WEEKLY COLUMN of Tetbury news by Kevin Painter

1. St Mary's Church Fete taking place today 

The St Marys’ Church Fete will take place on Saturday 20th July 2.00 - 4.30 pm in the Vicarage garden.

As well as the delicious homemade Cream Teas, we plan to have book stall, raffle, tombola, face painting, children's games, children's' soft toy tombola, crafts & cards to mention a few.

This of course will Poppys last Fete before she moves on to her new Church so a perfect opportunity to come along and wish her well and say thank you for all the amazing things she has achieved and done for our Town many people whose lives she has touched.

However they need your help to make this Fete a success and raise vital funds for St Marys’. Quality items are needed for the stalls! Books, raffle and tombola prizes, sweets for the sweetie jar competition (no chocolate or nuts please), and soft cuddly toys.

These can be put in the chest by the font at the back of church. General offers of help or any queries please speak to Diana Sharp by email office@tetburychurch.co.uk or phone 01666 500088

2. Special service as reverend to move to new parish 

On Sunday 21st July, there will be a very special benefice service at St Marys’ Church Tetbury at 10.00am as it will be Reverend Canon Poppy Hughes final Tetbury service before she moves to her new parish, so even if you are not a regular regular church attender this would be a lovely way to say thank you to this truly special person who has been a big part of Tetbury for so long.

In fact Poppy joined us in September 2013 serving the Tetbury Benefice, Beverston, Long Newton and Shipton Moyne. And she has touched so many peoples lives, with her loving pastoral care that included many activities, from being involved in the Food Bank, through to visits to individuals at home and to Tetbury's care homes. Her work with children included the monthly iSingPOP CELEBRATE family sessions, St Mary's after-school club Faith Explorers, and Little Fishes Sunday School at the 10.00 am Sunday service in Church. And the "Being With" explorers' course, the "Reflect Women's Breakfasts" and home groups in Advent and Lent.with services that draw in young and old alike: from 300+ people gathering on Remembrance Sunday, to over 600 people sharing in the services on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. All are welcome to this service where a presentation will be made. Which will be followed by, at Poppy's request, coffee, cake and fizz in Church afterwards.

3. Goods Shed to screen film 

Tetbury Goods Shed Cinema are pleased to be screening the film Anatomy of a Fall (15) ON The 25 July

A woman is suspected of murder after her husband’s death; their half-blind son faces a moral dilemma as the main witness.

For the past year, Sandra, her husband Samuel, and their eleven-year-old son Daniel have lived a secluded life in a remote town in the French Alps. When Samuel is found dead in the snow below their chalet, the police question whether he was murdered or committed suicide.

Samuel’s suspicious death is presumed murder, and Sandra becomes the main suspect. What follows is not just an investigation into the circumstances of Samuel’s death but an unsettling psychological journey into the depths of Sandra and Samuel’s conflicted relationship.Doors and bar open at 7:00pm the film starts at 7:30pm with a running time of 2hr30mins. Tickets are £7.50 For more information or to book your tickets, please visit the new website:www.tetburygoodsshed.co.uk

4. Classical Series debut 

On Sat 27 Jul 2024Making their Goods Shed Classical Series debut, they are known for working extensively in community music-making contexts. In 2020, the duo was awarded the Wigmore Hall Learning/Open Academy Ensemble Fellowship.

This led them to work with people of all ages across Wigmore Hall Learning’s vast programme, including musical workshops for people living with dementia. Drawing on a large range of musical influences, the Miyabi Duo is a versatile ensemble comprising Saki Kato (Japan) and Hugh Millington (UK). Together they perform a variety of music for two guitars, ranging from new compositions written for the duo to music on nineteenth-century period guitars to classic staples of the Spanish guitar repertoire. Based in Suffolk, they frequently collaborate with organisations including Britten Pears Arts, with whom they regularly lead musical workshops for their ‘Participate’ programme, which aims to use music to combat social isolation in rural communities. Doors open at 7.00pm.

