Having just returned from my holiday in France I was amazed that in so many towns and cities cycling is fast becoming the No.1 form of transport. More and more urban centers are becoming pedestrianised and cycle lanes delineated. Also people stay in them, so I saw no “near misses” while walking around.

The other thing that fascinated me was proliferation of different types of “Cargo Bikes”. All electric, some for mothers taking children to school, some for shopping and some for extremely large cargos.

The are so enthused and proud of getting the population onto bikes they even have a counter by the road to monitor the numbers.

Back in the UK, cargo bikes are still so unusual that sightings of them is a cause for Newspaper Articles!

Anna Tyzack rides an electric cargo bike carrying her four children Credit: Andrew Crowley/The Telegraph

It’s time here that the government took cycling seriously and thought about the movement of people of goods and people. For instance, all those houses built down by the railway station in Box Road, would have never been built in Europe without a clear pedestrian and cycle path to the shops and center of the village. Instead, the new footpath / cycle path to connect the Box Road houses to the shops ends after 100m at an abrupt stop…

Thank you to all of those who joined us at Apple Day 2024.

A huge thank you to our amazing host John and Lynn for allowing us to enjoy their beautiful garden.

Further thanks to all the people who came together to put on fantastic event, Steve and John for sorting all the equipment, Alex Irons for the setting up, Russ and Roger for the bar and Tracey for running a fantastic raffle. There were also several people who baked cakes. Thanks to all. It takes a village!

It was great to have so many friends join together for some ‘Apple juice’ and in the process over £650 was raised towards the playground.

The playground is now moving into an exciting phase, with the lease being agreed and a third of the fund raised. Now the playground group is looking to secure further grants. A crowd funding initiative will shortly be launched too with the support of Stroud District Council. More details to follow soon.

If you would like to get involved with the group new members are warmly received, particularly if you have experience in applying for grants.

Neil Forsyth

It is with great sadness that we recently announced that our club President, John Darlaston passed away at the age of 91. There will be a celebration of his life on the 1st November at the club. A minute’s silence was held before the recent game at the club.

Sporting Update

The rugby season has started with a bang – Our men’s teams have already played a number of fixtures both home and away. The Mini and Youth have also started back, mostly with training at the club so far but our Colts team (under 19s) have played a couple of fixtures with a trip to local rivals Stroud rugby club shortly. Our ladies team will kick off their season soon after their first fixture was unfortunately postponed.

Our new scoreboard has been put to good use !

School’s Cross Country

We have also now agreed dates for the very popular schools cross country events. We advertised these in the last eNews but one of these has changed – the first event is now the 12th October.

New dates for the schools cross-country now confirmed as:

Saturday 12th October 2024
Saturday 16th November 2024
Saturday 7th December 2024
Saturday 18th January 2025
With a backup date of Saturday 8th February 2025.

Are you a student, school leaver or secondary school pupil who needs financial assistance to buy books, specialist clothing, tools or instruments for you studies, apprenticeship or future training?

This is the time of year when grants are available for these purposes from a Stinchcombe Charity. the Matthew Tyndall Education Foundation (Charity number: 272353).

To qualify, applicants must live in the Parish of Stinchcombe and be under 25.

Apply in writing to confirming that you are eligible and explaining the reason why you are seeking a grant to StinchcombeCharities@gmail.com

APPLICATION DEADLINE – 11th NOVEMBER 2024

Stinchcombe United Charities asks:

Do you know anyone who needs assistance?

In these particularly difficult economic times, you may know someone within our village community who might appreciate confidential financial support from the Stinchcombe United Charities (SUC).

Support may be considered for anyone struggling to meet basic living expenses, respite care for children with special educational or neurodiverse needs, respite care for the elderly and help for those who have medical or health concerns.

Approaches will be dealt with in strict confidence via Fiona revfionacrocker@gmail.com
or Emily (Clerk to SUC) stinchcombecharities@gmail.com

Please don’t assume that you, or someone you know, won’t qualify for help – each approach will be dealt with on an individual needs basis and with consideration of available funds.

(SUC is a registered charity. CR #: 237542)

Emily Loveday

Clerk to the Trustees:
Stinchcombe United Charities
Matthew Tyndall Educational Foundation
Maxwell Workman Trust

We’ve been using the Vehicle Activated Sign (VAS) since November 2023 and it’s time to report back to you.

They say a picture is worth a 1,000 words …

If you are into charts you’ll quickly spot that the VAS can have a dramatic effect on how many vehicles stick to the speed limit.
You’ll also notice that there are big differences between locations so let’s report on the locations individually.

Working pretty well on The Street

The VAS increased compliance with the 30 mph speed limit from 83% of vehicles to an average of 91%. Taking both directions into account, nearly 600 vehicles a day are still speeding, but mostly only by a few mph. Not ideal, but nowhere near as bad as elsewhere.

We will continue using the VAS and the CSW team will still do occasional roadside monitoring with our speed gun by the Village Hall.

Lower but still worrying levels of speeding on The Avenue

The good news: the VAS increased compliance with the 30 mph limit from 40% to an average of 72% and reduced the average speed by 3 to 4 mph. This speed reduction might not sound much; however, a 1 mph reduction leads to a fall in the accident rate of approximately 5%.

The bad news: taking both directions into consideration, in the order of 1,600 vehicles a day exceed the speed limit even with the VAS in use. Over 120 of those are travelling at 40 mph or more, about 15 times more than on The Street.

We want to ensure our traffic data are taken into consideration in connection with the proposed redevelopment of the Swedish Houses. Investment in further traffic calming measures would be premature before the future of that site has been resolved because the layout of the road may change. We’ll continue with the VAS for now.

Could do better at Taits Hill Road – Blackthorn Barn

The VAS is used for 2 weeks in each direction here. It was moderately effective in slowing traffic travelling towards the A38, increasing compliance with the speed limit from 41% to an average of 67%.

The results for traffic coming from the A38 were disappointing, with an increase in compliance of only 7% on average. Even worse, there was a marked deterioration over the evaluation period not seen elsewhere. The numbers of vehicles speeding are comparable to those on The Avenue, but the most extreme speeds have been recorded here.

Further measures to combat speeding are clearly necessary at this location. Stinchcombe Speed Watch and the Parish Council are exploring the option of a solar-powered AutoSpeedWatch camera. It would be part of the countywide Community Speed Watch+ network and automatically generate Police letters to the worst speeders. Read more about CSW+ here . The CSW team will continue to do occasional roadside monitoring with our speed gun in this area.

Not needed at Taits Hill Road – Vale Vets?

Data from the VAS show virtually 100% compliance with the speed limit here, even when the device is not illuminated. The VAS therefore serves little purpose, making it likely that we stop using it there.

The Parish Council will try to renegotiate the legal agreement with the County Council so that we can still get maximum use out of the VAS with fewer locations. Currently we cannot use it for more than 2 weeks at a location or return until 8 weeks have elapsed.

Kath Hudson (Stinchcombe Speed Watch)

DURSLEY ROCKS RETURNS FOR 2025

Dursley RFC has agreed to host Dursley Rocks again in 2025. It’s a great local family community event which will be held on 20 & 21 June. Discounted tickets of 50% for Village residents will be available in the New Year and early bird tickets for non-residents will be on sale in early September. So put the dates in your diary and look out for further announcements.