The 29th March was “Wear A Hat Day“ raising funds for Brain Tumour Research.

Local Co‐op staff, Paul Wood Butchers, St. Bernards School and fund raiser Daphne Llewellyn

wore their hats with pride whilst collecting donations for a worthy cause www.braintumourresearch.org.

Daphne also arranged a ’Mad Hatters Tea Party’ the following afternoon at the Cotswold Community Centre where even more people wore hats whilst buying homemade cakes to accompany their teas or coffees.

“I started fund raising ten years ago when my 14 year old granddaughter was diagnosed with a brain tumour. ’Wear A Hat Day’ is a good way of raising awareness and raising funds towards Brain Tumour Research. We raised between us £831.00, but next year I want to involve more local businesses and schools to smash this year’s great effort.“ said Daphne.

Every two hours someone is diagnosed with a brain tumour in England and less than 20% of patients survive beyond five years of their diagnosis. Brain tumours continue to kill more children and adults under the age of 40 than any other cancers, but it only attracts 1% of the national spend on cancer patients.

Kathryn Courtney

Shirehampton Health Centre said farewell to Dr Green on the 5th April.

Patients, friends and colleagues had the chance to wish Dr Green all the best for her retirement, and share a cup of tea and cake with her on her final day.

“I’ve been at Shirehampton Practice for 25 years having qualified as a Doctor 33 years ago.“ said Dr Green. “I am going to miss my colleagues, sharing laughs to get us through the hard times, that has been very important. Getting to know the community, my patients as individuals, their secrets, their troubles and trying to help them through it. I will miss all that. However, I might wander around the Co‐op from time to time hoping to bump into old friends“.

One thing brought to my attention was Dr Green’s cake baking. Her cakes are legendary. “I think the staff think I should still come in on my birthday to bring them lemon cream sponge which is their favourite.“ said Dr Green, laughing.

So what does Dr Green plan to do in her retirement? “My husband and I are very lucky, we have a 63 foot narrow boat which is moored on the Gloucester Sharpness canal. We also have a 1 year old dog and have plans to head off to Chester sometime soon. I’ll be singing, learning Italian, improving my German. I also want to teach children to read and help them learn how to go to the Doctor without being frightened. I am keen on photography so will be trying to hone my skills there too.“

Kathryn Courtney

I was intrigued to see a notice in the Shirehampton branch of Lloyds recently announcing ’125 years in Shirehampton’ so the historian in me wished to know more, especially as Lloyds is the last remaining ’High Street Bank’ left in the village.

So with a vast amount of help from the Lloyds archive and fellow local/family historian Ken Edwards, this is what I came up with.

You may remember Lloyds Bank celebrating their 250th anniversary in 2015 when an event was held at the Shirehampton branch which featured in the July edition of ’Shire’. This coincided with the reopening after an attack on the ATM causing much damage and a refurbishment took place. It was in 1765 that John Taylor, Sampson Lloyd and their two sons set up the bank of Taylor and Lloyds. The business ran from one office for 100 years, then the links with the Taylor family ended in 1852. In 1865 the bank took on joint‐stock status and shareholders and was renamed Lloyds Banking Company. Over the next 50 years they expanded rapidly taking over more than 50 competitors.

Two of the banks taken over by Lloyds were Wilts & Dorset Banking Co in 1914 (established 1835) and Capital & Counties Bank in 1918 (established 1877). These are the two banks that set up branches in Shirehampton. Let’s begin with Capital & Counties Bank which opened agencies in Shirehampton and Avonmouth in 1892. The 1900s OS map of the village shows the bank situated near the Methodist Chapel. A photograph of the High Street looking west and taken around 1910 can be seen in Shirehampton Story by Ethel Thomas which shows three banks in the same rank of shops. Kelly’s Directories give details of opening times and Managers’names of the Shirehampton branch of Capital & Counties bank. In 1897 it was open Monday, Wednesday and Friday 11am‐3pm and Edward Weedon Winterbotham was the manager. The head office was at 39Threadneedle St, London E C. By 1902 with J E Mills as manager the branch opened 2‐3.30pm daily except Saturday. By 1914 under manager Charles Herbert Adams the branch opened 10‐11.30am weekdays and 9.‐10.30am Saturdays although the Annual Report for 1914 showed C W Carpenter as manager at Shirehampton. The Bank opened a chief establishment in Clare Street and Baldwin Street with various branches around the suburbs and in the 1914 Annual Report it boasted 24 branches in London and 470 country branches and agencies. However by operating like a 19th century branch well into the 20th century it started to lose its competitive edge so when Lloyds Bank offered to take it over in 1918 the bank recognised the benefits a merger would bring and as a result seven directors of Capital and Counties joined the Lloyds board.

