

It was that sense of how some people are perhaps ungrateful for what

GIRL POWER

Grace McCatty in training and on her volunteer project in Zambia

they’ve got that led Grace, a committed Christian, to quit football for six months last year to lead a volunteer project in Zambia. Not a career choice that many, if any, male footballers would take.

“When I was at university in Bath in 2010 I got the chance to go to Zambia to help build a school as part of a UK Sport project called IDEALS (International Development for Excellence and Leadership in Sport),” she said. “The whole point was to take University students out there where they use sport as a tool to educate about HIV and AIDS and empower and teach life lessons.

“It’s a cliché I know, but it was a life-changing six weeks in my life where I saw these kids who had next to nothing, playing football barefoot with a ball made out of paper bags or running round dirt fields throwing a netball around.

“I will always be grateful for how much sport has done for me and suddenly there was the complete opposite where sport to them is their insideandoutmag.co.uk

life and is a way out of where they are.

Suddenly the poverty they live in no longer matters because sport gives them that hope.”

Inspired by that student experience, Grace always planned to go back and when she landed a team leader role on the same project last year she told the football club she wanted to go.

“Dave Edmondson who was manager then was very understanding, so I went out last summer halfway through the league season. I quit my full-time job to go too and ended staying out there for two months after the project had finished because I loved it so much.”

Her spell in Africa meant Grace missed most of the impact of England’s Women’s World Cup success when they won the bronze medal, but now that she’s back playing again, she acknowledges how the game has progressed.

“It’s taken a while to get there but in the last five years with the introduction of the Women’s Super League and the success at the Olympics and World Cup

we have suddenly gained an audience that was never interested in women’s football before,” she said.

“You should treat us as a separate entity from the men. In tennis you don’t try and compare Serana Williams to Roger Federer, but you accept that both are successful athletes.

“Women’s football is definitely at a pinnacle. Any young girl coming into the game now has to love the opportunities before them. I would love to be 16 all over again and do the things they are doing now.”

For now Grace is committed the getting Bristol City back to WSL1 – they were relegated during her absence last summer – and at some point in the future she admits she will return to Zambia.

“I could just go for a holiday but really if I go back I want a purpose and something to achieve. Although we teach them a lot, we get something in return too. It’s a two way process and I would like to offer what I can.”

March / April 2016 ~ Inside & Out Magazine

37

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ed schools New man in charge of troubl excellence ing group confident of achiev at the A NEW overall principal helm of the troubled Ridings it said Federation of Academies a centre was capable of becoming West, of excellence in the South despite recent turbulence.

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He takes over from Beverley for Martin, who held the role in left only seven months and of October after facing criticism her leadership style. to Mr Williams now has of improve the Ofsted ratings the Yate and Winterbourne both academies, which were be in need found by inspectors to of improvement. an He has already achieved at one assessment outstanding and academy in Kingswood out brought a school in Bath

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March / April 2016 ~ Inside & Out Magazine

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NEW YORK USA

New York is kids’ play

Twenty years ago Richard Drew proposed to his wife in New York. Now, with two daughters in tow, he headed back across the pond to find out if a family holiday could be just as magical.

by Richard Drew

N

ew York has a special place in my heart. It was the place, almost two decades ago now, that I proposed to my wife. Vicky had always joked that she would only agree to marry me if I proposed at the top of the Empire State Building. I think we’d seen too many romcom films.

Still, I decided if that is what it would take, I would ask her when we got to the viewing plat-form. She duly thought it was a joke and only asked me when we got back to street level if I was serious. Thankfully she said yes and it was the crowning moment on a sublime trip. The trip was spent mooching around cafes and restaurants, shopping and visiting art galleries and Broadway. It was a thoroughly grown up affair.

Twenty years on, in a different century and now with two children in tow, the question was whether New York could provide a magical family holiday. We have two girls, Chloe aged 12, and Amber, nine, and Chloe proclaims to hate shopping. To be honest, we approached our week in the Big Apple with as much trepidation as excitement.

It wasn’t all plain sailing. The big set piece moments we thought would be the highlights of the holiday, turned out not to be. We took a trip up the Empire State building and thought the kids would be blown away with the majestic sun soaked view of Manhattan and beyond.

Although they enjoyed it, they weren’t exactly smitten. In fact, they were left waiting for me to finish gazing into the far distance. Same when we took the Staten Island ferry. It’s free, and so the cheapest way to see the Statue of Liberty as it cruises past. “Bit small” was the slightly sniffy response as the kids stayed inside the cabin and left dad once again to do the over-excited stuff.

But in the end, we needn’t have worried. The kids were both resilient and adaptable and had a great time. The biggest 40

Inside & Out Magazine ~ March / April 2016

key to having a great family holiday in the big city was to be flexible and guided by the kids themselves.

If those trips were slightly underwhelming, there was no lack of excitement from the kids during our hours tramping around the Big Apple. It started the moment we drove into Manhattan (very exciting for dad who was at the wheel), and dropped our SUV off around the block from the hotel.

The hotel, The Belvedere, was chosen via Hotwire. This website allows you to chose the level of hotel and the area. You book without knowing where you’re going to stay (although a bit of careful research will give you a clue), and in return for the leap of faith, you get a substantial discount.

Even discounted, it wasn’t cheap, but it gave us a base by 8th Avenue and a short stroll to Time Square and Broadway.

Within the hour we were out and about, the kids not too phased by the hustle and bustle all around. This may have been because our first port of call was the Hershey’s shop, followed by the M&M’s offering across the street - all three storeys of it.

Food was a favourite theme of the holiday. I thought hotdogs would be the most exciting thing. After all, they love them at home. But the fact they were beef hotdogs without exception was a deal breaker. Still, they loved Ellen’s Stardust Diner, although not because of the food. We queued around the corner for half-an-hour for this little gem, but it was worth it.

