Wotton Times The
Issue 16, February 2020
£1
News for Wotton-under-Edge, Kingswood, Charfield, Wickwar, Hawkesbury, Hillesley, North Nibley and the surrounding areas
Junkfish head back to Samos to help support refugee children A group of five volunteers from North Nibley and Wotton are heading back to Samos later this month after spending a week working with refugee children last November.
Liz and Mark Bailey, Theresa Eames, George Macklin and Jim Hayles made their way to the Aegean Islands in Greece to help provide some light relief for refugee children who are hundreds of miles away from everything familiar to them. The group, headed by Junkfish’s Liz Bailey, were working in collaboration with the Flying Seagull Project, who have been visiting refugee camps on the Aegean Islands to bring some cheer and entertainment to an otherwise bleak situation. Liz set up Junkfish after working as a Maths teacher, and told the Wotton Times how she came
W OT TO N WA N D E R L A N D P U L L- O U T M A P
to be involved with the Flying Seagulls. She said: “Having run kids activities at North Nibley festival for a few years and also having done other events and functions, it gradually became a full time job – although I used to be a Maths teacher.” Continued on page 4
British School fly the flag for Australia On January 24, pupils at Wotton’s British School dressed up to help support animals and habitats affected by all the Australian bush wildfires.
Children came to school in the colours of the Australian flag or as their favourite Australian animals, and held an after school cake sale which raised an impressive £234.71. The money generated through the appeal has been donated to the WWF Australia Bushfire Emergency Fund.
Following the grain Page 12
Shed load of men Page 6
Phone box hang-up Page 3
The Sad Dads Page 7
Next Issue of The Wotton Times: Friday 6th March
CENTRE PA G E S
Police warning on new breed of ‘cat’ burglars
A raft of police forces, including Gloucestershire, are alerting drivers to a fast-growing epidemic in car crime: theft of your catalytic converter, by Simon Hacker.
Thames Valley Police alone say 450 drivers have been robbed since last October, with Toyota Prius and Honda Jazz models being especially likely to fall victim to the theft. Sadly, the crime is coming closer to home, with Cheltenham police reporting 12 thefts so far this month. The copycat crime can take just 60 seconds and is easy to perform on many models, the chief change returning drivers observe being a loud exhaust tone when they start up. Catalytic converters contain small amounts of the precious metals platinum, palladium and rhodium which can be sold at high prices. Continued on page 8