The Wilts & Dorset Banking Co was founded in 1835 in Salisbury with 400 shareholders or ’proprietors’ including farmers, millers, grocers, merchants, solicitors and surgeons. Again the bank expanded by taking over private banks the last of which was R & R Williams & Co in Dorchester with whom the author Thomas Hardy banked. It is not known exactly when a branch was opened in Shirehampton but as mentioned above it was shown in the photograph in Ethel Thomas’s book and the 1911 census shows that the ledger clerk Frederick Barnard was living at the premises. Lloyds Bank took over the Wilts & Dorset in 1914 by which time it had a network of 100 branches from Gloucestershire to Dorset and was Lloyd’s largest takeover to date.

We have lost many banks and retail outlets in the village over the past years so it is important to keep and support what we have left and I personally would say ’thank you’ to Lloyds for ’sticking with us’.

Judy Helme

It is said to be unlucky to marry in May.

May was a sacred month in the agricultural calendar. May and June the month of blossom in fruit trees attractive to pollinating insects, the major planting and growing months when soil temperature rises. Most plants can be sown direct on the plots between May and June but here in the South West we should sow corn slightly later. The area has come into bloom.

The bees are working on Tynings Field fruit orchard’s blossom so soon more honey can be harvested. Csaba Lenti at the Happy Bee apiary at Tynings Field will be busy too, alongside Carl.

We are grateful to people cutting grass now your input is valued. Anyone who can help tidy and clear every so often is welcomed. We are advising our growers to narrow the paths between plots to reduce grass cutting. New flower beds are being added and we need help digging out a new pond.

Over winter we took in 13 ducks while their owner sold up. They have now gone back to their new home in the levels. The owners keep goats and gave us some goat’s milk. Caroline gave a small amount to the chickens as a tonic. Cows milk is not recommended for poultry of any sort; ducks and geese are intolerant to milk. Goats milk of a raw and unpasteurised sort can be fed to chickens in a limited amount as it clears the gut of disease and is good for humans too. If anyone is interested in keeping a goat here or sheep we have space for 2 and a smallholding number.

Here at Tynings For Community eveyone has been busy as people have been strimming round and cutting grass; volunteer Andy cuts the orchard while Matt strims. As the weather brightens more members are working their plots and now is the planting window so Caroline cleans the chickens whilst the younger members Judith lock them away after they’ve been free roaming all day.

Caroline’s digging out new flower beds between plots on wider grass areas. This is a new project concept of planting flowers and herbs on areas between the veg plots, but Tynings Field Orchard has never followed a set traditional allotment set up because it’s a smallholding and more imagination makes us different.

We can still provide some areas for growing and welcome new grower Vicky; she’s busy on the plot with the sage on.

Everyone here is friendly and we like new people it doesn’t matter if you can’t do much, you can manage the raised beds or create small growing areas and bring areas into use. You will need to be able to dig. So we are looking for someone generally to do the raised beds and set up small raised beds ..if this is you please contact us. Would you like a herb bed in here?

On a weekend now we have free range eggs for sale often early from 6am.in the morning and honey. Our hens regularly roam the whole field and get turned out most good days. The geese are a bit aggressive this time of year and prone to violence.

It’s good to see a new generation of members keeping and enjoying the space we fought for 10 years ago. Jim put down his tools and is now sleeping peacefully. His spirit surrounds us. In the peace and quiet Tynings Field moves on through the seasons. The most important one is now.

Why not come down, spend a few hours here and see what you can do.