Inside it is a diner, and the food is decent, if standard, fare. It’s the added extra that justifies the bill: your waiter or waitress also sings. They are young and heading, they hope, for Broadway. Many have already had a taste of the limelight and are waiting to tread the boards again. In the meantime they are happy to set aside the tray, jump up on the tables and start belting out a number from the shows.

The music is non-stop, loud and fabulous. My children were

NEW YORK USA

transfixed and still talk of it as a highlight of New York.

Of course we did make sure we got to Broadway itself.

Normally I’d recommend you keep away from all the street ticket sellers, but I did pick up a flyer offering discounts. You can phone and book tickets, but I popped around the corner to the theatre in question and used the promotional code at their box office. It certainly beat the two-hour queue at the ticket brokers on Time Square.

The show in question was Something Rotten at the St James Theatre, a show Chloe had picked up on and asked to see. She had good taste; a musical lampooning the musical, whilst being of course a top notch example of the genre. It also gave Amber the chance to tell her tap teacher when she got home that she’d picked up some tips from Broadway.

But back to the food. As well as Ellen’s Stardust Diner, crepes were very popular. This started in the Soho district.

We found a small French cafe to while away the time in style whilst my wife did a little essential shopping. So popular was it that Chloe insisted on jumping on the subway some days later to visit it again.

Kids can be fussy eaters, but New York is such a diverse place that there is always some-thing that can satisfy them, be it the huge diner breakfasts, something a bit more exotic at a down-to-earth deli, or a top the notch local Italian we found next door to the hotel.

Chloe is not a fan of walking or shopping, but we managed quite a lot of both. Of course, the shopping was tailored to the kids, not us. No mooching around the opulence of Fifth Avenue or the bohemian Greenwich Village; instead we headed to the kind of shops they loved.

Toys R Us on Time Square has three storeys and is a cacophony of kids fun, be it the latest computer games, brain teasers or something in-between. A lot of holiday money disappeared in our three (yes three) visits there. insideandoutmag.co.uk

There was only one visit to Nintendo World - a quieter and more modest two storeys over the road from NBC. But Chloe and Amber were in their game playing element. Even I had a go and, whisper it quietly, it was fun.

The Japanese theme in New York continued with several visits to Kinokuniya bookshop. It’s the biggest bookshop chain in Japan and has branches around the world, but not in the UK. For Chloe in particular it was an essential visit.

She is a fan of all things Japanese and to have a whole floor dedicated to Manga comic books was heaven for her.

Patience, and somewhere to sit down, was required for her dad as she agonised over what to buy.

There’s never a bad time to visit New York, although Vicky may disagree, having made a trip with friends during the big freeze in 2015, where temperatures of -16 degrees and strong winds left your legs feeling bruised.

This family holiday was taken in Autumn half-term, and apart from one day of torrential rain, the weather was glorious and mostly sunny, although the temperatures varied wildly.

It was the perfect time of year to take a stroll amongst the gloriously golden ‘Fall’ colours in Central Park, as leaves spiralled gently to the floor in the breeze. There are quiet parts of the park, but the most fun areas are the bustling boulevards with artists and street performers all anxious to get your attention and make you part with money.

Although most of our days were organised independently, there were a couple of trips that were worth the outlay.

One was to satisfy Chloe and Amber’s love of all things superhero, particularly Marvel Comic’s creations. The Superhero Tour lasts approximately one-and-a-half hours, taking in the locations of many films, from Superman to The Avengers with our guide providing much inside information along the way.

March / April 2016 ~ Inside & Out Magazine

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NEW YORK USA

From London Heathrow, United Airlines offers daily non-stop service to its hub at New York/Newark, with connections to over 300 other destinations across the Americas. Return fares in Economy from Heathrow to New York/Newark start from £401.35 (including taxes, April 2016). For latest prices, visit www.united.com or call 0845 8 444 777.

With Manhattan being so compact, it’s possible to see the block where DC comics started, the apartment of the first ever Superman actor and the leftover props from The Avengers movie in a short walk. As we wandered our way through superhero locations, hearing the back stories to the actors and locations was fascinating even for the those with only a fleeting interest.

The best part was ending up in a small bar famous as a hangout for comic book artists in the sixties. The walls are still decorated with characters and the girls walked away with their own signed picture from our guide, who was once a comic book illustrator himself.

But ‘The Ride’ provided the unexpected highlight of the entire trip. It’s a rollicking 90-minute tour around Manhattan’s main sights, including surprise interaction with performers on the sidewalk. Without giving too much away, 42

Inside & Out Magazine ~ March / April 2016

it includes singing, dancing, rapping, comedy and a nod to history, all corralled by two lively hosts, and the bus itself. All this is enjoyed on a bus that has three tiers of seats facing the sidewalk. The joy of the trip is the subversion of the tourist experience. Instead of New Yorkers gawping at tourists, it was the other way around. It was the locals who were feeling a bit self-conscious, especially when the whole of the bus was waving at them as they waited at intersections.

The Drew clan headed back to Blighty triumphant; stocked full of souvenirs, Converse trainers and New York Mets baseball hats. But the most thrilling thing for me was to see the children hold their own amongst the constant clamour of one of the most overwhelming cities on earth. Their increasing confidence as they strolled the sidewalk is my abiding memory.

GARDENING

Out in the Garden

by Gary Bristow

I

n the words of Sherlock Holmes “The game is afoot”. With the vernal equinox on the 20th of March, spring is well and truly upon us and there really is no time to lose.

Now is the time to take stock of your garden and begin to sow seed to ensure a verdant supply of plants ready to replenish your plot for the year ahead. If you’ve not sown your own seed before, then make this spring the season to have a go. It’s very straightforward, all you’ll need is a bag of seed compost, a warm windowsill and a little patience.

in March. Just follow the instructions on the packet and for a few pounds you will have a fantastic show of colour for your flower beds. A word of warning though, collecting and sowing seed can become addictive. I currently have 23 packets waiting to be sown this year. To hold in your hands a few sealed envelopes of seed and within weeks magically create hundreds of new plants for your garden is pure witchcraft. Professor Sprout would be proud.

