Help is on hand for residents of Stoke Gifford and the wider Bristol North Fringe who are seeking information and advice on a wide range of issues following the news that Citizens Advice South Gloucestershire has started drop-in advice sessions at a new venue in the area.

Citizens Advice provides advice and support on life’s most common problems, and all the advice given is free, independent and impartial.

Yvonne Parks of Citizens Advice South Gloucestershire said:

“Our goal is to help everyone find a way forward, whatever problem they face. People come to us with all sorts of issues such as money, benefits, housing, family or employment problems.”

Anyone can go along to the drop-in sessions at The Stokes (Youth and Community Centre), which is located next to Little Stoke Primary School, Little Stoke Lane, Little Stoke BS34 6HY.

The sessions, which started at the end of April, are held every second and fourth Friday of the month, from 10am to 12pm.

Yvonne (pictured) said:

“No appointment is necessary, so just come along. An experienced and qualified advice worker will be there to help.”

The sessions in Stoke Gifford are being supported by local South Gloucestershire ward councillors through the Member Awarded Funding scheme and will be reviewed in 12 months’ time.

• Citizens Advice also holds drop-in sessions at the Jubilee Centre, Bradley Stoke, from 10am to 12pm every Wednesday.

This article originally appeared in the May 2017 issue of the Bradley Stoke Journal magazine (on page 34). The magazine is delivered FREE, EVERY MONTH, to 9,500 homes in Bradley Stoke, Little Stoke and Stoke Lodge. Phone 01454 300 400 to enquire about advertising or leaflet insertion.

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Busy Bees nursery in Stoke Gifford is celebrating after receiving an ‘outstanding’ rating following its latest Ofsted inspection.

Staff at the nursery, which is located in Simmonds View, say they are especially proud because fewer than one in ten ‘early years’ settings in the UK hold this rating.

The nursery received its exceptional ‘outstanding’ rating from Ofsted, the official body for inspecting schools, after attaining a perfect score in all four areas of inspection, namely: quality of teaching, learning and assessment; personal development, behaviour and welfare; outcomes for children; and the effectiveness of the leadership and management.

Ofsted praised the nursery’s quality of teaching, noting that: “Staff are highly committed to providing exciting and stimulating activities to promote all areas of learning. They use every opportunity to provide children with essential language and mathematical skills.”

Child development was given a special mention as Ofsted recognised that: “Children make exceptional progress from their starting points and are encouraged to become thoughtful, kind and extremely confident children who care about each other.”

Continuing their praise, within the ‘leadership and management’ assessment category, Ofsted said: “Managers are rigorous in their evaluation of the setting and are skilled in identifying priorities for improvement.”

More: Nursery managers "immensely humbled" »

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Knitters from St Michael’s Church in Stoke Gifford have not only created their own Christmas tree from yarn – but when the decorations come down they plan to recycle it into blankets for local homeless charities.

Over 800 woolly green squares have been knitted or crocheted and then stacked into a six-foot tall Christmas tree by the St Mike’s Yarn Bombers (SMYB).

Whilst thousands of real Christmas trees are recycled into compost – the knitted tree will be dismantled and sewn into at least ten woolly blankets for two Bristol charities supporting homeless people.

The yarn bombing group has been delighting local people with surprise displays and decorations at community events in Stoke Gifford since early 2016 (see previous Journal article here). But when they launched the Christmas tree project they were joined by around a hundred other knitters across Bristol and beyond. Church members, craft groups, family, friends and children produced squares. They were even sent three green squares from a knitter in Washington DC in the United States.

A total of 848 different green squares have been stacked into to the woolly Christmas tree. Of these, 816 have been knitted or crocheted and 32 are made of felt and were decorated by children at the Messy Church which meets once a month at St Michael’s.

More: Blankets will go to Emmaus Bristol and Julian Trust night shelter »

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After another successful fundraising year, the Stoke Gifford branch of the Royal British Legion (RBL) is already gearing up for its 2016/17 Poppy Appeal.

The branch, which covers Bradley Stoke, Little Stoke, Stoke Lodge, Stoke Gifford and Filton, will stage its traditional Poppy Appeal launch event at Bristol Parkway Station on Friday 28th October, starting at 2pm.

VIP guests expected to attend the launch are Chelsea Pensioner Brian Cumming MBE, national RBL trustee Martyn Tighe and branch vice-president Jack Lopresti MP.

Alf Sollars from the Patchway RBL branch, motorcyclists from the RBL Riders and Andrew Phelps, the Stoke Gifford Senior Scout Leader, will also be there.

University of the West of England student Zak Ajjane will play the Last Post and Reveille.

Branch chairman and Poppy Appeal organiser John Moloney has led the branch to another successful fundraising year with the 2015/16 branch total standing at £49,000 in mid-September (the appeal year ends on 30th September).

The money raised through the Poppy Appeal goes to the RBL’s Welfare Fund, which is used to give help and support to current and ex-service personnel and their families.

More: Could YOU spare just two hours of your time to help? »

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