Window Wanderland

Gloucester City Council in partnership with Gloucester Culture Trust and GL4 are pleased to announce a brand new community art project for Gloucester taking place this December.

Funded by the Arts Council England, Window Wanderland Gloucester is part of Bright Nights a new programme of light installations for all the family to bring colour, light and joy to the city as the nights get longer over winter.

Members of the public are invited to enjoy the socially distanced, evening trail to see their neighbourhood in a whole new light. This is a fun community event that everyone can join in with. A map of all windows taking part can be found at: www.windowwanderland.com/event/gloucester-2020/

Window art can be seen in Matson, White City, Robinswood and Podsmead and will be illuminated every day between 5.30pm and 8.30pm before ending on Christmas Eve. The project was unveiled on Tuesday 1 December at Matson Gateway Hub, by the Mayor of Gloucester, Councillor Kate Haigh.

A number of local artists have created feature windows which include:

  • ‘The Robin’s Wood’ by Harriet West – Matson Gateway Hub, Matson & Robinswood
  • ‘Winter Wanderland’ by Anita Andrews, Podsmead Big Local, Podsmead
  • ‘Christmas Baubles’ by Susie Walker, Manuel’s Fish & Chips, White City

Local residents can also create their own displays and take part in the trail by becoming Windowmakers. Taking part is FREE and everyone is welcome. Displays should be family friendly, be simple or spectacular and take the form of lights in the window or cut-out silhouettes.

Scott Avenue issues

I was in touch with the council recently after some branches had been left on Scott Avenue after the summer storms.

Unfortunately they hadn’t been collected yet but after re-reporting this, they were removed early on Friday.

There has also been some damage caused to the grass on Scott Avenue, which I have raised with the city parks department. I’ve said in my note that we perhaps need to revisit the idea of bollards along the grass, which I suggested earlier in the year.

I’ve also reported the damaged street sign on the corner of Scott and Shakespeare Avenue to the council for repair or replacement.

I continue to press for a full resurface of Scott Avenue – see my recent question to the Cabinet Member for Highways at Shire Hall, above.

Fly tipping by Duke of Beaufort Court

I have been informed by residents that there has been an incident of fly tipping on the path behind Duke of Beaufort Court, leading up to Sycamore Close.

There are approx. 15 black bags of rubbish dumped by the path.

I have informed the council and hopefully we can get it removed. Fly tipping is unacceptable and costs councils money that they can ill-afford especially at the moment.

If you have any information as to the culprits please contact me.

Councillor community fund

Each year city councillors are asked to allocate a fund for projects and causes in their wards.

I still have some left of mine, and have got until March 2021 to allocate it.

It is not a vast sum of money, so smaller amounts will help to spread the funding further and support the maximum number of projects or events.

In recent weeks I have been happy to support the Halloween fun day at the Podsmead Hub, Poets Pantry and the Santa’s Grotto.

If you have a project or idea that you think I could support, please let me know.

Cityfibre internet for Gloucester

This week I had a briefing with the Gloucester city manager for the Cityfibre internet project.

This is a national project to invest in our communities and to bring super-fast, fibre broadband to homes and businesses.

Gloucester will be receiving £31 million of investment, with the ultimate result an internet connection being capable of speeds up to 1 gig.

The Fibre Exchange building will be located in the Podsmead area, and Cityfibre will begin connecting up homes in Gloucester early next year.

This is good news for Gloucester and for Podsmead too. Read more about this project here.

Level 3 award in Education and Teaching


Are you a tutor or trainer but don’t have a recognised teaching qualification? Or do you have aspirations to go in to teaching or training or to work in an education setting in some way?

In January we are running an accredited NCFE Level 3 Award in Education and Training course. This course is being run fully online and is being offered at a discounted price of £295. It is a recognised qualification that can be used in any UK education and training setting.

You will need to sign up to the Initial Assessment first before enrolling on to this course. If you would like any further information please contact Dr. Baylie Hart Clarida at bhartclarida@wea.org.uk

Healthy start


There an opportunity for families who use Healthy Start vouchers to receive a £1 bag of frozen vegetables for free at Iceland until 31st December 2020. See here for more details.

Healthy Start is a Government funded scheme that provides £3.10 worth of vouchers every week to eligible families which they can use to obtain free milk, fresh, frozen, and tinned fruit and vegetables, fresh, dried, and tinned pulses and instant formula milk. Find out more about the scheme at: https://www.healthystart.nhs.uk/

A family is eligible if they’re at least 10 weeks pregnant or have a child under four years old and they receive certain benefits.              

Women who are under 18 and pregnant also qualify for the scheme even if they don’t receive benefits. 

Families can check if they are eligible by taking this short ‘Do I qualify’ questionnaire:

Some other supermarkets offer to enhance the Healthy Start scheme. For example, please see Tesco.