Village News

A few bits and pieces that have caught my attention recently in and around the village:

• noticed that large military transport plane flying low in large circles over north-west Bristol on Tuesday (?) Believe it was going through its test flights from Filton. 
• Canford Park is full of young families on a sunny day. The village population is getting younger, in my observation. Maybe I'm just getting older. 
• both of the village's primary schools (Elmlea Junior and Westbury C of E Primary) are applying to become academies this summer. More on that story here.  
• far away (Cribbs causeway), was struck by the long queues forming outside the Apple store at the mall on Friday. Something about the launch of the iPad 2, or something.  

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Filton Bomb Scare

The A38 has been closed both ways at Gypsy Patch Lane this afternoon following the discovery of a suspect package in the area about quarter to four.

The army explosives team are on site, according to Avon and Somerset Police, and a few buildings have been evacuated in the immediate area.

The closure is between Gypsy Patch Lane and Station Road.

Word from the front gate is that there are suggestions that the package was found inside the Rolls Royce factory in the area. Others have claimed it was in the Royal Mail sorting depot on the other side of the dual carriageway.

All traffic, including buses, are being diverted so there is considerable congestion in all approaches though by 6.30 the road had been re-opened, without an explosion, as far as I can gather, so it looks like the whole thing was a hoax.


Post Script: it seems that the only mainstream reporter on site was Martin Jones of Original Radio. You can hear is report from the scene here.

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Veiled in Big W

While asset stripping the Woolworth store in Filton this evening, I noticed a young Muslim woman wearing a full face veil. Judging by her height and frame, I would estimate she was aged between 14 and 16.

She was not wearing the close fitting headscarf favoured by the more trendy female members of Eastville's Somali community. This was the full, black face veil, tied at the back, leaving only the narrowest of spaces for the girl to look out on the world.

It was the first time I had seen such a veil being worn in Bristol and I couldn't help thinking that the man accompanying her (who I took to be her father) was undoubtedly drawing more attention to his daughter by the choice of headgear than would be the case if she accompanied him unveiled.

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Failure of Memorial Stadium May Not be the Best Thing for Local Residents

Local residents around the Memorial Stadium on Filton Avenue are said to be "delighted" by the news that the planned development of the ground has been delayed by the withdrawal of a main contractor.

Spokesman for the Residents Opposed to the Stadium Expansion (ROSE) pressure group, said: "We've said all along that it doesn't make financial sense to shell out millions on a new stadium that is in the wrong place. It seems we have now been proved right. It now seems more likely than ever before that this development will never get off the ground, something we have campaigned long and hard for."

The campaigners may want to pause before breaking open the bubbly and think about the consequences of the failure of the Stadium to redevelop.

I lived through a similar story in Brighton many years ago. Although work has now started on a brand new out-of-town stadium for Brighton and Hove Albion, their former ground (the Goldstone Ground on the Old Shoreham Road in Hove) has already been converted into a soulless retail park, housing such wonderful attractions as Toys R Us, DFS, Homebase and Carpet Right.

The fact is that if the memorial Ground is not redeveloped and the clubs which use it have to move elsewhere, the residents of Horfield will be facing much more difficult battles against infinitely more aggressive opponents that Bristol Rovers.

The lifestyle implications of having a retail park at the bottom of Filton Avenue, not to mention the damage this would do to the independent shops on Gloucester Road, seem to me far more damaging than a larger Memorial Stadium, which was of course there long before any of the present residents moved into the neighbourhood.

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Geese Over Filton

While driving along the Ring Road from Emerson's Green this morning, I was surprised to see two large Canadian Geese flying overhead about 30 feet above the ground.

I saw the birds as I approached Filton, their flight path taking them from the Abbey Wood MOD campus, across the adjacent retail park and over the A4174 towards Filton itself.

I assume they are normally resident around one of the lakes at Abbey Wood. I'm not sure where they were heading - possibly the grassy areas near the freight train line in Filton.

Canadian Geese were considered to be near-extinct in their native North America until the 1950s. Conservation work has seen a dramatic rise in their numbers and they have also been reintroduced into Britain, the Netherlands and Scandinavia.

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Hope Springs Eternal for North Bristol Churches

The May Bank Holiday weekend sees hundreds of volunteers from north Bristol churches working in partnership with local residents on a range of community projects and outreach events in Southmead, Manor Farm, Lockleaze and Horfield.