A word of warning Sweet Peas, Nigella (Love in a Mist), Nasturtium, Cosmos and Poppies are all easy to grow seeds that can be sown

Incredibly fortunate For the kitchen, you can grow a huge range of vegetables from seed and nothing can beat the taste of a freshly picked tomato you’ve nurtured yourself from seed. Herbs too can be sown now

from seed, try Rosemary, Sage or Thyme.

Seed swap Have some spare seed or seeking further inspiration? Bristol has its own annual seed swap event, see bristolseedswap.wordpress.com for the latest.

And finally, tickets are now available for our two local RHS spring shows, RHS Flower Show Cardiff and RHS Malvern Spring Festival. A glorious celebration of spring, both shows provide the opportunity to talk to expert plant growers, view amazing show gardens, attend specialist talks and demonstrations and buy new seeds and plants. Book tickets at www.rhs.org.uk/shows-events

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March / April 2016 ~ Inside & Out Magazine

43

SNAKES ALIVE

Reptiles in the house Bristol Tropical Centre is an award-winning, family-run business, which relocated from Tortworth to the Viaduct in Coalpit Heath, last year. This summer will see the opening of a new Reptile House. Rebecca Williams went along for a look.

A

nimal lovers will have heard of dog rescue centres and donkey sanctuaries. But what about a home for rescued and rehabilitated reptiles? That’s just what will be on show at the Bristol Tropical Centre.

The Reptile House will have its own gardens, alongside the existing tropical birds in the aviary. A non-profit making venture, visitors will be asked for a £2.50 fee, which will go wholly into the care of the animals, the upkeep of their environment and essential vet bills. Visitors will also be able to look out over the turtle pond and relax and enjoy the environment.

Sara Clover, who runs the business with her husband Adrian Clover and her adult children Michael and Stacey Brown, is already educating guests in their pet shop at the Centre, ahead of the opening of the reptile centre. Petting and interaction sessions enable visitors to get up close and personal with snakes, tortoises, turtles and a variety of lizards.

Sara said: “There is a learning curve. People take animals on but they do not have experience or knowledge about how to care for them. It is really sad the shape some of them come to us in, but we’re not judging people. It’s just a lack of education. We teach them husbandry and about their dietary needs and how to handle live feed. So they go away fully informed.”

As it currently stands there are two distinct sides to the business, which started 10 years ago as an eBay venture, selling plants from the family home. The organisation has now earned a strong reputation as a supplier of tropical plants, which can also be purchased from the shop onsite.

But back to the reptiles. They are currently in an area classified as a pet shop, for licensing purposes, but it does not operate like one. Sara said: “The ethos is all about caring for the animals and helping people understand their needs.”

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Inside & Out Magazine ~ March / April 2016

African Spurred Tortoise (the giant tortoise) – also known more commonly as Sulcata Tortoises

Sara had always kept tortoises as pets, but it was when her son Michael wanted to take a snake from a friend who could no longer keep it, that their interests began to expand. Pretty soon another family asked them to take on a snake and from then on, the reptiles kept coming.

Today the family is caring for corn snakes, pythons, boa constrictors, geckos, bearded dragons, water dragons, a chameleon, turtles, spiders and a praying mantis; along with a variety of tortoises, including African Spurred (Sulcata) Tortoises, which are the third largest species in the world.

When people bring reptiles to them for rehabilitation, they are always willing to provide a long-term home. If an animal is to go for rehoming, they make every effort to educate the new owner first. They run home checks and allow prospective adopters to feed and handle the animal in store, before they are ready to take it on.

The Centre also runs an educational programme with schools, play groups and community groups such as the Brownies. Sara says: “They have to learn five facts about the animals and we show them CT scans of tortoises carrying eggs. The children are amazed. Hopefully we leave behind a responsible generation of people who will grow up to care for animals in the right way.”

They also run phobia sessions for people with a fear of snakes or spiders. “People can be shivering wrecks at the door, but later you will see them touching a snake. One person came to a phobia session and later turned up at a petting session with her children,” said Sara.

For now, the key focus is the Reptile House. A portacabin has been purchased and wired up for the tanks the animals will live in. The family are grateful for generous donations of wood for the cladding and are on the lookout now for palettes and wood chippings. They hope to start planting the garden from the end of March with the aim of opening

SNAKES ALIVE

Corn snake Steve, with Michael Brown

to the public by mid-2016.

The Tropical Centre itself has everything from bedding plants to exotic tropical plants and flowers, which are imported from a grower in Thailand under an exclusive contract. Because of the 12-month growing season in Thailand, he can grow any plant on the planet on request.

As well as the shop, the family supplies plants to others in the trade, offers landscaping and garden maintenance services and helps customers to plant the products they purchase.

In 2015, they supplied plants to Gary Bristow, who won Gold at RHS Malvern and to Jon Weatley, who took Gold at RHS Chelsea. A recent trade show led to an enquiry from Buckingham Palace.

Recently Sara was asked if they would be interested in taking on some palms that had been used on the set of the upcoming Warner Bros production The Jungle Book, which will be released in the USA in November. They took a trip to Pinewood Studios and selected some of the hardiest varieties. These plants will form part of a special The Jungle Book area at the Bristol Tropical Centre.

Ethics are high on the agenda for Sara. They have turned down big contracts from supermarkets out of concern for the wellbeing of the plants. Sara says: “We are in it for the health and wellbeing, that’s why I’ll never be rich!”

You can find the Bristol Tropical Centre at Viaduct Nurseries, 114a Badminton Road, Coalpit Heath, BS36 2SZ. Or give them a call on 01454 806115 or visit the website: www.bristoltropicalcentre.co.uk.