The Concert starts at 7.30pmTickets are Adult Advance £24.00 and Under-25 Advance £15 For more information or to book your tickets, please visit the new website:www.tetburygoodsshed.co.uk

5. Duo on the Shed Piano Club 

Tetbury Goods Shed are delighted to present Miyabi Guitar Duo on The Shed Piano Club at The Goods Shed, Tetbury. Are pleased to announce their next gathering will take place on Wednesday 31 July. Offering a wonderful opportunity for amateur musicians who have worked hard at their music to finally be able to play for other people.

Since acquiring the Steinway grand piano the Goods Shed has hosted hugely successful and popular Tea Concerts on Wednesday afternoons with local amateur musicians playing for an appreciative and interested audience. It is hoped that Piano Club 21 will build on this and incorporate the warm social atmosphere of these gatherings with the opportunity to play for a group of peers.

The Whistle Stop Café will also be open from lunchtime and during the afternoon offering a range of refreshments. And they request that, for the time being at least, all participants book in advance.Anyone wanting to perform should contact Maggie Dyson. maggie.dyson@btinternet.com. or telephone 01666 837 358 and she will be able to confirm availability and performance time slot. They do hope you can come along and maybe bring a guest. There is just a small charge (Tickets: £2.50) for all who attend, whether playing or listening and tickets can be booked by visiting the good shed website and clicking the ticketSource link on the description of the event.

6. Networking event at church 

If you own or run a business, then you're invited to a networking day on Thursday Aug 8 at St Marys Church. The initiative is on one day but in two parts. First from 12 o'clock noon until 5.15pm you'll be able to drop in and have a chat and have your say on what you would like to assist your business, or share information about your business you want promoted.

This is in case your schedule is full and you can not get to part two the the days main focus the 5.30 networking drinks, nibbles gathering at St Marys Church.

The new business chamber/ forum launching its groundbreaking free membership platform, and you can find out about some of the projects and initiatives that the new chamber will be launching along with other independent projects. Furthermore the new free membership platform will allow all businesses to communicate with each other, join or utilise community groups, upload resources to share with other businesses and truly provides members added value and support.

The project's objectives are clear to be a network of businesspeople designed to promote and protect the interests of its members. To Inform Influence with Innovation. With opportunities for networking and information sharing. Continuously promoting our Town/ region's capabilities to the wider world and to Lobby and represent business to both local and national government. We want to ensure that our own local bussness community has access to opportunities to innovate within their organisations in order to support growth. Enthusiasm, drive and a passion for business growth we know how great and what Tetbury has to offer, all we have to is share it The chamber is confident that the new innovative solutions, projects and partners will not only meet but exceed the expectations of businesses across our area, no matter what size from sole bespoke business to the larger ones, or even or working remotely, So please get involved if you cannot there on the day or you want more infomation then you can ring or WhatsApp Coreen on 07780143160. Or you can email admin@tetburychamber.org 'We all got here by different ships! But we are all in the same boat now'

7. Festival at stunning gardens continues 

Continuing the stunning Everything in the Garden arts festival that began on 21 June and will continue to run until 24 August. You will have the opportunity to meet Angie Spencer, Artist in Residence,for Painswick Rococo Garden with a presentation evening with refreshments onThursday 25 July, 7 – 8.30pm.

Booking is required if you can not get to that you can have another chance as Spencer House Gallery will be presenting on Saturday 3 August, 2 – 5pm, Everything in the Garden, Meet the Artist Angie Spencer, this time with free entry.Angie, from Stroud, has spent a year as 'Artist in Residence' at the multi-faceted Painswick Rococo Garden, the only Rococo garden in the country. She has been outside - with easel, oil paints and brushes - in all weathers to record the changing seasons and depict the follies and features of the garden, creating a colourful collection which will be on display and for sale at Spencer House Gallery, for the entire Festival. In fact at the launch the festival

More than 75 guests enjoyed a wide variety of art in many media at the 'Everything in the Garden’ show. Gallery owner and curator, Chris Woodcock. Said: “We've had a wonderful launch to this exhibition. We timed its opening to coincide with the Summer Solstice and, luckily, we enjoyed perfect weather so people could spill out onto the street and make an evening of it in the beautiful heart of Tetbury.”

