Filton Town Council in the news.
Here are some of the recent stories that may effect or be of interest to you.
Some of the stories can be downloaded in PDF format as
it appeared in the newspaper.
Simply click on the link underneath each story. Click here if you cannot open the documents.
Filton Twinning Association trip to St Vallier sur Rhone
Filton Town council wishes members of the Filton Twinning Association an enjoyable trip to St Vallier sur Rhone, our French twin town over the next few days. We send with them greetings to all of our friends from both St Vallier and our German Twin Witzenhausen and look forward to them visiting us in Filton in 2009
Ray Norman
Filton Town Council members were sorry to hear of the death of Ex Chair, Ray Norman on the 16th August at the age of 82.
Born in Calgary in Canada, Ray moved to Filton at the age of 4, spending the greater part of his life living in the town.
He served Filton on both Northavon District Council and South Gloucestershire Council (1995-1999) in addition to 20 (1979-1999) years as a member of Filton Town Council, serving as Chair in 1995. He was also a member of Filton Twinning Association Committee and again served as Chair, for some time. Whilst on the Council Ray introduced and organised the annual Filton Band Festival for a number of years.
A keen skittles player, Ray was also a keen supporter of Bristol Rovers football club. Cllrs Terry Pomroy (Chair), Stan Sims (Vice Chair), Roger Hutchinson, Doug Daniels and Brian Freeguard and Town Clerk Lesley Reuben attended Ray’s funeral at Canford Crematorium
Children in Need
Filton Sports and Leisure Centre raised a total of £589.64 for Children in Need, the Ratepayers Arms collection and Quiz raised £537.34 and the Dinky Dolphin session at the swimming pool added £52.30.
Kids learn to be safe in the water.
"A number of young people who had signed up for a holiday session in the Dolphin swimming pool at Filton Sports and Leisure Centre were featured in the August 24th issue of the Observer as the session included the chance to try out lifeguard equipment and learn about safety in and around the pool".
Filton's Cycle Speedway Track opening
"The opening of Filton's Cycle Speedway Track at the beginning of July has continued to be covered in national publications. Firstly British Cycling gave over almost a full page in the 'spokesman' the newsletter of the BC Cycle Speedway Commission and the event was also covered in one of Poland's National Sunday Newspaper through a report from Deputy Honorary Consul in Bristol, Izabela Dallas. The cutting was kindly supplied to us by the Honorary Consul George Peszynski."
Download | Polish article here
Cycle Speedway Track opened
Filton Town Council opened it's new cycle speedway track on Saturday
8th July with the second in a series of 3 test matches between England
and Poland. The official opening was performed by Sally Challoner
of BBC Points West, together with Doug Naysmith MP for Bristol North
West, George Peszynski, Honorary Consul of the Republic of Poland
in Bristol and Cllr Roger Hutchinson, Chair of Filton Town Council,
as shown in the photograph. Reports appeared in the Bristol
Evening Post and the Speedway Star and further photographs can be
seen on the Filton Cycle Speedway Web Site www.filtoncsc.co.uk
Organiser Cllr Andy Hewlett was delighted with the event and has
had many messages of congratulations both for the event and the
quality of the new track from all who took part and many of the
spectators.
Speedway
article 1 - click here | Speedway
article 1 - click here
Filton is a Quality Council - It's official
Filton Town Council is delighted to have been awarded Quality Council status.
The Quality Parish and Town Council scheme was launched in June
2003, following the publication of the governments Rural White Paper,
2003. The scheme was designed to provide benchmark minimum
standards for parish and town councils and enable them to better
represent the communities they serve. The scheme also aims to enhance
relationships between local councils, principal authorities and
community and voluntary sector organisations.
In order to achieve Quality status, Filton Town Council has had
to demonstrate that we have reached the standard required by passing
several tests.
These tests as summarised below;
• Electoral Mandate
• Qualifications of the Clerk
• Council Meetings
• Communications
• Annual Report
• Accounts and
• Code of Conduct
The tests exceed the statutory duties of parish and town councils
and represent the standards that an efficient , well run parish
council should achieve.
Town Council By Election - Conygre Ward
Filton Town Council - co-option to fill vacancy in Filton Conygre
Ward filled by advertising for applicants,
2 received, both Tony Blake and Diane Caudwell interviewed at the
Council meeting on Tuesday 25th April with Tony Blake - Labour -
Elected
555 Seat SuperJumbo
Record breaking superjumbo may take spring flight to city.
As reported earlier in the year the new 555 seat super jumbo, the Airbus A380 will be visiting the UK on Thursday 18th May and we have now learnt that it will be flying over the Filton site on it's way to London Heathrow.
The Evening
Post ran a story on our fantastic Farmers Market recently.
