October 2011 Focal Point

This month’s magazine is available for download as PDF. Here’s the introduction from the editor:

Did anyone see Jonny Wilkinson in Bitton a few weeks back? The rugby star was a guest at a wedding at St Mary’s, and churchwarden Barbara Merritt says he signed the visitors’ book!
I may have missed Jonny but was lucky enough to meet another great sporting hero, Ian Holloway, in September. The Blackpool FC manager, who used to play for and manage Bristol Rovers, was invited to open the new community sports centre at his alma mater, Sir Bernard Lovell School in Oldland Common, which has fantastic facilities, including the courts used by Bitton Tennis Club.
It was the first time Ian had gone back school he left 32 years ago, although he still has close ties locally; his sister Sue lives in Bitton and his mum in Cadbury Heath. He admitted that the visit was emotional for him and his wife Kim, also an ex-pupil.
And no doubt two big school reunions taking place this month will reignite memories for many local people. Anyone who was a pupil (or taught) at any of the three schools in Oldland between 1950 and 1960 is invited to a reunion at SBL on October 22. Meanwhile pupils who started at Kingsfield (now King’s Oak Academy) in 1967 or 1968 are invited to a reunion also being held on that Saturday. Details of both events are on page 13.
Renovation work continues at the White Hart but we still had no firm completion date as we went to print. And in an interesting twist, a ‘To Let’ sign went up at the former Intier factory site the day before we went to print.
The derelict 24-acre site, which is earmarked for housing, recently changed hands. Could the ‘industrial premises’ there really be resurrected? It will no doubt be a subject for discussion at the residents’ association AGM, details of which are on page 22.