The two Featured Artists in the show, Angie Spencer and Wendi Weller, are joined by over 40 other regional artists who interpret the garden theme in many different ways, working in glass, ceramic, paint, print, wood, wire, wool and other textiles.“The reaction in our opening 48 hours has been superb – so much positive feedback – and so have sales,” Chris added.

“Already, we have artworks going to new homes all over England and to Norway and Spain. As a team of artists, we're all so grateful for the appreciation and the support.” The gallery is open Thursday to Saturday, 10am-1pm and 2-5pm, and most Sundays, 10.30am – 2pm. For the full 'Everything in the Garden' festival programme, including art, music and talks, visit spencerhousegallery.co.uk/events-exhibitions, rococogarden.org.uk or shed-arts.co.uk. Or call 07841 979273. And of course the show is part of a wider festival, of the same title, where the gallery has partnered with Tetbury Goods Shed and Painswick Rococo Garden for a series of events and special offers this summer.

8. Change to community grants 

Paige Cook (Nixon) Tetbury Store Manager is very proud of her team and her customers and would like to explain the change to the fantastic community grants, local appropriate groups to come forward to benefit our community.

Stronger Starts is our blue token voting scheme in store, where local groups and organisations can apply for funding to complete a project and our customers decide through voting who receives the most funding.Since 2016, the Tesco Community Grants (blue token voting) programme has awarded over £100m in funding to over 50,000 local organisations.

Insight from Groundwork UK (our partner who delivers the grant programme) and our customers, highlighted that focusing donations and partnering with local schools and young children would have genuine and significant impact.As a result, we will now focus our support on funding for schools and projects supporting young children. This programme which is framed in positivity is named Stronger Starts and replaces Tesco Community Grants.

Schools and groups can apply for a grant and if successful they will go into the in store vote. There are 4 voting rounds each year (dates vary) Throughout the 3 month voting period, customers can pick up a blue token and vote for their favourite project in the voting unit in store.

Each store is in a voting region and there are 650 voting regions across the country. Each region consists of a handful of stores, a mix of both Large and Convenience.

Some regions, due to their location, are one store regions. It's important to remember that just because a school or group won the vote in your store, this may not mean they won the vote across the region. All votes are added together and the winners are communicated via MyWork once they have been verified. Customers vote for projects in store using the blue tokens but 2 out of 3 projects will be schools and/or groups supporting children Grant sizes vary based on the voting result

9. Saving a playground 

 Saving the Rec Playground with a bit of TLC If you look up communtitys Spirit it should just say 'Tetbury people’ I caught up with one of the many amazing people in Tetbury, Warren Hateley who told me of a lovely project 'The Play area on Rec has been subject to years of maintenance neglect, underfunding, harsh weather condition, fair ware and tare through natural usage and unfortunate vandalization! So a gang of Community minded Volunteers took upon themselves to come to the rescue and apply some well earned TLC to bring the play area back to life and try to restore and enhance it to its original working order for the good of the community.

First out of the blocks to help us was GLWC Williams championed by Mandy Williams, a real superstar who could not be more helpful as well as Mike from Tetbury Motor Company with words of support "If you get stuck just ask", Warren.

We owe thanks to Malc that man who stay open all hours who is offering materials at cost and to Emma at Eagle Plant.Since starting out we have received an endless amount of support from people visiting us on site whilst we have been working and in our initial search stages for funding and general support. I am pleased to say we have achieved our first goal of £4000 to hopefully get the initial job done.

Our three very generous sponsors are The Recreational Trust via the Town Council and granted by Cirencester District Council for £600 poundThe Tetbury Lions championed by Derek Harvey and his gang who do so much for the town for £400. The last and most meaningful donation of £2700 pound given by Malcolm and Lizzie Philby in memory of their son. Like all these things I can't and have not worked alone, so my thanks go out to Rich for his first support with advertising stuff, to my dear friends Paul Stead and Colin Pool who leant a very handy hand.

To the support that I know that I will get from Will Cook and co and some stage in the future.

These are the people that really care about what happens in the Tetbury Community make a different and are prepared to get their hands dirty. There will be a notice board attached to the Toddlers Playground Area just to keep people up to date and the progress going forward.