RESPONDING to the needs of local film and video artists, Trial Pit Cinema, premiering at Stroud's Subscription Rooms next week, is a new Stroud Valleys Artspace initiative - organised by Stroud video artist Beth Szczepura - that hopes to give frustrated
A CANAL barge home was destroyed on Monday after it caught fire at Saul Junction. A 20-strong contingent of firefighters from Stroud and Gloucester battled the flames after the barge Aberystwyth was discovered ablaze at about midday. Fortunately the owner
WEST Country girls can meet an East End boy this weekend as Stroud nightclub Uptown Downtown plays host to returning Eastenders hardman Steve McFadden. Revellers at the Merrywalks club will be able to meet the burly soap star, who achieved national fame
THE names of Painswick's fallen heroes are set to be recorded by civic leaders as wind and time erode them from the town's war memorial. Townsfolk who died in the two world wars have been remembered on the stone memorial near St Mary's Church for decades
THE Gloucestershire Warriors have been forced into a late change in their coaching staff just weeks before the start of the 2005 TOTALrl.com Rugby League Conference campaign kicks off. John Goulding has been forced to relinquish the day-to-day coaching
ECO-friendly plans to convert a former chapel and cinema into a car-free shared housing development were treated cautiously by town councillors on Monday night. Co-housing mandarin David Michael wants to turn the Old Chapel on Lansdown into a 14-flat
ALTHOUGH it maybe mathematically possible to stay up, Forest Green Rovers seven-year love affair with the Conference is all but over. As it stands Forest Green would have to beat Morecambe, who they were due to play last night, and then defeat Canvey
On Thursday, May 5 the people of the Five Valleys will go to the polls to elect their next Member of Parliament and county councillors. The elections are sure to be hotly contested - to help you make your mind up, here is a full list of the candidates
STROUD'S canals were signed over to restoration leaders at British Waterways this week in what has been heralded as a "momentous day" for the district. Landowners the Company of Proprietors, one of the oldest canal companies in Britain, signed the Stroudwater
PREVIEW No Time to Stand and Stare Premiere at Christchurch, Nailsworth Wednesday, April 27 at 7.30pm NO Time to Stand and Stare, the specially commissioned film being premiered at the Nailsworth Festival at 7.30pm on Wednesday, April 27, is a charming
ALAN LEWER is set to appeal against his sending off against Hereford United after the Forest Green boss was ordered from the dug-out during Rovers' 3-1 defeat last week. Lewer has been charged by the Football Association following his dismissal by referee
DISTRICT councillors will not vote on the political hot potato of the Local Plan until after the elections in May, it was confirmed this week. Worried residents around the district are fighting to save five green field sites earmarked for development
OUTRAGED residents have applied for a tree protection order after a construction company chopped down trees originally protected by a covenant. Four lime trees have been cut down by construction firm Robert Hitchins to make way for modifications to a
THE Thelma and Louise of the SAGA generation come to Cheltenham Everyman's Other Space studio theatre this weekend in the form of Breakaway Blues. Breakaway Blues is a light-hearted comedy, written by Bristol-based writer Eileen O'Haire. This sharp and
A CANVASSING election candidate found out about life at the sharp end of politics when his fingers were savaged by a vicious dog lurking behind a letterbox. The protective hound leapt as Liberal Democrat candidate John Bowen pushed his party leaflet through
A YOUNG woman has told how she is lucky to be alive this week after cheating death in a 50mph crash on the busy A46. Beauty therapist Candy Clark , 21, was pulled from the smoking wreckage of her Smart car after a collision with another driver at the
FORMER Shortwood United boss John Evans has left his role as Slimbridge caretaker manager after failing to land the role in a permanent capacity. The hugely experienced Evans called time on his role at the Wisloe Road club on Thursday of last week, just
STROUD'S Shirley Linton ran her third marathon in London on Sunday. And the reception class teacher was back with her pupuls at King's School, Gloucester on Monday, proudly showing off her medal. The youngsters aged 3-11 had taken part in a carousel of
Breathtaking and imposing, the building that houses Hawkwood college could not have been better chosen to inspire personal development. Set in 42 acres of land, the beautiful neo-gothic Victorian building on Painswick old road, Stroud towers over the
A HISTORIC cricket pavilion was reduced to smouldering ashes after a suspected arson attack on a Dudbridge sports field. Firefighters battled for three hours to quench the suspicious blaze after it was first spotted on Wednesday, April 13 at Cope Chat
A STONEHOUSE man has received a letter of thanks from HRH Prince Charles for a poem he wrote commemorating the royal wedding. Ray Davis, of Regent Street, Stonehouse, said he felt "pleased and honoured" when the letter from Buckingham Palace landed on
THE 2005 Stroudwater Textile Biennale opens this weekend with Installations, an exhibition by Carole Waller, Malcolm Martin and Gaynor Dowling. Showing her new large-scale glass encased works for the first time in Stroud as part of the 2005 Textile Biennale
Stroud author Jamila Gavin, winner of the 2000 Whitbread Children's Book of the Year for one of her many novels, Coram Boy, was recently invited to Iran for the very first children's book festival to be held there. Here she questions why she was chosen
THE Nailsworth Festival starts on Saturday and the line-up looks even bigger and more spectacular than last year. Following the explosive success of the last two years, the medieval-themed Nailstock begins with a dramatic interpretation of the legend
ALLOTMENT holders have been reassured that their plots will not be bulldozed after their determined efforts to turn a once barren site into a flourishing community. The site, on Bisley Old Road, belongs to Stroud Town Council. It was put in a local plan
Adventurer, traveller, musician and Nailstock organiser Hamish Guerrini may look like a maddened castaway, but beneath the bushy beard is a man who has gone a long way to think big thoughts. With the annual Nailsworth Festival due to start on Saturday