Projects include:

• rubbish and litter clearance in public spaces
• free banquets for over 80 senior citizens on Sunday afternoon
  
• free kids' clubs on Saturday and Monday morning
• sports activities for young people every afternoon in numerous locations
• community fun afternoons on Horfield Common (Saturday), Gainsborough Square (Sunday) and Glencoyne Square (Monday).

Monday afternoon sees an end-of-noise celebration at 4.45 at Glencoyne Square Southmead followed by a Bar-B-Q, which , in keeping with the theme of the weekend, is also free.

Participating churches included the new Community Church, which has recently relocated from Westbury on Trym to the Greenway Centre in Southmead, Ebenezer Church Filton Avenue Avenue, Woodlands Church in Clifton and St Stephen's Southmead.

The Noise is a national initiative which has been running in Bristol for 7 consecutive years. Its website describes the aim of the Noise as "showing God's love in practical ways".

The Noise is part of a wider year-long national project - Hope 08 - which aims to focus hundreds of local churches on outreach and community service in their localities.

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Was Andrew Ibrahim a Colston's Student?

There is a growing body of circumstantial evidence suggesting that Westbury-on-Trym resident Andrew Ibrahim, currently under arrest under the 2000 Terrorism Act, is a former student of Colston's School in Stapleton, Bristol.

Factors leading to this conclusion include:

1. The financial background. If, as the Telegraph reports, Andrew Ibrahim's father was a consultant pathologist at Frenchay Hospital, and resides in an £800,000 house in Frenchay Village, it is highly likely that his sons would have been sent to independent schools. The alternative for Frenchay residents would be Filton High School, Downend School or Sir Bernard Lovell School. Those familiar with these three local state schools will know that they do not tend to attract the children of hospital consultants - the latter, for instance, being described by a former teacher as populated by "working class kids whose families do not appear to hold education as a high value."

Indeed, the exclusive community of Frenchay, situated on the edge of the River Frome and with its own extensive common, has very few state educated children in it of secondary school age. The high probability is that Andrew Ibrahim was educated in one of Bristol's independent schools. This narrows the field realistically to three - Colston's, QEH and Bristol Grammar.

2. The geographical background. Frenchay is located on the north east corner of the Bristol conurbation, separated from the rest of the city by the M32 motorway. Children who live there and attend an independent school have great difficulty getting to QEH and Bristol Grammar School because of the city's huge traffic problems. A one-way car journey from Frenchay to Clifton (where the other two schools are located) takes over 45 minutes during the morning rush hour. For this reason, many Frenchay families choose Colston's School - a mere ten minutes from the Village. Many families in fact choose the school and then move to Frenchay because of its proximity to Colston's.

3. The Google factor. Trym Tales has received three visits in the last 24 hours from anonymous individuals who reached the site by googling "Andrew Ibrahim Colstons". These visitors were based in York, London and Bristol. Apparently there are individuals who are making the Colston's connection independently and are looking for evidence or confirmation.

4. The Telegraph. Since publishing this post on Sunday night, I have seen the latest Telegraph article, updated on Monday, which states that Ibrahim was a student at Colston's School and includes a quote from headmaster Peter Fraser, who has obviously had his weekend disturbed, confirming that the suspect did attend both the junior and senior schools. Well known ex-Colstonians include rugby player Olly Barkley and former test cricketer Chris Broad.

5. Trym Tales Readers. The comments below add weight to the Colston's link and are much appreciated. Thank you.


Three Footnotes:

1. Everything in this post points to circumstantial factors rather than hard evidence and should be interpreted as such.
   
2. Readers choosing to refer to this evidence elsewhere on the Internet are welcome to do so and are requested to include a link back to Trym Tales.
3. Nothing contained in this post should be interpreted as a criticism of Colston's School.
   

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Trym Tales TV - Local Video From North Bristol

Filton Road to the City Centre as seen by a visiting Spanish exchange student.

One trip in Bristol
Uploaded by BordeauxBristolBsAs

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A380 Flies on BioFuel at Filton

As previously reported on my other blog, the debate over ethanol and other bio-fuels is hotting up.

Bristol has been at the centre of this debate in recent weeks as the following clip shows.

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