Buccaneer Blades Fencing Holiday Club

20 - 24 July 2009, Up Hatherley Village Hall
10th - 14th August 2009
17th - 21st August 2009


Buccaneer Blades Fencing Holiday Club is an all day holiday club for children. BuccaneerBlades use a system designed in conjunction with the British Fencing Association to bring safe fencing to 6-11 year olds, combining it with fun art and craft activities around fencing themes, such as pirates, knights and Star Wars to keep the children happy and engaged.

Times: 8.30am- 4.30pm Monday - Friday. The cost for the week is £100 or £25 per day. Check out their website at http://www.buccaneerblades.co.uk/ for registration forms. (Numbers are limited to 12 per club).

For information about this and other Cheltenham events please visit our Cheltenham events guide.

The Latest on South West's Regional Spatial Strategy

A legal challenge in the East of England has scuppered the government’s chances of announcing the final version of the South West’s Regional Spatial Strategy (RSS) this month, a development welcomed by Cheltenham MP Martin Horwood. The challenge was based on the failure of the Eastern RSS to make a proper assessment of the strategy’s impact on the environment. The announcement has not been made in Parliament by ministers but in a short emailed letter to local authorities by the regional director at the Government Office of the South West, Jon Bright.

The legal battle in the East of England has strong echoes of the Commons Environmental Audit Committee’s call for the RSSs to be suspended until their environmental impact had been properly assessed. Martin Horwood was a co-author of the EAC report.

“This delay buys valuable time for local campaign groups to co-ordinate action and increase support” says Martin. “It gives our local authorities more time to prepare their own legal challenges to the south west RSS. And it raises the outside chance of the RSS not being implemented at all before the next General Election. If that happens and if, as everyone expects, Labour goes down to a crushing defeat, a new House of Commons could vote to stop the whole mad strategy in its tracks. There are quite a few ‘ifs’ in all this, but this delay gives us a little more hope that we really can save the countryside around Cheltenham.”

Kings Chamber Orchestra at Cambray Baptist Church

4 July 2009, Cambray Baptist Church, 3pm and 7.30pm

Kings Chamber Orchestra, a London based professional chamber orchestra, will be performing at Cambray Baptist Church on Saturday, 4 June. The day will comprise of two events directed by Gerard Le Feuvre.

An afternoon Teddy Concert at 3pm is perfect for families. The children are invited to bring along one of their favourite furry friends! Kids classics will be presented with hilarious originality and interactive fun and will include a musical story about Tchaikovsky, a Russian bear and the "Great Chicken Kiev" balloon adventure. The concert is a relaxed musical event for all the family to enjoy. (Tickets £5 / £2.50).

A Russian Nights evening concert will take place at 7:30pm offering passion, romance and virtuosity! (Tickets £12 / £10 / £5 ). Come and join this relaxed musical event where the players of this outstanding professional orchestra move amidst the audience creating an atmosphere of fun and joyful involvement.

You can purchase your tickets at www.cambray.org/events/the-kings-chamber-orchestra

For information about this and other Cheltenham events please visit our Cheltenham events guide.

Get Your Pet Microchipped This Month

Local MP Martin Horwood has called on all owners to ensure that their pet is microchipped as part of National Microchipping Month 2009, run by Petlog.

National Microchipping Month runs throughout June and aims to encourage and promote responsible pet ownership through microchipping as the preferred method of permanent pet identification. The scheme is run by Petlog, which is owned and managed by the Kennel Club, and has over 3.7m pets registered, with 40,000 new pets added to the database each month.

Last year Petlog handled nearly 100,000 calls relating to lost and found pets and reunited many animals with their owners. Petlog runs the only 24/7 pet reunification service in the UK from its dedicated call centre in Aylesbury, and is also a member of Europetnet, which ensures your pet can be identified if lost in over 20 European countries.

Caroline Kisko, Communications Director at the Kennel Club, said: “Throughout June, we aim to show more people than ever just how quick and easy the process of having your animal microchipped is. Deciding to have a pet is an important decision and one that results in a commitment to that pet for its entire life. An essential part of being a responsible pet owner is identifying them permanently.”

Martin Horwood MP said: “All pet owners should ensure their animals are microchipped as National Microchipping Month so rightly stresses. This is an issue I’ve already raised in Parliament and tried to promote locally. Petlog and similar schemes help reunite a large number of missing pets with their owners, and I urge vets as well as pet owners to spread the word of just how vital microchipping is.

“It’s very distressing for any owner to lose a much-loved pet, but through microchipping it gives peace of mind that should they become separated, they can generally be easily reunited.”

