NAILSEA
PEOPLE
Nailsea resident Carolyn Price and her dog Django went paddleboarding at the weekend at Clevedon’s marine lake.
The owner of Dogs Palace, the holistic grooming spa at High Street, Nailsea, and her Rhodesian Ridgeback took to the water in style with Weston Paddleboard Academy
Carolyn said: “For anybody who is thinking about learning to SUP - Stand Up Paddleboard - with their dog I can highly recommend it.
“It is fantastic mental stimulation for your dog and teaches them great 'body awareness' and 'body balance'.
“Django actually had better balance than me and didn't fall in at all.
“It also undoubtedly strengthens the bond between you and your dog.”
For more information about the sport click HERE.
Next month Carolyn is launching a search for Nailsea’s Top Dog.
So if your dog has good looks, fabulous personality or the cutest face then Saturday, November 15 is the date to remember.
The Dog Portrait Company will be hosting a photoshoot at Dogs Palace.
Carolyn added: “This is a fabulously fun day where not only will all dogs be photographed free of charge but also they have a chance to win lots of prizes.”
These include a large framed photograph by The Dog Portrait Company, luxury Christmas premium pamper grooming appointment at Dogs Palace and a ride home for the lucky VIP pet and their owner a beautiful s-t-r-e-t-c-h limousine supplied by Somerset Limos.
Dog Portrait director Adrian Fuller said: “We are looking for all sorts of dogs to enter, the main criterion is for the resulting picture to bring a smile.
“This is a fabulous opportunity for dog owners to meet up, new puppies to socialise and generally have a good time.
“Our events are extremely popular and it is quite a while since we were last in Nailsea.”
The life of Wurzels founder Adge Cutler and Nailsea man is to be celebrated in a new ‘play with music’ at the Curzon Cinema, Clevedon, in March next year.
Scrumpy and Western has been written by collaborating playwrights Tom Henry and Shaun McCarthy, and in a first for the Curzon, will be performed as a rehearsed reading for one night only at the 80-year-old cinema on Friday, March 6.
The play takes us back to 1966, and the recording of the band’s first album.
Turning down the chance to record at EMI’s famed Abbey Road studios in London, Adge and the Wurzels decide instead to capture their live sound at the Royal Oak pub in Nailsea.
For Adge, this is a chance to step back into his past and relive the times he worked on building sites around North Somerset and beyond, writing his ‘agricultural arias’ on scraps of paper and cigarette packets.
Although Adge Cutler was killed in a car crash 40 years ago, the Wurzels remain hugely popular around the South West and beyond, and no summer is complete without appearances from the band in a variety of venues.
Arts Council funding has provided the springboard to launch the play, and Tom and Shaun are now beginning the process of casting actors and employing a director.
Tom said: “Shaun and I found it odd that Adge’s life and songs hadn’t been given any theatrical treatment, especially in North Somerset and Bristol, so we set out to rectify that.
“Adge’s stepchildren have given us the rights to use the songs from that legendary first album, and I hope we’ve paid a fitting tribute to the Bard of Somerset.”
Shaun said: “The Arts Council funding means that we can afford to pay professional actors, plus a director and a musical director, to deliver a ‘rehearsed reading’ version of the show which we hope will attract extra funding and be able to go into full production later in 2015.
“Ideally, we’d love to take this show on tour and we’re hoping that if we can attract as much support as possible, in terms of a packed house, on the night of the rehearsed reading, we will be able to do just that.”
The show features a whole host of Cutler classics, including Twice Daily, All Over Mendip, When The Common Market Comes To Stanton Drew and of course, the ‘national anthem of North Somerset’, Drink Up Thy Zyder.
Tom, aged 47, pictured below left, has ghost written several books and is former award-winning newspaper journalist who lives in North Somerset.
With his wife Melanie Greenwood they run a small PR agency called YouPR.
The couple lived in Nailsea for many years and Tom is an accomplished musician.
Shaun, 61, who lives Long Ashton, who is pictured below right, is a professional playwright and dramaturge for stage and radio, an Oxford and Bristol university creative writing tutor and author of more than 20 educational resources titles.
He is an Associate Fellow of the Royal Literary Fund, and in 2014 was awarded a Hawthorden International Writers’ Fellowship.
Police appeal after 21-year-old man robbed in his home
Django doggie paddle
Pet owners should bring their dog along to 98-100High Street, Nailsea anytime between 10am-4pm on the above date.
To book a grooming appointment at Dogs Palace before the photoshoot call 01275 541438.
PHOTO: Carolyn and Django
Police appeal after 21-year-old man robbed in his home
Police are appealing for witnesses and information after a 21-year-old man was the victim of a robbery at his home in Nailsea.
The incident happened at around 8.30am on Sunday, October 12, at a flat in North Street.
Two black men in their late 20s wearing high-visibility jackets gained access to a communal area then forced their way into the man’s address when he opened his front door.
A games console, games, DVDs, a blue-ray player, cash, bank cards and a mobile phone were stolen.
The bank cards were used a short time later to withdraw cash from an ATM at Tesco in Nailsea at about 9am.
Nailsea Neighbourhood PC Matthew Christie said: "This appears to have been an isolated incident and this is an unusual occurrence in the Nailsea area.
"However, we do ask for members of the public to be vigilant particularly at premises with communal entrances which should always be secured."Please don’t allow entry to anyone that you do not know and always put on your door chain when answering your own door.
"We would like to hear from anyone who may have seen the two men in the North Street area or at the cash machine at Tesco between 9am and 9.10am.
"Anyone with any information which could help our enquiries is asked to contact Somerset CID by calling 101, quoting reference 106040/14.
Alternatively call the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 - they never ask your name or trace your call.
Bard of Somerset celebrated on stage
Top cop still suspended
In May 2014 allegations made about the conduct of Avon & Somerset Constabulary chief constable Nick Gargan were referred by the police and crime commissioner Sue Mountstevens to the Independent Police Complaints Commission.
Since then it has been conducting an independent investigation into those allegations.
The investigation has now concluded and a report has been provided to the police and crime commissioner.
The report will now be considered carefully and a decision taken on whether or not to refer the matter to misconduct proceedings.
The police and crime commissioner has 15 working days – until Monday November 3 – to make a decision.
Chief constable Nick Gargan currently remains suspended and John Long will continue as acting Chief Constable.
Boss on the bus
A Nailsea nursery teacher knew just how to deal with a bunch of yobs on a bus home from Bristol – she gave them a good old fashioned telling off.
She posted on FB: “Yes, one up for the more mature woman. I just had a right go at a bunch of idiot, immature group of teenage lads who decided it would be a right laugh to press the bell on the X8 to Nailsea and make the bus stop at every stop from the bus station to the Angel Inn in Long Ashton.
“Afterwards they were just sitting there very sheepishly sulking because they got shown up in front of a bus packed full of people - go 'mature woman power'.”
Gilly’s cafe
Gilly’s cafe is asking North Somerset Council planners for permission to open longer hours.
Currently the High Street cafe and catering business is open from 8am-5.30pm.
Owner Gilly Chu would like to open 7.30am-10.30pm to allow her to expand breakfast time and offer evening meals.
With no neighbours to disturb and with other cafes in the town centre having extended opening hours this is ensure Gilly’s cafe can stay competitive,said the application.
Boots the photo centre
Boots in Nailsea has a new photo lab.
The old equipment which has been in the sho 15-years has been removed and a new state-of-the-art instant and digital lab installed.
The Somerset Square chemist which opens six days a week will soon be able to deliver family albums and calendars ordered online by customers for collection in-store.
