Saturday 12th April & Sunday 13th April at Winchcombe Station, Gloucestershire

This special exhibition by the renowned wildlife artist and steam locomotive owner David Shepherd is being held in aid of the David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation and combines his two passions - endangered wildlife and steam locomotives. Also operating over the GWR railway during the weekend will be David Shepherd’s own giant of the steam age - locomotive 9F 2-10-0 No. 92203 Black Prince which was one of the last steam locomotives to be built by BR.
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Tags: animals | exhibition | gloucestershire | cheltenham | railways | warwickshire | winchcombe | toddington

Friday April 4th, Saturday April 5th, Sunday April 6th GWR Toddington Station, Winchcombe Station & Cheltenham Racecourse Station, Gloucestershire

The Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway (GWR) is running a Spring Diesel Gala over the weekend with an intensive passenger and freight timetable. The GWR has one of the finest collections of heritage diesel locomotives in the country and there will be opportunities to ride behind a large variety of types between Toddington and Cheltenham Racecourse plus a special “Driver for a Fiver” opportunity.

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Tags: cheltenham | gloucestershire | railways | toddington | warwickshire | winchcombe

Moreton-in-Marsh based Christian Cullinane has cycled (and walked) to complete the 350 mile Iditarod Trail Invitational Race in 7 days 13 hours and ten minutes and arrived in McGrath, Alaska at 03.10 on Monday 10th March. Read the rest of this article »

Tags: charity | cheltenham | cotswolds | moreton | race

The Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway (GWR), which operates steam and diesel trains between Toddington and Cheltenham Racecourse, kicks off its 2008 season on 1st March with an offer most youngsters would find hard to refuse - they can travel free!

But there’s a catch! To get a free ticket, they must bring a fare-paying adult or senior citizen! The offer is valid on every train running during March, including Easter. Read the rest of this article »

Tags: gloucestershire | railways | warwickshire | cheltenham | toddington

A network to support parents of children with disabilities will be launched later this week.
Face 2 Face is a network of trained befriender volunteers who help parents to come to terms with news that their child has a disability and to offer them positive support and advice.

The scheme will be launched on Thursday 14th February at the National Star Centre in Ullenwood. Parents of children with disabilities are welcome to come along to meet the befrienders and to find out how the scheme works.

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Tags: gloucestershire | volunteering | cheltenham

Weekend Telegraph Property Section - Caroline McGhie seeks out the best small market towns in Britain. Moreton-in-Marsh is in the top ten

Moreton-in-Marsh has made it into the top ten beating near neighbours like Stow-on-the-Wold, Chipping Norton and Shipston-on-Stour.

“Small market towns are becoming increasing desirable, as much for their natural beauty as their shops and schools” Britain’s finest country towns sparkle like precious stones in the property market; beacons of prosperity, enterprise and asperation. They are the setting for some of our most unusual shops, our greatest novels, our agricultural highs and lows. They are the heartbeat of the countryside.”

“Moreton-in-Marsh is a Cotswold beauty with a glorious main street of golden stone houses with back lanes running off. Strategically placed between Stratford-upon-Avon, Evesham, Bath and Oxford, it once thrived as a coaching stop, but now attracts commuters who use the local station for the 90 minute journey into London.”

“It is Heythrop Hunt country and the town has its very own horse and agricultural show in September. In the summer it fills with opera buffs flocking to the Longborough Festival, the Cotswolds’  answer to Glyndebourne. It is accessible to everywhere, a crossing point that is set in beautiful countryside and the Tuesday market, where you can buy everything from slippers to saucissons, is protected by a Royal Charter granted by King Charles I.”

Other local towns in the list of top 50 towns to delight were:
Cheltenham
Cirencester
Stow-on-the-Wold
Stratford-upon-Avon

Come and stay at Little Gidding and spend some time in these five top 50 local towns. All five towns are within a 1/2 hour drive through the lovely local countryside.

Also visit other local country towns like Chipping Norton, Shipston-on-Stour, Warwick, Tewkesbury and Winchcombe which didn’t make it to the top fifty but which have lots of character and charm and many supporters. Let us have your views and comments.       

Source: Daily Telegraph Weekend Property Section 

Tags: cheltenham | cirencester | cotswolds | countryside | evesham | gloucestershire | moreton | places | property | shipston on stour | stow | winchcombe

Christian Cullinane is going to cycle 350 miles non stop across Alaska to raise money for Winston’s Wish charity

The Iditarod Trail Invitational Race is an extreme competition which sees individuals cycle, walk or ski 1100 miles or 350 miles non stop across Alaska. The race is billed as the World’s Longest Human Powered Winter Race and is so tough that it is strictly by invitation only with a 50 racer limit. Experienced winter athletes may take part but many of the competitors will not reach the end. Temperatures can plummet to minus 50 degrees centigrade and white-out blizzards can hit in seconds and last for days. The 2008 race is the 7th Annual race and it starts on Sunday 24th February at 14.00. The start is at Knik Lake on the Gulf of Alaska and the 350 mile race ends at McGrath in the Kuskokwim Mountains. The full 1100 mile race ends at Nome on the Bering Sea.