Petlog will be running further events throughout June to promote National Microchipping Month – to find out more information, or to get involved, visit http://www.nationalmicrochippingmonth.org.uk/

Meet Your MP Martin Horwood This June

Martin Horwood is the Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament for Cheltenham. If you need to discuss any matters with your local MP, you can arrange an appointment at his advice surgeries on Friday lunchtimes or evenings. Appointments can be booked by phoning the office on 01242 224889 or e-mailing martin@martinhorwood.net.

You can also meet Martin at various events taking place in and around Cheltenham.

Friday, 12 June 2009
9:45am
Martin will be attending a ‘Mock Trial’ competition for local primary schools, which is being held at Cheltenham Courthouse.

Sunday, 14 June 2009
2:00pm
Martin is officially opening GlosREC’s Mela at Leisure@Cheltenham in Tommy Taylor’s Lane. Please see http://www.glosrec.org.uk/ for more information about the Mela.

Monday, 15 June 2009
1:30pm
Martin is officially opening ‘Shakes2Go’, a brand new milkshake shop in Grosvenor Street, Cheltenham.
6:30pm
Martin will be meeting bell-ringers at St Marks Church to discuss proposed noise bills and also possibly having a go himself!

Friday, 26 June 2009
8:30pm
Martin will be presenting trophies at the Cheltenham Skittles League Presentation Dance, which is being held at Cheltenham Town Hall. For more details about this event please contact the Secretary, Charmian Sheppard, on 511971.

Saturday, 27 June 2009
11:45am
A ceremony of the Presentation of the Freedom of the County to The Rifles is being held. This is taking place at Gloucester Docks and then goes on to Shire Hall in Gloucester.
2:15pm
Martin will be saying a few words at the launch of ‘Cheltenham Connect’, a new initiative to strengthen the community of couth Cheltenham. The launch is being held at The Exmouth, Bath Road, Cheltenham. For more details please see Cheltenham Connect’s website: http://www.cheltenhamconnect.co.uk/. The launch starts at 10:00am, with Martin and the mayor speaking at around 2:15pm.

Sunday, 28 June 2009
10:00am
Martin is going to take part in a sponsored dog walk and family fun day ‘Bark in Pittville Park’, in aid of GCAB (Gloucestershire County Association for the Blind). For more details about this event contact Lucy Gooding on 01242 221170 or lucy.gooding@glos-blind.co.uk.

Thursday, 2 July 2009
2:45pm
Staff and students from the National Star College will be handing a petition to Martin in support of Mencap’s ‘Changing Places’ campaign. This calls for Changing Places toilets (with hoist, changing bench and lots of space) to be installed in all big public places.
For more information about the campaign and the presentation of the petition please contact Lucy Poulton, Communications and PR Officer at the National Star College on 01242 524478 or lpoulton@natstar.ac.uk.

Friday, 3 July 2009
11:00am
Martin is officially opening the new ‘Space Business Centre’, an industrial development on Tewkesbury Road, Cheltenham (behind ‘The Range’). For more details please see http://www.spacebc.com/Location-22-Cheltenham.aspx or contact Alex Gale on 01932 445 068.


To keep up-to-date with Martin's Horwood's appearances in parliament please visit our website.

100 Cheltenham Jobs at FormFlo Could Be Saved

Cheltenham MP Martin Horwood has worked with company employees at threatened engineering business FormFlo to put together a rescue plan that could save 100 threatened jobs. He has contacted Lord Mandelson for support and introduced employees to Baxi Partnership, a company that has helped many employees successfully buy out their companies.

“The closure of FormFlo would mean 100 jobs disappearing in Britain, assets and technical knowledge being sold to Germany and another small nail in the coffin of British manufacturing industry” said Martin. “This would be a tragedy for many Cheltenham families and a sad day for our proud tradition of world-class engineering.”

“I’m delighted that the government is willing to help with advice and possible support and that Baxi Partnership have agreed a funding scheme in principle. We believe an employee buy-out is a perfectly viable option and I’ve written again today to FormFlo’s parent company Tomkins Plc strongly urging them to allow FormFlo management to share the information we need to put a real business plan together. I think it’s quite possible that this might be the best option for Tomkins and their German customer Hoerbiger as well. It’s much cheaper to keep a successful business going than to bear all the costs of redundancy, closure and transfer of assets.”

Martin has worked with FormFlo employee Andy Rhoden to put the rescue deal together and his letter strongly urges Tomkins not to take any pre-emptive decisions that would prevent this option being properly explored. He has also informed south west EuroMP Graham Watson, who is leader of the 104-strong Liberal group in the European Parliament which includes German MEPs alongside their British counterparts.