England’s 1966 World Cup hero, Sir Geoff Hurst, will “almost certainly” be at this year’s Bradley Stoke Community Festival.

The former West Ham player, who scored a hat-trick in the Wembley final more than 40 years ago, has been invited to be at the Jubilee Centre on Saturday, 13 June 2009.

The town council’s Finance and Leisure Committee heard the that “Sir Geoff Hurst would almost certainly be in attendance to present trophies at the school’s football tournament”.

The committee also heard that more than 60 stalls will be open on Saturday and that the annual cricket match would be held at Bailey’s Court on Sunday.

The 10k run, organised by Sole Sisters, will also take place on Sunday morning.

• More stories on the Bradley Stoke Festival

More reports of car vandalism across the town have been sent to The Bradley Stoke Examiner.

Readers say windows were smashed overnight between Monday and Tuesday in both The Bluebells and Brackendene.

One reader told us an older car – a dark green Mondeo – was targeted because it “has no alarm”.

It follows a spate of car tyres being damaged with screws leaving owners with bills running into hundreds of pounds.

Our story even saw one user reporting a window on his house had been shot at with an air rifle.

Vandals have been using screws to puncture car tyres in one area of Bradley Stoke – with some 20 cars hit recently.

Readers have been contacting The Bradley Stoke Examiner about the situation which they are now calling on the police to resolve.

The cars are being targeted in Saxon Way with one inch nails being embedded in the tyre treads.

The problems there are not the only vandalism being reported to the Examiner recently – with another reader telling us of problems in Meadow Way and The Bluebells.

Here, we are told tyres have been let down and plant pots smashed over the past few weeks.

And only last week the police helicopter was called out during the night to help investigate vehicle crime in Bradley Stoke.

At one point, a police car was seen driving along the footpath bordering Juniper Way and the motorway at 3am.

Have you had vandalism problems in your part of Bradley Stoke? Let us know via the comments on this story or e-mail news@sadlybroke.com confidentially.

Bradley Stoke mayor, Robert Jones, has praised town residents for their support of his charity during his year in office.

Councillor Jones made the remarks in the annual town report which will be delivered to residents over the next few weeks.

His chosen charity is the National Association for Colitis and Crohn’s disease (NACC).

In his summary of the year Cllr Jones looked back on the opening of The Willow Brook Centre, the Beacon Play Scheme and funding being secured for a sixth form college.

“But my biggest thank you, however is reserved for you, the residents,” he said.

“I am pleased to report that your donations at events throughout the year and the generous contributions from other local groups and businesses have helped us to a record total.

“The charity supports sufferers of inflammatory bowel diseases including an increasing number of children and their families.

“Volunteers form the Avon regional group of NACC (many of whom are patients themselves) and have been at many of our fundraising events.

“I will be presenting them with a cheque as my last official duty of office in May. My thanks then to everyone who has contributed.”

A fire in an oven at Bradley Stoke’s Willow Brook Centre caused the entire complex to be evacuated on Friday.

The fire, thought to be in the chicken rotisterie (pictured) at the back of the store, saw shoppers and staff forced to leave the centre.

Avon Fire and Rescue sent three appliances but the fire was out by the time they arrived.

One appliance remained at the scene at 10.30am to help ventilate smoke from the store.

No injuries have been reported and the centre has since reopened.

Are you near the centre? Were you in it when it was evacuated? We’d love to hear your comments or see your photos. Send pics to news@sadlybroke.com or use the comments on this story.

Speed bumps installed in Bradley Stoke have not been installed in the rest of the county for “a number of years”.

South Gloucestershire Council says it abandoned the type of speed cushions used in the town and now installs “raised tables”.

It means Bradley Stoke is stuck with an outdated form of traffic calming with no prospect of them being improved to the standard used elsewhere in South Gloucestershire.

The council issued a statement following our exclusive story about how they traffic calming measures were causing damage to car suspensions.

Two residents – including Conservative councillor John Ashe – spoke to use about the problem, and after our story several more reported the same issue.

The authority’s response came after our story aired on BBC Radio Bristol on Wednesday.

“The council has not installed this form of speed cushion in the district for a number of years,” they said. “Now the council installs raised tables where appropriate as part of traffic calming measures.

“Studies have shown that accidents have continued to fall since the council began installing raised tables.

“The speed cushions that have been used in South Gloucestershire have been designed according to national guidelines and the council advises that motorists negotiate them at sensible speeds.”

Meanwhile, a straw poll on this website has shown a strong desire from the residents of Bradley Stoke for the speed cushions to be removed.

Eighty five per cent of those who took part called for action to be taken over the traffic calming measures.

Among those who want to see them removed is Liberal Democrat councillor Jon Williams who told us he would be “glad to see the back of them”.

Cllr Williams said he had a similar problem with his suspension several years ago. “I blamed the ramps too,” he said.

“When I was in France a couple of years ago the most effective traffic calming measure were the chicanes which were narrow and at the entrance to each town/village. They were on both sides of the road so it was not like Braydon Avenue.”

(Correction: We added the word ‘not’ to Jon William’s quote about Braydon Avenue. Error was due to a typo, sorry to Jon for that.)

 Loading ...

Residents living in The Coppice in Bradley Stoke have come to a multi-point agreement with neighbour and porn film producer James Edwards over their conduct.

A meeting between the two parties and the police was held in March but news of it was only released on Wednesday.

Representatives of the residents and Mr Edwards met in March with Avon and Somerset Police and councillor Ben Walker also present.

It follows a long-running dispute between Mr Edwards and his neighbours which culminated in a protest at his house earlier this year.

The meeting was called on the basis on not laying “blame, criticise [or] go over old ground, but to air the issues & concerns of both parties”

The two agreed to the following guidelines:

• The residents of The Coppice, Bradley Stoke have agreed to not talk about or make Mr. Edwards feel that he is under 24 hour surveillance. This has been discussed with the remaining members of The Coppice residents and all agree to make a fresh start with Mr. Edwards from this point on.

• Mr. Edwards agrees to remove any reference from relevant websites and any advertising relating to the locality, wherever possible. Whilst not solely responsible, Mr. Edwards also agrees that he will re-emphasise to callers at his property to park in a considerate manner and will try to improve this situation. Mr. Edwards also agrees to restrict the number of callers to his house and agrees to make a fresh start with the Coppice residents from this point on.

• It is also agreed between The Coppice residents and Mr. Edwards that communication is vital to eliminate any further issues arising between the residents and Mr. Edwards.