Cotteswold Dairy scoop SoGlos Business of the Year Award

At a recent ceremony, Tewkesbury’s Cotteswold Dairy collected, not one, but two honours at the SoGlos Gloucestershire Business Awards evening held at the Gloucestershire Business School.

Cotteswold Dairy Director, Louise Woodward said; “The Dairy were finalists in the Family Business category and the large business category, much to our delight we were honoured to win the Family Business award, sponsored by Quolux. My father and Chairman, Roger Workman, attended too, I was really pleased that he was there to receive the award. At the end of the awards came the fi- nal award for ‘Business of the year’ which was chosen by the headline co-sponsors, Willans LLP Solicitors and Hazlewoods Accountants, they awarded this to who they felt was the best Business of the Year from the list of winners across all the categories (there were 21 categories). We were so surprised to hear the announcement that we had won, it was so unexpected and is a real credit to the whole team of staff at Cotteswold Dairy.”

SoGlos compere, Steve Knibbs said; “We had been chosen as they saw something special in us, increasing turnover during difficult times, branching out into new areas, increasing staff numbers and staying true to our position in Gloucestershire holding true to our traditional values.”

The Christmas trees will be sparkling as Winchcombe’s shopkeepers, pubs, cafe-owners, stallholders and local people get into the festive spirit of Christmas as part of the amazing Winchcombe Christmas Festival.

Christmas time in the Cotswolds starts early in Winchcombe with a festival for all the family with lots to see and do. There are over 50 market stalls laden with gifts, festive food, shops open late, carol singing and live music to get you in the Christmas spirit.

The town is lit up with over 70 real Christmas trees, and street entertainers, Morris dancers, choirs, bands and community groups all add to the merriment. It’s a chance to ‘shop early’ for Christmas and choose from the unusual gifts which are on display.

Many shops and eateries give out Christmas cheer with mince pies, punch and sweets all adding to the cheery atmosphere.

Don’t miss this fabulous event; put a date in your diary for 6 December 5pm – 8pm, and start your Christmas off with a bang!

The first meeting will be at the Sea Cadet Hall in Trinity Walk, Oldbury Road, GL20 5NP, at 6.00pm.

A ten consecutive week course costs £30, payable on the night. For your money you get tuition from fully qualified and insured UK Athletics Coaches.

Runners also receive weekly information on what to wear, the health benefits of running, dietary and nutrition information, setting goals, breathing, pace and stretching exercises.

At the end of the course your receive your very own personalised ‘finishers’ T-shirt.

For more information, contact Kathy Lewis at kathy.adrian.lewis@gma il.com

New Manager For Local Foodbank

Michael Jones will become the fourth manager of Tewkesbury Foodbank. Outgoing Voluntary Project Manager Marion Badham said: “Michael is coming to us with a wealth of knowledge and experience from his time working with his local foodbank in Norfolk.

“Michael will be taking over at a very critical time for our country, and I know he will bring many new ideas and incentives to help our local families in crisis.”Marion has been project manager at the Foodbank for six years, and will now take a less demanding role, along with Sandra Ditchburn who has helped steer the Foodbank through many stages since it began at Holy Trinity Church Hall in 2013.

If you are a regular reader of this column every month, you will know that Tewkesbury and Bredon Hill Probus Club invite a wide variety of speakers who educate, inform and entertain us every Tuesday morning. Our mission is to stimulate members’ retirement and to further this end and to add to the interest and enjoyment of members, we occasionally organise a visit to a place of interest.

Our latest outing was to the Transport Museum at Wythall in North Worcestershire which advertises itself as home to the finest collection of classic Midlands buses. You can imagine the thrill as we entered the site and were immediately taken back to our early days of the 1950’s and 60’s when few families had cars and we all relied on buses of many different types to get to school or help Mum with the shopping.

The museum has a huge selection of both single and double-deckers with many from Birmingham Corporation in the familiar dark blue and cream, several from London Transport and an open topped seaside tourer from Southport.

Some of the buses featured go back 100 years to the early 1920’s but the majority came from the years that most of our members remember when we travelled on them almost every day. We were lucky to be al- lowed to go inside some of the vehicles, climbing the narrow stairs to the upper deck where passengers in those days were allowed to smoke!

The museum is very proud of its 1930 double-decker AEC which is in totally immaculate and original condition after a painstaking restoration costing half a million pounds.

The museum also houses many vehicles other than buses, featuring a vintage fire-engine and even a large selection of electric milk floats and bread vans.

It was a wonderful and nostalgic day out for Probus Club members who also enjoyed an excellent lunch at a local restaurant.

If you are a retired professional or businessman looking for something new to stimulate your retirement in a friendly and social environment, you would be very welcome to join us as a guest at one of our Tuesday morning meetings. For more information, please visit our website at www.probusclub.net/tewkesbredon/ or contact our Secretary Steve Tucker on 07803 907243. Our event programme for the coming month is featured in this edition of Tewkesbury Direct.

By Chris Brown for Tewkesbury and Bredon Hill Probus Club