Would you use a regular open air/ covered market?

When the Shirehampton Community Plan asked residents an amazing 345 people out of the 476 who answered this question said YES, while a further 92 might be persuaded.

All over the country local communities are trying to re‐invent their High Streets to make them more interesting and attractive. One way has been to bring in market traders to complement what is already on offer in our established shops.

So last month the Community Plan Steering Group hosted a meeting with our local Shirehampton traders to see what they thought about bringing a regular market to Shirehampton. We recognize that we will need partners among our local traders and businesses to make this happen. Members of the steering group have also been talking with traders at other local markets in Bristol to learn something about how markets work and whether local traders would be interested in coming to Shirehampton.

In our discussion we noted that the market needed to be in the High Street because we want to encourage people to come to Shire and use our local shops. We proposed the space outside the old Alldays shop for the location. We don’t want to compete with other larger markets on Saturdays, but a weekday ‐ Wednesday, Thursday or Friday late morning and lunchtime seemed possible days. We’d start with a monthly market and hopefully it would become more frequent.

The Community Plan Steering Committee is looking into the Council’s legal and licensing requirements and local councillors have offered support in this. We hope to hold the first market in June.

June is not far off! We’ll hold a second planning meeting with traders on

Wednesday 24 April 5.30‐7pm at Shire Public Hall.

This is a Public Meeting so come along and share your views.

Dear Shire,

We wanted to contact you about some changes we are making to Blaise museum this year.

We’re developing what we’re calling a ’lab space’ where visitors can come in and tell us the changes they would like to see happen at Blaise in the next couple of years. There will be objects & images to look at, as well as activities that will help us build a clearer picture of what stories people want told at Blaise, and what other changes are needed.

We would like to invite groups up to the museum to give us their views, when the lab space opens in early May. They will be able to have a chat with a member of staff and refreshments will be provided as well. The museum is open on Thursdays ‐Sundays in the week and open Tuesdays‐ Sundays in the school holidays

Bristol After Stroke is an independent charity helping people in Bristol, South Gloucestershire and surrounding areas to rebuild their lives.

We provide information, practical support, friendship and counselling in the months and years following a stroke. One way we support people is by offering weekly support groups, and a monthly Stroke Café.

The Portway Stroke Support group is a friendly club supported by volunteers and takes place every Thursday afternoon at the Port of Bristol Social Club in Shirehampton. The group enjoys activities like music, skittles, bingo, games, occasional outings and much more. For its group members it’s a vital part of their week which they see as important for their long‐term recovery from stroke.

Bristol After Stroke could not provide the groups and support that we offer without the help of our fabulous volunteers; however, we always need more people to help us. We are looking for friendly people to volunteer at our group, helping with activities, providing refreshments and befriending. We provide full support, training and an annual celebration and we are specifically looking for help at our Portway Group.

Sarah Bradley is a Chartered Physiotherapist who was running an exercise class for the over 75’s at Shirehampton Health Centre.

Sadly NHS funding for this weekly class stopped at the end of March but the attendees didn’t want it to end and collectively decided to continue at another venue, the local Public Hall.

“I’m doing an exercise class for older people over 70/75 years. The aim is to improve their mobility, balance ‐ which is very important to guard against falls ‐ and also making it a social group where people can come together and feel comfortable exercising with each other“.

“I always explain the exercises. Different people do exercises at different levels. If you have a disability I can adjust the exercises for you. There is a wide spectrum of abilities in the class but they all exercise together in a way that everybody can get the benefit out of it without anybody feeling it’s too difficult for them.”

Of course Sarah plans to continue working with the local GP’s and accept referrals from them. “If someone is over 70 years and they have a need to come to class, maybe due to an operation or a stroke or disability they will be made most welcome. There is an enormous amount of camaraderie and friendships made within the class. It’s great fun. If you love activity but hate exercise then this is the class to attend. You’ll still have a great time and the benefits are huge. “said Sarah.

Kathryn Courtney

BMF Under 12 football team this season have won the Avon Youth league under 12 Division Three Title.

They scored a record 160 goals and the Goalkeeper Josh Cowley only let in 15 goals.