SCOOP

NEWS FOR GLOUCESTERSHIRE’S PRIMARY SCHOOLS

Ice to see you

It’s time to get your skates back on this Christmas as Cheltenham announces the return of its all-weather ice rink in Imperial Gardens over the Christmas and New Year period. The rink won licence approval for the next three years this September and expects to welcome a similar number of people to last year, 43,000, over the season. Exact dates and tickets were not available as Glos PT printed but last year the event ran from mid-November to the first weekend in January.

The rink complements the town’s Christmas launch on Sat 19 Nov and its seasonal lights, as well as its Christmas markets, a trail planned by Cheltenham BID and events organised by The Cheltenham Trust.

New circus plans delightful witches’ brew

Performer and impresario Lil Rice has launched her own circus this year, after running Stroud-based Giffords Circus following the death of its founder, her aunt Nell Gifford, in 2019. Fool’s Delight hosts its next production ‘An Ode to Witches’ from Sat 22 to Mon 31 Oct in the Cotswold village of Bampton after the circus’s first “sell-out” show in August. While the evening performance is parental advisory, the 11.30am performance suits all ages, with tickets £25 (adult) and £15 (children). www.foolsdelight.co.uk For grownups of a certain age the 1980s seem like yesterday, but to primary-aged children the years of Ronald Regan and Margaret Thatchermust seem as distant as the Middle Ages. A new exhibition at Museum of Gloucester returns families to that brash decade, with its conspicuous spending, lycra and shoulder-pads.

Displays feature iconic ‘80s items including a Cabbage Patch Doll (pictured), Walkmans, ’Spitting Image’ puppets and a Charles and Diana souvenir wedding mug. ‘1980s Britain: Money Changes Everything’, which runs from Sat 22 Oct to Sun 8 Jan, with child and family events. museumofgloucester.co.uk

AT A GLANCE STROUD BOOK FEST

THU 3-FRI 4 NOV SBF SCHOOLS’ DAYS

Two days of events for local primary schools, featuring five different authors/poets.

SAT 5 NOV

11.30am What the Ladybird Heard at Christmas Julia Donaldson & Lydia Monks 1.30pm Escape Room: Find

the Answer. Save the World.

Christopher Edge 1.3pm & 2.45pm Meet the Cat in the Hat Storytelling

SUN 6 NOV

10am Supertato! Sue Hendra &

Paul Linnet

11.45 Shifty McGifty and Slippery Sam: Pirates Ahoy! Tracey Corderoy 12pm Are You Made of Stardust? Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock 1.30pm Friendship Across the Divide: Wartime Stories Jamila Gavin & Hilary McKay (See also WOW and P14)

Stroudbookfestival.org.uk