Stacey Brown with a Redfoot Tortoise called Robin

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March / April 2016 ~ Inside & Out Magazine

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THORNBURY ARTS FESTIVAL

Doodlebugs and Bogeymen

ALL ABOARD FOR ARTS – THORNBURY STYLE As time approaches for the curtain to go up on Thornbury Arts Festival, Lynne Hutchinson looks at the line-up of music, comedy, drama and film on offer this year.

F

OR nearly half a century, Thornbury has attracted many big names to its annual arts festival.

In April, comedy performer Tim Brooke-Taylor will join the list when he launches the event with an on-stage chat about his long career with Bristol writer and broadcaster Chris Serle.

Tim, one of TV’s The Goodies, is now best known as a regular on the BBC Radio 4 show I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue – the self-styled antidote to panel games and the most listened to comedy programme on British radio.

In Oh Goody! he will talk about his hesitant start as a schoolboy magician and his time with the Cambridge 46

Inside & Out Magazine ~ March / April 2016

Footlights when a student, with Chris teasing out anecdotes about some of the people Tim has appeared with over the years.

The event in the Armstrong Hall is on Friday, April 15, kicking off ten days of entertainment planned by the group of volunteers who get the festival up and running.

They have also secured children’s TV presenter and dinosaur adventurer Andy Day, who will stage three shows to meet demand, together with folk singer-songwriter Seth Lakeman and Dr Phil Hammond – the NHS doctor, broadcaster, comedian and campaigner.

West Country-based Seth Lakeman has steered English folk into the mainstream with high-energy performances and a series

THORNBURY ARTS FESTIVAL

“We’ve got a fantastic line-up of events, with something for everyone to enjoy.Tickets are now on sale and information about all of the performances are on our website. www.thornburyartsfestival.com”

Comedy Performer Tim Brooke-Taylor (Left) chats to Bristol writer Chris Searle

Dr Phil Hammond – the NHS doctor, broadcaster, comedian and campaigner

of best-selling albums, including the Mercury Music Prizenominated Kitty Jay and the gold-selling Freedom Fields.

His audience will also hear singer-songwriter Emily Teague, whose lyrics and melodies have attracted a strong following and who returns to her Thornbury roots as support act.

Meanwhile, Phil Hammond makes a welcome return after last appearing in the festival in the award-winning comedy double act Struck Off or Die in the 1990s.

Also in the programme is one of the Bristol-based Ministry of Entertainment’s most popular theatre productions, Doodlebugs and Bogeymen, which takes a light hearted look at the lives of two evacuees in the Second World War. Thornbury Swing Band and Bristol Male Voice Choir are among other performers, while talks by BBC health correspondent Dominic Hughes and playwright Catherine Johnson – writer of the script for the musical Mamma Mia! – are in the Catherine Johnson – writer of the script for the musical Mamma Mia! schedule of lunchtime events.

On the film front, musical favourite Grease will be shown in association with Thornbury Picture House, with all proceeds going to a project to redevelop the Armstrong Hall.

The town will also welcome wildlife cameraman Martin Saunders, who has worked on a number of major David Attenborough TV series. He won a BAFTA for photography on Attenborough’s BBC Wildlife Special on the polar bear and will give a talk based on Kingdom of the Ice Bear, a BBC series about life in the Arctic.

As usual, most festival events will be in Thornbury venues but soprano Sarah Gabriel and pianist Robin Green will give their

debut Forbidden Songs recital together in nearby Old Down Manor, Tockington. Several days later, Robin will join violinist Maia Broido and cellist James Barralet back in the town for an evening of Mozart, Schubert and Beethoven.

Festival artistic director, Shirley Sharp, said: “I’m delighted with the 2016 programme. We’ve got a fantastic line-up of events, with something for everyone to enjoy. Tickets are now on sale and information about all of the performances are on our website.”

For many years, an annual children’s eisteddfod has been encompassed into the festival, together with a Shakespeare for Schools production by students from Bristol Old Vic Theatre School.

The increasingly popular Severn Vale Art Trail (April 29 May 8) also falls under the festival umbrella, with some 60 artists exhibiting in their own studios or at shared venues.

Visit www.thornburyartsfestival.com for full details.

insideandoutmag.co.uk

Children’s TV presenter and dinosaur adventurer Andy Day March / April 2016 ~ Inside & Out Magazine

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NIGHTS OUT

It’s only Rock N’ Roll (But we like it)

By Dave Preece

‘Bristol Music Show’ presenters enjoy trying out a team training session at Bristol Rock Centre

Bristol Rock Centre student band ‘The Flying Tigers’ playing on stage

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Inside & Out Magazine ~ March / April 2016

NIGHTS OUT

Bristol Rock Centre’s three directors: Rich Thornton, Becky Baldwin and Chris Hawkins

Ever dreamt of playing your favourite songs as part of a live band in a professional environment? Well, dream no longer, courtesy of an innovative move by Bristol Rock Centre.

T

ucked away in Mangotsfield, Bristol Rock Centre is the brainchild of longtime gigging musician Richard Thornton. Beginning life as music tuition in Rich’s garage this is now a full-blown, independent rock school, one that tugs at the inner rock star in all of us.

From the outset it’s clear this is no ordinary place. For a start the exterior is covered in graffiti by one of Bristol’s premier street artists Cheba, and the inside certainly matches up too. As the name suggests, this is focussed on rock music and mainly covers guitar, bass, drums and vocals. With years of industry experience between them, the tutors really help to make it the perfect place to learn contemporary styles to the highest standard.

Bristol Rock Centre is also aiming to capture the corporate market. The centre has recently begun offering company away days where they invite businesses in to take part in team-building exercises. An intriguing concept that allows for groups to pick a song they like, then learn how to play it.

I caught up with Chris Hawkins, a heavy metal (industry slang for talented) guitarist/vocalist turned tutor at the centre. He said the idea was to push people outside their comfort zone. Guitarists may end up playing drums on the day.

