New Post Office opens

Postman Pat joined Paul's Place founder Kath Aldom and former MP Steve Webb to officially open the new Post Office in Village Roots (the NISA store) this morning.

Steve thanked Edwina and her team for their efforts and joked that in 18 years as an MP he never opened anything that wasn't already actually open so this was a world first. Kath Aldom talked passionately about the importance of community and supporting local businesses.

It was then time for the official ribbon cutting. Pat was rather too tall for the Post Office area but gamely knelt down to pose for pictures. Then Kath cut the ribbon and it was open for business. One of the services the new post office will be offering is passports - and Dave was their first customer.

Apologies to anyone who expected the opening to be at 1pm as advertised. Unfortunately it was changed at the last minute. If you were hoping to meet Postman Pat there is another chance to see him on Saturday 19th September between 2pm and 3pm.

New Wapley allotments officially open

On Saturday the new Dodington Parish Council allotments at Wapley were officially opened by the council's Vice-Chair John Davis.

He was joined by Wendy Mayo, Clerk to the Parish Council, who did a huge amount of work to get the project up and running. There was also a representative from Merlin, who provided grants towards parts of the project, and of course there were allotment holders of all ages.

Claire Young was there as the local ward councillor. The land used to be part of the South Glos Council-owned Wychwell Farm. When the council decided to sell it off, as it was too small to be viable, Claire had a meeting with an officer and suggested the Parish Council might be interested in purchasing some of it for allotments. That was the easy part! It was then over to Dodington Parish Council to do all the hard work involved in a project of this kind.

The allotment holders are doing a fantastic job, looking at the thriving plots it was hard to believe they only started at Easter. As one of them commented, it really is bringing together people of all ages, from tiny tots to pensioners.