Three of these posts will appear in the Featured Posts section of your website
For more information on the new Voter ID requirements, see:
https://www.gov.uk/vote-uk-election
Keep an eye on our Election Information page for the latest information on polling places, postal voting, proxy votes and more details on the VOTER ID requirements.
 Stroud District Council is backing the Longfield Community Hospice Christmas Tree Recycling campaign. For a suggested minimum donation of £10, real Christmas trees will be collected at the end of the festive period and recycled. This year, the Minchinhampton-based charity hopes to collect and recycle more trees than ever and raise more than £50,000, which could help fund more than 900 hours of Hospice at Home Care. In previous years, as many as 2,900 households from across Stroud district, Cirencester and Gloucester have taken part in the scheme. Last year, Longfield raised nearly £50,000 for essential hospice care. This year, they’re aiming to beat last year’s record to provide free hospice care for life-limited people and their families, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. The trees will be collected and taken to recycling sites across Gloucestershire, including Painswick Rococo Garden and Highfield Garden Centre, where they will be chipped and scattered on pathways and car parks, making it an eco-friendly way to dispose of your tree. Cllr Chloe Turner, Chair of Stroud District Council Environment Committee said: “I’m delighted that Stroud District Council is supporting this project once again, providing a useful service to residents while benefiting the brilliant work carried out by Longfield Hospice…” “..One of the priorities in our Council Plan is Environment and Climate Change. We have pledged to reduce the quantity of resources discarded as waste and minimise its environmental impact across the district. The Longfield Christmas Tree Recycling Campaign will contribute to those aims.” Cllr Robin Layfield, Vice Chair of Stroud District Council Environment Committee said: “We have a commitment in our Council Plan to increase recycling rates across the district and encourage local initiatives to ‘reduce, repair and recycle’. This is a fantastic project which supports our goals. Please register your tree for collection – it’s a convenient and charitable way of disposing of your tree sustainably and ensuring it doesn’t end up in landfill.” All money raised helps to fund the hospice’s vital work supporting patients, families and carers across Gloucestershire. To arrange collection of your tree, visit www.just-helping.org.uk/register-tree The booking system for 2023/24 collections is open until midnight 9 January 2024. Alternatively, trees can be taken to the household waste and recycling centre. To book a slot visit www.gloucestershirerecycles.com The fundraising team are also looking for volunteers, vans to collect Christmas trees, or tree chippers. To volunteer either with your time or if you have a van or chipper, then please contact the events team on 01483 886868 or email events@longfield.org.uk. Find out more about Longfield at www.longfield.org.uk |
Between 17th and 24th February, in celebration of our starry skies and to help protect and improve our view of the stars, CPRE, the countryside charity, is inviting the whole nation to become ‘citizen scientists’ and take part in Star Count 2023 – a cosmic census that will help map our view of the stars, and measure the impact of light pollution across the country.
Dark, starry skies are an undeniably beautiful sight, and a distinctive feature of the countryside – the wonder of gazing up into velvety blackness, with twinkling constellations as far as the eye can see, never gets old. But all too often, light pollution means that many of us can barely see the stars at all.
Our towns, cities, villages, buildings, and roads all emit light, and this can affect our view of truly dark skies, and cause problems for wildlife and people. Too much artificial light can impact our sleep and mental health, disrupt nature’s natural cycles, and confuse wildlife. Light pollution also impacts our experience of the natural wonder of the night sky, and blurs the distinction between town and countryside.
To help understand all this, thousands of people have submitted star counts over the years, which CPRE’s experts plot onto an interactive Star Count map, then analyse and compare with previous years’ data. In the 2022 Star Count, 49% of participants counted 10 stars or fewer in the constellation of Orion, indicating severe light pollution, while only 3% experienced truly dark skies.
Help count the Cotswold stars by becoming a citizen scientist!
This year, we need you to help us fill up the Cotswolds section of the interactive Star Count map! We’d love to see counts submitted to CPRE from every corner of the Cotswolds, including from towns just outside the area, like Cheltenham, Stroud, Gloucester, or Banbury. Let’s all join together to look up, get counting, and sending in our observations.
Taking part in Star Count is completely free, and can be done without any special equipment. You’ll be part of a nationwide citizen science project. Stargazers are asked to count the number of stars they can see (with the naked eye) within the constellation of Orion, and submit their count online. Visit www.cpre.org.uk/starcount to find out more and to register to take part.
Agenda November 2021
It’s our last meeting of the year, and the last meeting on our usual Tuesday evening!
From January 2022, we will be meeting the LAST WEDNESDAY of the month unless otherwise posted. All are welcome to attend the meeting; however, members of the community are asked to contact the clerk a minimum of five days prior to the meeting to add an item to the agenda.
All attendees must abide by our Standing Orders.
Following the UK government guidelines on COVID, and in light of the newly discovered Omicron variant, we will kindly ask all attendees to wear protective face coverings and remain at a social distance.
Meeting agenda:
Agenda November 2021
You will be able to sign up to our Children Activities Booking System (CABS) from November.
Bookings for the free activities and food provision will be available to book from 1 December.
Our first in-person meeting since early 2020 was held on May 19th in Miserden Village Hall with a full council present, as well as Julie Job from Stroud District Council and our new County Councillor, Sue Williams.
All government-mandated COVID guidelines were observed, including sign-in for COVID tracing, facility sanitation and risk assessment, and chairs at 2m apart or greater.
This was our first meeting since the election, where our Parish Council Chair, Martin Ractliffe, accepted his nomination, as well as our Vice-Chair, Russ Coles-Jones accepting his nomination. Other Parish Councillors accepting their elected positions were Kevin Allin, Gideon Duberley and Richard Dangerfield.
As Clerk of the Parish Council, I have to say this is the nicest group of people I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with, and I look forward to my first year as clerk under more relaxed pandemic circumstances!
Our Annual Assembly followed on the 27th outside the village hall. We were gifted with a lovely spring evening, and had a very nice time socialising in the evening sunshine with the parishioners and Council members who were able to attend.
We hope the Annual Assembly for 2022 can be our usual well-planned event
in the Colony Hall at Whiteway, with music and food along with our other Council matters.
Our next meeting is scheduled for June 29th at 7:30 pm in Miserden Village Hall. Our meeting will be open to the public, but we ask you observe social distancing measures and wear a mask. If you have any questions about the COVID restrictions for local council meetings, please see the following guidelines which we are following:
https://www.nalc.gov.uk/coronavirus#preparing-for-the-return-to-face-to-face-meetings
Gwen Pearshouse,
Parish Council Clerk