If you’re a bassist, then there’s a good chance you’ll be singing.

At the time of writing, they’d just completed their first away day and it had been a roaring success, helping to encapsulate a collective sense of achievement and break some of the boundaries that typically exist within a corporate environment.

Once you’ve seen your boss wailing along to Led Zeppelin, the relationship is never going to be quite the same again.

With the expertise and equipment on hand, it’s hard to see how this scheme can fail. It would be hard not to feel like a rock star inside such appropriate surroundings.

Having been involved in a multitude of bands myself over the years, it’s always great to see a place that takes its role seriously, and there’s little doubt that Bristol Rock Centre is such a place.

More than just a rehearsal room, they have also begun branching into the world of promoting and hosting their own gigs too. The BBC highlighted their efforts at the Thunderbolt in Bristol as one of their fringe events as part of the BBC 6Music festival in February. That’s no mean feat and testament to the hard work that underpins Bristol Rock Centre.

So, whether you are an aspiring musician, a beginner looking for the right guidance, or even just an employee in a dull office job still harbouring a rock star dream, then Bristol Rock Centre may well just have something to offer you.

For further details, check: www.bristolrockcentre.co.uk

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March / April 2016 ~ Inside & Out Magazine

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EQUESTRIAN

BADMINTON JUMPS TO SUCCESS AGAIN It’s a year-round event for Hugh and team

2015 winner William Fox-Pitt on Chilli Morning Photos: Mitsubishi Motors/Kit Houghton 50

Inside & Out Magazine ~ March / April 2016

EQUESTRIAN

Of the 150,000 spectators who make the annual pilgrimage to Badminton Horse Trials, few realise what’s involved in getting the show on the road.

But as Lynne Hutchinson reports, crowning the international’s champion on the closing day simply starts the countdown for the next event just 51 weeks later.

I

t’s a common occurrence. Hugh Thomas, director of the Mitsubishi Motors Badminton Horse Trials, will be at some function or other towards the end of the year when someone will suggest he must be starting to think about the next staging of the prestigious event. If only they knew.

The Badminton parkland might be in the equestrian spotlight for a week in early May but the work involved in putting on such a huge international sporting fixture doesn’t stop.

As the crowds leave at the end of another year’s action, thoughts turn to a multitude of tasks such as dismantling the grandstand, the tented village, hospitality marquees and the cross-country course. Temporary loos will be removed, water and electrics disconnected and miles of string used to separate horses and riders from spectators taken down.

Ground repairs, especially after bad weather, may be necessary and there will be hundreds of bills to pay. Time will also be spent examining what could be done better in future. Although the event is seen as a well-oiled machine, lessons can always be learnt.

Hugh said: “It takes about a month to return the park to the best state we can and get everything put back in place, although it is weather-dependent. We hope for a couple of weeks of dry weather but a wet June is the best thing for the grass.

“When one event comes to an end, we continue to be just as busy but without that sense of pressure and deadlines to meet.

insideandoutmag.co.uk

Hugh Thomas director of Mitsubishi Motors Badminton Horse Trials

“We have lots of little wash-up meetings and everyone is encouraged to scribble a note about what we could do better in whatever area they are involved. We collate the comments we receive, from the minor to the serious, and we also get more detailed reports on things such as car parking and the media facilities. It’s also the time when the money goes out to pay the bills.”

July and August are generally quieter, unless there are any major projects in hand or big changes to be made, but cross-country course designer Giuseppe Della Chiesa was already back at the end of July 2015 to start thinking about his 2016 track.

That resulted in some tasks for the course building team to get on with, while it is also a useful time to carry out maintenance such as improving the bottom of the lake – site of one of the feature fences – as the water level is low.

Hugh said: “We aim to get the cross-

country course route fixed by September so groundwork can be done before the worst of the weather comes. That kind of work must be done by Christmas as the winter and early spring then allows the ground to heal.”

A technical delegate appointed to approve the course also has to give the OK before the fences are built by the internationally renowned Willis Brothers.

The problem for Badminton is the level of demand for the firm’s skills, which includes building the cross-country fences for the Rio Olympics.

It meant two of the Willis builders had to spend six weeks in the run-up to Christmas at the Brazilian site for the eventing competition.

As September comes around, the Badminton team “really get going” again as the clock ticks towards the following May. By then, Hugh and the event’s deputy director, Jane Tuckwell, will have taken

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EQUESTRIAN time out to visit other sports fixtures – equestrian and otherwise – to look at how they are run and to see whether they can adopt any ideas. How a big golf tournament, race meeting or an event such as Wimbledon sells tickets, provides internet connections, puts up grandstands and provides car parking can be helpful back at Badminton.

Hugh said: “We try to go to three or four sporting events outside the equestrian world because we have a lot to learn from each other.”

He also aims to get to the major eventing championships of the year, such as the European championships or World Equestrian Games, to see how the sport is progressing.

But although enjoyable days out, they are not always a jolly, as Hugh’s wife, Mandy, will testify.

Hugh said: “Mandy complains that we’re invited to a nice lunch at these events and I then disappear for hours to look at the drains and the loos.”

Between September and Christmas, all the planning and setting up is done, with contractors, officials and between 400 and 500 volunteers confirmed. Those volunteers are vital, taking on roles such as dressage stewards, fence judges, time keepers and buggy drivers.

Hugh said: “A great deal of time is taken up with meetings and we pick up what went right and wrong at the previous event.

“By Christmas most things are in place and we know who is going to do what. The ticketing system will be set up ready for the box office to open in January and tradestand holders – about 500 of them - will have been invited.

The huge majority of exhibitors want to stay for a number of years and we have a substantial waiting list.”

Come February and site manager Harry Verney spends a couple of days a

week at the park, building up attendance as the event approaches. Competitors also start submitting their entries, while pegs go into the ground to mark where every grandstand, marquee and tent has to go.