It was the third time Filton has held such an event and because of it's success, we hope to continue to do so. We will keep you informed!
The Evening
Post reports on new powers to get to grips with gangs in Filton
Police in Filton have been given the power to disperse yobs and gangs in and around Filton.
Wolverhampton
Round Two
War of words between rival aircraft cities..keep your aero on!
The home of
aerospace!
Anger at Filton as Wolverhampton sees fit to rebrand itself 'The home of aerospace'. Reported in the Evening Post recently.
The life of
Audrey Monks
A clipping from the Evening Post
Sign of times at Britain's only council boozer
The Ratepayers Arms in Filton - believed to be the only pub in Britain to be run by a town council - is celebrating the unveiling of it's new sign.
Congratulations go to Cllr Diane Hutchinson and Nigel Vowles who were
married on Friday 23rd June.
The ceremony took place at the Arnos Manor Hotel in Brislington, followed by a reception in the evening at the same venue. In addition to her work as a Town Councillor Diane is well known as the main organiser of the Filton Community Festival as Secretary of Filton 2000. Nigel works at Berkeley Vale Motors, they have two children Jodie aged 9 and 10 month old Sophie."
New Councillor
Co-opted
At the recent meeting of the Council, Tony Blake of 38 Braemar Crescent,
Filton was co-opted on to the council as the new member for the
Conygre Ward, replacing Cllr Stuart MacCallum who sadly passed away
in February.
Tony is a Bristolian who works as a computing consultant in design,
systems and human resourcing. For the last two years Tony has served
as a governor of Charborough Rd School and is interested in helping
with the work that the Town Council is doing to provide more facilities
for young people in the town. Two applicants were interviewed by
the council, the other being Diane Caudwell from the Wickets, Filton.
Boule (Petanque) Piste moved
Work has been completed to move the boule piste from its position
beside the play area to a new one under trees a few metres away
from the original site. The piste is free to be used by members
of the public and sets of boules can be hired from the nearby Filton
Sports and Leisure Centre. Lighting still has to be fitted and the
area around the piste will be fenced, with picnic tables added.
The piste is the home to the Ratepayers Arms A Boules Team who recently
joined division 2 of the local petanque league. A fixture list is
displayed on the notice board in the centre.
The piste has been moved to make way for the construction of a new
cycle speedway track, which will be the home of the recently formed
Filton Cycle Speedway Club. The club is currently receiving considerable
interest form ex riders and there families who are very keen to
see the track built and the club flourish.
No smoking at
the Ratepayers Arms
Ratepayers Arms takes steps to be smoke free
Ratepayers Arms Goes Smoke Free
The Ratepayer’s Arms, which is at the Filton Sports
and Leisure Centre at Elm Park, is going smoke-free permanently on
Friday 31st March. It’s the first licensed premises in
South Gloucestershire that will have taken the step to go smoke-free
on a permanent basis. It is doing so ahead of new legislation which
comes into force next year banning smoking in all workplaces and public
places, including bars and pubs.
Lorraine Green, easy breathing coordinator for South Gloucestershire,
said: “This is wonderful news for the people of Filton, who
will be able to enjoy their drink and meal in a smoke-free environment.
It is also great news for bar staff as more than 700 people die each
year from the effects of second-hand smoke at work and bar staff are
known to be the most at risk.” Run by Filton town council,
the bar is situated in an area with a disproportionately high number
of smokers. Nationally and in South Gloucestershire as a whole, around
a quarter of all adults smoke but in parts of Filton the figure is
nearer to 40%. In total, around a quarter of all adults in South Gloucestershire
are smokers. The town council has taken the decision to go smoke-free
in the light of increasing public opinion and public acceptance that
smoking is harmful to the health of both smokers and non-smokers.
Studies have shown that public places that go smoke-free, result
in drop of around 1.7% in the number of smokers. There are currently
estimated to be approximately 12 million smokers in this country alone
and every year around 114,000 people die from smoking related illnesses.
Over a half of all smokers say they would find it difficult to go
a day without smoking at all.
Travel Tokens
We understand from South Gloucestershire Council that the most up
to date news for residents who still have some travel tokens left
is that whilst the advice being given is to use them before the 31st
March, the latest operator positions are that Parkway and Patchway
stations will continue to accept them indefinitely, First bus will
accept them for the foreseeable future, and we believe South Gloucestershire
Bus & Coach will continue to accept them for an as yet undefined
period.
If anyone wishes to return their unused travel tokens to the Council
in accordance with the terms of the scheme, they will be issued a
receipt.
For residents who still have the half price pass and haven't applied
for the free pass, South Gloucestershire Council will be writing to
them shortly with information on the new pass. Assurances have
been given by both First and South Gloucestershire Bus and Coach that
they will continue to accept these passes during April.
