Kingsway Villagers

The first Kingsway School Play went ahead yesterday.

Angelina and I took my son Michael along to watch the fun.

Not wishing to spoil things for others in the audience (nor to distract the performers), I snapped a few quick pictures from my seat (when Phoenix was on stage along with the “Kingfisher Angels”), the best of which is this one:

Filled with song, dance, fun and festive facts, the play – which was entirely put together during the last six weeks – was wonderful to see, and the children were very enthusiastic.

Teachers and staff did a fabulous job in such a short time (thank you all), producing a polished performance which lasted for just over an hour.

Finally a word of thanks to Chinnick Theatre Services (Stroud), who supplied a temporary stage – with sound and lighting equipment – at very short notice.

Hi all,

Due to being in the advanced stages of pregnancy, I’m afraid I haven’t managed to get around to arranging a Christmas book club meeting.

I am now planning on having one on 23rd January, 7pm at 127 Woodvale.

Everyone is welcome to come and discuss the book we’ve been reading which is:

“A Sweet Obscurity” by Patrick Gale.

See you then!

Clare

Following all the speculation and rumour that is rife about the adoption (or otherwise) of the Kingsway highways, I have spoken to Jamie Mattock (female) who is a Highways Officer for Glos City Council about the matter.

The main road through Kingsway (i.e. Woodvale), in it’s entirety has a section 106 agreement which means that it will be adopted by the council Highways Dep’t in the future, at an unspecified time. The hold up is with the drainage system and the balancing ponds which will need to be adopted by Severn Trent Water. If the drainage is not agreed then the Highway Dep’t can’t adopt the roads & drainage underneath the road itself.

The roads off the main route e.g. Thatcham Avenue, Valley Gardens etc are not due to be adopted and the developers have not entered into a Section 38 agreement to do so either. This is why there are no road markings on these once you turn off Woodvale.

Thus all the estate roads directly off Woodvale are not due to be adopted and there are no legal agreements yet in place or pending for them to be adopted in the future. The emphasis is on all the individual developers to maintain these public areas indefinitely.

The highways officer suggested that the home zones and private roads to them, do however provide access for public utilities vehicles, deliveries, municipal vehicles (refuse), post vans and also fire appliances, police etc. The Police would have powers to stop people parking – but only if they are causing a serious obstruction to these vehicles.

There are also pedestrian safety issues which The Police can address such as the speed islands which incorporate lowered kerbs and designated pedestrian crossing points that are currently being obscured by inconsiderate parking on the pavements. This was my original reason for opening this can of worms!

So in a nutshell, with the exception of Woodvale, no roads in Kingsway are scheduled to be adopted by The Council.

For that to change, QUVL would have to request a legal agreement with The Council.

The upshot is that none of us can do anything about the inconsiderate parking around the estate unless it can be considered dangerous, in which case The Police can intervene.

The developers can employ private means (e.g. clampers etc) if they choose to, but given current economic conditions I think this unlikely.

I hope that this clarifies the situation on this much discussed matter for everyone once and for all.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Hi All,

Just a quick straw poll to see if anyone Home Educates their children rather than send them to school.

I understand this is an option that more and more parents are taking and was wondering if anyone here did it?

Cheers

Barry

Today me, my partner and two children went to the big play park.

My youngest son noticed something in the grass. On closer inspection I saw it was a sharp blade!
As I pulled it out from the mud it was clear that somebody had buried a craft knife…
and made sure they left the blade showing!

This came so close to a very nasty accident on a 1 yr old child.
The thought of what damage a sharp blade could have done turns my stomach.

On December 9th, mac reported a strange “gathering” which had been going on for a few nights in Halton Way. It seems that several people had noticed, including chumly who said that many of the visitors were parking on the verges of Woodvale and damaging the grass verges.

The following day, mac posted saying that he had found out what was going on, it was a very "sad but genuine reason" and asked for residents to "have some compassion".

Over the next few days many other posters joined the conversation, expressing their distress and annoyance at the damage done to the verges and speculating about the cost of repairs etc… until December 18th, when tog revealed that the reason for the gathering was the tragic death of a young child

This is obviously a horrible tragedy and it seemed to me (and to Baz_k) that some posters had shown little sympathy or consideration… even after the facts were revealed.

And so started a – somewhat heated – discussion which has attracted much attention and controversy and – it would seem – put a few noses out of joint.

On one hand, there’s no doubt that the verges are a terrible mess, and yet – in the circumstances, how can we blame the poor parents, or heap scorn and contempt on somebody who’s just been through such a horrible experience?
How can a little thing like grass even be worth a mention in the face of this terrible event?
…and yet we live here, we care about the place and many of us are distressed by the damage and annoyed at the seeming lack of consideration!

I actually received a(n anonymous) letter yesterday about the subject, from a local resident who (obviously) reads the blog but isn’t registered (you should register… it’s free you know)
I won’t (can’t) divulge the contents of the letter but it offered an(other) interesting opinion on this subject…
Thank you (anon) for taking the trouble to write to me about it.

Suffice to say that tempers were flared and feelings hurt, (for which I am sorry) and – given the unusually emotive circumstances – I even offered to edit or remove any of the comments in the thread.

After my "rant" Big_dave chimed in (for the 1st time in this conversation), accusing me of "lecturing him" and of censoring opinions which didn’t match mine! This is patently untrue (as a quick look through the site will reveal), so I gave him a strong rebuff.
BD didn’t like being told off (even by a much older man – lol) so he asked me to remove his comments in this thread, which I did (as offered), along with my reply.
He also asked me to remove all his previous comments – which I didn’t (he should have read my Terms & Conditions)!
Frankly I’m sorry to see him go, he’s (normally) a nice chap and is welcome back any time he wishes (email me for your new password if/when you calm down).

For the record, I don’t censor articles or comments unless I have to (for legal reasons). I simply correct spellings, replace swear-words and remove spam and off-topic rubbish. I’m perfectly happy to allow others to express their opinions (and will exercise my right to do the same).
But I will not allow anybody to make unsubstantiated accusations (against me or anyone else)!

Now the discussion has gone on for so long that I have finally decided to create this post and move all of the associated comments here… Feel free to add your opinion (whatever it may be)!

FYI: I dated this post Dec’ 9th (the date of the first comment), although it was actually created on Dec’ 24th.