The first contractors arrive in early March and on the cross-country course, fences take shape. Caravans are hired – many to accommodate the riders’ grooms – and stables are prepared for some 85 of the world’s most valuable event horses.

In late March TV teams work out where their cameras should go, while a preview for the press takes place about three weeks ahead of the competition.

Some tasks have to wait until the last minute, including putting all that string back in place to mark out the crosscountry track, but for Hugh, work starts to ease off.

He said: “The great thing about the last month is almost no-one should have to ask what to do. Things have been planned and can proceed in a relatively calm atmosphere, with my own job getting less busy the closer we get to the event.

“On the Sunday before we start, all our cross-country people come along for a briefing. That’s really nice and lots have a picnic in the park. The horses then begin to arrive two or three days before the

Measuring up - cross-country course designer Giuseppe Della Chiesa, left, with fence builder James Willis.

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Inside & Out Magazine ~ March / April 2016

competition gets under way.

“When it does start, my role is to meet people and be available when required.

I talk with senior officials and sponsors and spend a lot of time looking at the site. It’s only then that you can really see what it looks like and try to look at it as an outsider.

“I have a great deal of satisfaction when it’s over. I spend the Saturday watching

The Mitsubishi Motors Trophy.

the cross-country phase and really enjoy the Sunday with the final showjumping and presentations. Then when I get home, I have a large drink or two.”

For Hugh and his team, 2016 will be a particular landmark as it will be Mitsubishi Motors’ 25th year as title sponsor – one of the longest relationships in any sport. In celebration, it has been agreed to extend that sponsorship for another three years.

The Mitsubishi Motors Badminton Horse Trials include the feature international from May 5-8 and the Mitsubishi Motors Cup event for amateur riders (the former Grassroots Championship) on May 4.

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53 High Street | Thornbury | BS35 2AR 01454 279734 | sales@lisacosta.co.uk | lisacosta.co.uk Please note; If your property is currently on the market, the terms and conditions of your Existing agency agreement must be considered before instructing ourselves.

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March / April 2016 ~ Inside & Out Magazine

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No-frills 4x4 hits the target off-road – and on price 54

Inside & Out Magazine ~ March / April 2016

MOTORING

Fancy a 4x4, but can’t afford the price tag? The Dacia Duster is a no frills off-roader that the makers say is more than a match for the lanes of South Gloucestershire. It costs less than the average family saloon, but is it any good?

Richard Drew took it off the beaten track to find out.

G “

o on, give it some welly,” I was urged. Behind the wheel of the Dacia Duster, in the fields that will be transformed into the South Gloucestershire Show this summer, I decided to take up the challenge. I put my foot down and took the car around what will be the show’s 4x4 course.

Through sodden grass paths, up hills, over mounds of mud and into the undergrowth, the Dacia took it all in its stride. In fact, it did more than that, it thrived. The man who had given me the challenge, organiser of the show, Darren Hawkins, was more than impressed. He said that the car performed on a par with his Land Rover.

I have to agree with him. Off road the Duster handled brilliantly, had more than enough power and gave the feel of a much more expensive car.

The Dacia Duster may not turn too many heads with its looks, but it’s astonishingly low price and ability off and on road is starting to attract attention. The Dacia brand hails from Romania, but, before the old Skoda jokes are recycled, you might like to know that the manufacturer is owned

by Renault.

Under the bonnet is a Renault Diesel engine that, although only 1500cc, gives more than enough power. In the 4x4 version, the running gear is from the Nissan X-Trail, a company that has an alliance with Renault.

Off the grass and on the road, the Duster provides an equally comfortable ride. The diesel engine is quiet and the steering is light and responsive. The cabin is spacious and there are lots of storage areas.

I had the top of the range Duster to test drive. This gave me the luxury of air con and a radio with USB and bluetooth phone connection. The cost new is only just over £15,000. The basic model, which isn’t 4x4, is around £10,000. insideandoutmag.co.uk

The Dacia Duster goes off-road

There may not be a radio included in that price, but buying your own and getting it installed will still give you an amazing deal.

At these prices there are some compromises to be made. The interior is well made and looks good, but is mostly plastic. Don’t expect to hear the solid thunk of a high end 4x4 when you shut the door. It is more like a family saloon. The boot is like a hatchback’s, but was more than able to cope with the weekly family shop as well as school bags and clarinet case.

The gearing on the car takes some getting used to. When I picked up the Duster, I was told it was easier to pull away in second gear. First gear, although very useful off-road in 4x4 mode, is more of an irrelevance on tarmac. It’s very closely geared, so you hit fourth way before you hit 30mph. It is a 6-speed box though, so motorway driving is not a drama.

The fact of the matter remains that whatever you might be able to nitpick about the car, it remains £30,000 cheaper than some of its rivals. If you want a more recognisable badge, or the refinements of heated leather seats

and the like, this won’t be for you although you will suffer in the wallet for your preferences.

If you want a car that is incredible value for money, that can cope with all that is thrown at it on and off road and is a decent drive, then this is worthy of serious consideration.

Certainly by the time we’d finished on the South Glos Show 4x4 course, both Darren and Adrian the photographer were talking about buying a Dacia Duster. Before they, or you do, one last word of advice; it’s pronounced “Dacha”.

Would we recommend?

Model tested: Dacia Duster Laurette 4 X 4 Price: £15,495 Top speed: 104 mph MPG: Urban 47.9, Extra Urban 56.5, Combined 53.3 CO2 emissions: 135 Road Fund licence: £130 per year Do we recommend? YES

March / April 2016 ~ Inside & Out Magazine

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www.thornburycastle.co.uk | 01454 281182 56

Inside & Out Magazine ~ March / April 2016

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March /(7.9) April 2016 Inside & Out Magazine insideandoutmag.co.uk Official fuel consumption for the all-new Volvo XC90 in MPG (l/100km) ranges from: Urban Urban 28.8 (9.8) 45.6 (6.2), Extra ExtraUrban Urban 40.4 52.3~(5.4), Combined 35.3 (8.0) - 134.5 28.8 (9.8) - 45.6-(6.2), 40.4 (7.9) - 52.3-(5.4), Combined 35.3 (8.0) - 134.5 (2.1).57 (2.1).