Christian Cullinane from Moreton-in-Marsh in the Cotswolds is no stranger to endurance events having run across the Sahara Desert in the 150 mile Marathon Des Sables, completed the 100 mile Mont Blanc Ultra Marathon and has been to Alaska twice before to race in a “shorter” 130 mile snow shoe race. Christian is competitor number 10 and is one of only 5 Brits entered for the race. There are currently 3 racer spots left so is there anyone out there who fancies this extreme challenge?

Christian is using the race to raise money for Winston’s Wish, a Cheltenham based national child bereavement charity. The charity was founded in 1992 and offers support to bereaved children and young people after the death of a parent or sibling as well as offering guidance, support and information to their families and to anyone concerned about a bereaved child throughout the UK.

Every 30 minutes a child in the UK is bereaved of a parent; this equates to 20,000 new children each year learning to live with a powereful range of confusing and conflicting emotions. Winston’s wish is now recognised as the leading organisation in this field and its pioneering model of family support has been adapted and used by many other organisations throughout the UK and abroad.

We wish Christian every success in the race.
To support Christian and to make a donation to Winston’s Wish visit his website at www.cool-biker.com

www.winstonswish.org.uk
www.iditarod.it
www.2×2wordwide.com
www.keela.co.uk
www.terra-nova.co.uk

Christian will be riding a modified Land Rover Bikes Kaikas mountain bike. He will be wearing a Keela Spectrum Jacket, Belay Duvet Jacket and Quantum Trousers and using a Terra-Nova Equipment Saturn Bivi Bag and Extremities socks, mittens and headgear.

Tags: charity | cheltenham | moreton | race | cotswolds

Following a successful bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund, Fairgame Theatre will tour their Gloucestershire millennium-inspired production, ‘The Tiler of Gloucester’, across the county this winter.
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The show will play at heritage sites, theatres and village halls and will be a glorious celebration of Gloucestershire’s past.

The final script was based on material devised from a number of exciting interactive workshops held with different groups in Gloucestershire, each one exploring a century from the past 1,000 years.

Unearthing the events that surrounded battles, murders, kings, queens, traditions, and folklore, the workshops celebrated our fabulous county and its wealth of heritage by discovering stories, facts and intrigue right up to the extraordinary events of this summer.

‘The epic proportions of the recent floods provided a hook upon which to hang the main storyline, tying in with Gloucestershire’s long history of flooding,’ remarked Sarah Blowers, Artistic Director of Fairgame Theatre.
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‘Fairgame transports audiences back to the dawn of the county and spins them through the ages to meet long-dead heroes and villains. Expect the finest actor-musicians, original live music and Fairgame’s characteristic physical style, combined to create an exciting new show suitable for all the family.’

Based at The Everyman Theatre in Cheltenham, Fairgame Theatre is funded by and work in connection with a large number of strategic partners including the Arts Council, Gloucestershire County Council and the Heritage Lottery Fund. They produce theatre that is inspirational, credible, relevant, accessible and ultimately entertaining, and through its creative process and performances, has the ability to transform lives.

‘The Tiler of Gloucester’ is Fairgame’s fifth Heritage-Funded project.

The tour starts on the 27th October and runs until the 22nd December.

www.fairgametheatre.com

Tags: theatre | cheltenham | gloucestershire

5th - 14th October at venues throughout Cheltenham

This year’s Festival, which is sponsored by “The Times” and in association with Waterstone’s, takes place over 10 days, has 350 events -from debates and discussions to interviews, performances, live literature, poetry, book clubs and lectures with 450 authors participating. Question - Debate-Discover-Engage -Enjoy.

The Festival theme explores the question - “What does change mean to us”and the Guest Directors are Armando Iannucci and A C Grayling who will programme the two weekend series.

The Festival starts with Ben Macintyre talking about “Agent Zigzag” and Eric Hobsbawm talking about his life and some of the issues that underpin contemporary society, both at the Town Hall on Friday 4th October from 12.00 and finishes with Roy Strong presenting an illustrated talk on “A Little History of the English Country Church” at the Everyman Theatre on Sunday 14th October from 20.30.

In between there will be appearances from - Nick Hornby, Alastair Campbell, Germaine Greer, Ken Loach, Naomi Klein, Julian Clary, Virginia Nicholson, John Simpson, Ian McEwan, and Roddy Doyle to name just a few.

www.cheltenhamfestivals.com
Box Office 01242 227979

Tags: festivals | cheltenham