COâ‚‚ E m is s io n s 186 1 8 6 -- 49g/km.

4 9 g / k m . MPG M P G figures f ig u re s are a re obtained o b t a in e d from f ro m laboratory la b o ra t o r y testing t e s t in g intended in t e n d e d for f o r comparisons c o m p a ris o n s between b e t w e e n vehicles v e h ic le s and a n d may m a y not n o t reflect re f le c t real re a l driving d riv in g results. re s u l t s .

C O Emissions

LOCAL HISTORY

Thornbury Our history tour of South Gloucestershire continues in this edition with Thornbury under the spotlight. Mark Lloyd reports.

Thornbury High Street. Pictures: Rich McD Photography. www.richmcd.co.uk

H

uman activity in the Thornbury area is thought to date back to the Neolithic and Bronze Ages while evidence of a Roman presence in the town is limited to a cache of some 11,460 coins found in 2004, dating between AD 260 to 348.

There is also evidence of a village at ‘Thornbyrig’ dating from the end of the 9th century, which is thought to be the earliest documentary verification of the town’s existence.

By the time of the Doomsday Book a note had been included on the manor of “Turneberie’ with 103 residents belonging to Matilda of Flanders, the consort to William the Conqueror.

Twelve miles north of Bristol, a modern day Thornbury is a market town doing everything it can to flourish in difficult times. Its high street and shopping area offer visitors and residents all they could need without having to venture further afield but much like other similar sized towns the challenge to compete and evolve is a continuing one.

As with many similar towns the life of the community at the time revolved around its religion - in this case St Mary’s Church. However, physically, Thornbury grew around the site of its cattle market, with its Charter granted by the Earl of Gloucester, Richard de Clare in 1252.

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Inside & Out Magazine ~ March / April 2016

Thornbury has always been known as a market town and has been for some 900 years. The market has survived and has over its lifespan acted as a draw for all sorts of traders and professions. More recently, in 1911, it moved from the High Street and Market Hall to Rock Street. It closed in the late 1990s to be replaced by a smaller market in the car park close to the United Reformed Church. Its original site was redeveloped as a community centre called Turnberries and the older centre ‘The Chantry’, based in Castle Street, continues.

The four most important families in Thornbury, the Attwells, Howard, Clare and Stafford are forever ingrained in the town’s history through the Thornbury Coat of Arms, which combines all four families’ arms.

The Attwells arms was later adopted as the badge for the Grammar School. Attwells had earlier bequeathed £500 for the establishment of a free school that later merged with the grammar school in 1879. Over several centuries the other three families held the manor of Thornbury and adopted the motto Decus Sabrinae Vallis, translated from Latin to Jewell of the Severn Vale.

Covering a large extending area up to the River Severn this

LOCAL HISTORY

Thornbury Castle

ancient parish included Rangeworthy up until 1866 when it became a separate civil parish. In 1894 Oldbury-on-Severn was formed from the western end and the eastern part became Falfield.

In our first edition we looked at Chipping Sodbury and while Thornbury is the larger of the two there are some similarities between the towns and some links that bind the two places together in history. Not least of all, one Dr John Fewster, a friend and confidant of Edward Jenner. Fewster, who lived in Thornbury and practiced as a surgeon and apothecary, presented a paper in the late 1760s on Cow Pox to the Medical Society of London. It is known that he had some influence over Jenner who later pioneered the use of vaccination to treat small pox. Jenner spent seven years as an apprentice in Sodbury and while Fewster never followed up his ideas, Jenner did.

Thornbury’s Tudor Castle began life back in 1511 and is still in use today as is Chipping Sodbury’s Tudor House, which was built c1460. Back in its Tudor days the Castle was home to the 3rd Duke of Buckingham, Edward Stafford, however it was more of an example of a Tudor Country House than a castle, as it had not been designed as a fortress.

The Sodbury Tudor House now operates as the headquarters of the local Conservative Association and while Thornbury is home to the headquarters of South Gloucestershire Council, its castle is now a 26-room hotel and restaurant.

The castle lays behind the Anglican Church of Saint Mary the Virgin whose founding dates from the Norman period.

Construction of the church started in 1340, with major additions in 1500, 1848 and 1988 and it remains in use for regular worship and services to this day.

In 1521 the unfortunate Duke was beheaded for alleged treason on the orders of his distant cousin King Henry VIII who then appropriated the castle. It remained a Royal demesne for some 33 years and it is known that Henry VIII stayed there with Anne Boleyn for 10 days in 1535.

Mary Tudor also spent some years at the castle as a princess, and upon her death in 1554 she returned the castle to the descendants of the late Duke.

The castle fell into disrepair after the English Civil War and was unoccupied for two centuries. The Howard family renovated it in 1824. Having been passed through 28 generations to William Stafford Howard, Earl of Stafford, it was sold in 1727 to the Earl’s cousin Thomas Howard the 8th Duke of Norfolk whose family remained there until 1959.

For 20 years between 1966 and 1986, the castle operated insideandoutmag.co.uk

as a restaurant and was regarded as one of the best in the country.

Thornbury can also lay claim to more than a few famous names and as with Sodbury its cricket club included a member of the Grace family. The international and county cricketer E.M Grace played for Thornbury Cricket Club.

Dr Edward Mills Grace, the older brother of WG Grace played a key role in the foundation of the club during the winter of 1870/71.

Other sporting names include the international rugby players and brothers Mako and Billy Vunipola who have both represented England and attended the Castle School in Thornbury; and Emily Weber-Smith, the British professional tennis player, was born in the town.

Over the last 50 years one organisation that has been ever present is the Chamber of Commerce, which first started meeting in the late 1950s or early 1960s. The Chamber draws its strength from the diversity of its membership and they are focussed predominantly on promoting Thornbury and encouraging trade into the town. Recent initiatives include Thornbury Chamber Gift Vouchers redeemable in many of the town’s retailers and a reusable canvas shopping bag carrying a local map and the slogan ‘Think Thornbury First’.

The Chamber has also produced a shoppers’ guide and map available at various outlets in the town and at the new service stations near Gloucester. These initiatives are helping to attract customers old and new.

Successfully entering and wining Britain in Bloom on a number of occasions combined with a thriving arts scene, an annual Arts Festival and Carnival and numerous drama and music groups, the work that the Chamber and others undertake play a key role in ensuring the future prosperity for everyone living and working in Thornbury.

Thornbury Pump and Canopy, which was erected in April 1984 March / April 2016 ~ Inside & Out Magazine

59

PROPERTY

Size Matters When it comes to house hunting, the size of a property is one of the key elements of the search. Whether you are looking to downsize once the family have flown the nest, or need to upgrade the family home to accommodate an expanding brood, the amount of space on offer is a prime concern.

This issue we explore tiny gems and rambling properties full of potential.

13 Pullens Green, Thornbury. £500,000

I

If you are bursting at the seams and need more space in a good location, this rambling property in the heart of Thornbury could be a perfect solution. Marketed by Lisa Costa, it is a period cottage with an attached forge.

The cottage itself is an attractive period property, with wooden floors, woodburners and an updated kitchen. It also has five bedrooms to offer the expanding family.

What makes this property exceptional is what is next door; not one, but three workshops. There is the old forge, a loft above it and a workshop next to it. It’s a blank canvas waiting for someone with a bit of creativity to put their mark on it. Whatever you do, don’t complain there isn’t enough space.

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Inside & Out Magazine ~ March / April 2016

PROPERTY

Hicks Common Road, Winterbourne £650,000

I

f you want something with space that isn’t a project, then this four-bedroom house in Winterbourne will tick the boxes. There’s a 24-foot family room if you need a bit of respite from the kids. If they are still being too noisy, both the family room and the lounge open onto the spacious garden behind.

There’s lots of space out front for parking, and if you fancy a party, the kitchen will more than hold its own, with the three reception rooms downstairs dealing with the overflow.

For those frantic early mornings, there are two ensuite bathrooms and a family bathroom, with good schools nearby. And if you still need a bit more space as well as peace and quiet, the Frome Valley Walkway is just down the road. The house is being marketed by AJ Homes.

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March / April 2016 ~ Inside & Out Magazine

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PROPERTY

Lower Stone Close, Frampton Cotterell. ÂŁ385,000

I

f the kids have gone and you are looking for something a bit more bijou, you could do worse than this gem in Frampton Cotterell. This two-bedroomed stone cottage dates back to the 19th Century and is full of the character you would expect from an old house in this historic village.

With wooden floors and beams, it is smart and quaint in equal measure, but there is a nod to modernity with a bright mezzanine perched above the study. The house, on the market with McKendrick Norcott, has been recently renovated, but retains a stone fireplace and woodburing stove.

If downsizing means stopping the summer chore of cutting the lawn, this garden is perfect. Fitted with speakers, it is set up beautifully for entertaining. And with two bedrooms upstairs, one with an ensuite bathroom, you’ll be able to cope when the family come back to visit.

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Inside & Out Magazine ~ March / April 2016

WE’VE GOT South Gloucestershire COVERED – Inside & Out Congratulations on a fab magazine, I picked my copy up in Waitrose, Chipping Sodbury. I loved the article on the cinema, I was one of the original volunteers and was part of the team that fundraised very hard to get it back up and running and I also love Italian food so I was very interested. The quality of the magazine is lovely and just what we need for our area.

I am already looking forward to the next issue, keep up the great work.

We loved the first edition of Inside & Out - and it seems you did too. Here are some of your comments:

JAN BIAGIOLI, BUST BRISTOL AND WICKWAR RESIDENT

Great idea - it is an area with so much to offer that often gets neglected.

I hope this all goes really well.

SAM HOLLIDAY, VIA FACEBOOK

Very impressive. Nice one KARL MORK, VIA FACEBOOK

I very much enjoyed the first issue of Inside & Out. It’s great to see a good quality magazine for the South Gloucestershire area.

CLAIRE JONES, VIA EMAIL

Well done, South Glos has been under represented by the media for a long time.

JULIE HENDRY, VIA FACEBOOK

Be social, follow us:

/insideandoutmag

@insideandoutmag

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Downend The Beehive Coffee House March / April 2016 ~ Inside & Out Magazine

63

Another one drives a Duster

Dacia Duster from £9,495 to £15,495

CITY MOTORS S J COOK & SONS STATION ROAD, KINGSWOOD BS15 4XX CASTLE COURT, ST PHILIPS CAUSEWAY BS4 3AX 0117 3322566 WWW.CARCOGROUP.CO.UK/DACIA 0117 3322567 The official fuel consumption figures in mpg (l/100km) for the cars shown are: urban 27.2 (10.4)–48.7 (5.8); extra-urban 40.3 (7)–60.1 (4.7); combined 35.3 (8)–74.3 (3.8). The official CO2 emissions are 185–115g/km. EU Directive and Regulation 692/2008 test environment figures. Fuel consumption and CO2 may vary according to driving styles, road conditions and other factors.

Car shown is a Dacia Duster Lauréate dCi 110 4x2 from £13,495. *Prices shown include delivery to dealer, number plates, 20% VAT, 12-month government road fund licence and £55 first registration fee. Prices shown are manufacturer’s recommended retail prices, available on featured new vehicles when ordered by 31 March 2016 and registered by 30 June 2016.

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Inside & Out Magazine ~ March / April 2016