Tesco Extra and The Bradley Stoke Examiner are teaming up to give you the chance to win £1,000 of sports equipment for your primary school.

Our exciting competition, for Bradley Stoke school pupils, could see you grab a great prize if you can tell us what’s so important about exercise.

All we want you to do is ask your child, who must be of primary school age, to write down on a sheet of A4 paper why we should exercise.

A panel of judges will then sift through the entries and pick the winner – whose school will get boost to its PE kit.

For full competition details, how to enter and terms and condition click here.

SORRY, THIS COMPETITION HAS NOW CLOSED. We’ll be announcing the winners on the website shortly – keep a look out!

Tesco Extra and The Bradley Stoke Examiner are teaming up to give you the chance to win £1,000 of sports equipment for your primary school.

Our exciting competition, for Bradley Stoke school pupils, could see you grab a great prize if you can tell us what’s so important about exercise.

All we want you to do is ask your child, who must be of primary school age, to write down on a sheet of A4 paper why we should exercise.

A panel of judges will then sift through the entries and pick the winner – whose school will get boost to its PE kit.

What do I need to do?

• Get your child to write what is so important about exercise
• Make sure they only write one side of A4 on the subject
• On the back, write contact details for the parent or guardian
• Make sure you include name, address and telephone numbers
• Post it to the address below

Our competition is all part of the Tesco for Schools and Clubs campaign which you can now collect vouchers for in store at Tesco Extra in The Willow Brook Centre.

The campaign will allow you to redeem vouchers for curriculum resources in ICT, Sports and Health, Green Schools, Basic Skills and Creativity.

Where do I send my entry to?

By post, send your entry to: Freedman Brown Communications, 64 Stephenson Terrace, Deepdale Road, Preston, PR1 5AR.

Please ensure they are in by the closing date which is Friday, 8 May 2009 (extended from April 20).

Please ensure that you read the full terms and conditions for this competition which you will find by clicking here.

Good luck!

Five schools in Bradley Stoke have been given free fruit vouchers worth £250 each by Tesco to celebrate the launch of their new town centre store.

Meadowbrook Primary, Wheatfield Primary, Bowsland Green Primary , Stoke Lodge Primary and Holy Trinity Primary were all given the prizes by the store.

Meadowbrook even conducted a store visit so pupils could find out more about healthy living and what foods are best to eat.

Headmaster John Barr said: “This helps us to educate the children about the importance of healthy eating, keeping fit and ensuring they get their five-a–day.”

Store manager Oliver Hill said: “We wanted to thank the community for their support since we opened the new store. We are very committed to the local community and this is one of many donations being made to local organisations and charities.”

Also receiving money was Andy Weare, captain of the St Mary’s Old Boys Rugby Club, who picked up a cheque for £500.

The cash will be used by the club to buy kit for the under-sevens and under-11s who form the minis teams.

More than 30,000 people visited Bradley Stoke’s new Tesco Extra store in the Willow Brook Centre in its first week, according to managers.

The new store opened on Monday, 13 October alongside a selection of stores in the new town centre development.

Manager Oliver Hill said: “People seem to have voted with their feet and we have been bowled over with the response from the local community.

“Despite the credit crunch business in the first week has exceeded all our expectations and we are really grateful for the support from Bradley Stoke.”

Petrol at the Tesco filling station in Bradley Stoke has finally slipped down below £1-a-litre for unleaded after following other supermarkets in the UK.

The firm was the last of the “big four” to drop its forecourt prices at more than 400 locations across the country.

According to petrolprices.com, all Asda and Morrisons branches in Bristol have also dropped their prices with Sainsbury’s in Filton charging 100.9p.

Bradley Stoke’s Willow Brook Centre and new Tesco Extra store are both days away from opening to the public and we’ve been on an exclusive tour.

Check out a selection of photos below (scroll to the bottom of this story), or you can browse the full set of 100+ images here, (you can also see them as a slideshow here).

The grand opening for the Willow Brook Centre will be on Monday, 13 October 2008 – and workers are busy getting it ready for the public.

Despite the Examiner’s late visit, the mall and town square were a hive of activity with shop-fitters getting the various stores ready.

In the town square, Costa Coffee, fast food chain KFC and bakers Greggs sit next to each other directly in front of the car park.

Each of these three stores look almost complete with last-minute fine-tuning going on.

As you walk into the town square you will find sandwich firm Subway on your left with its distinctive colours visible inside.

Also in the town square is a “gateway” arch which features gates which have been bought in from France to reflect the town’s twinning with Champs Sur Marne.

The building itself features a blue neon trim – a theme that goes inside the mall area where you will find “mood lighting” which changes depending on the time of day.

Inside there is Nationwide, Shoe Zone and Carphone Warehouse busy with others – like Reflections hairdressing – due to begin fitting out at the weekend.

Managers said the “intention” was to get all of the shops open for Monday, and were working flat out to achieve this, but conceded some may open a few days later.

In Tesco Extra itself you will find some 92,000 sq ft of retail on the ground floor alone – the higher level features electronics and clothes.

The shop has 35 tills, five express but no self service tills – these have not been fitted because of security worries surrounding the open front to the shop.

Other features of the shop include a new opticians, an enlarged pharmacy, a photo developing service and a huge homeware area.

Another feature is the new “dotcom” service which will see 11 vans – with the capacity for 20 – taking charge of the home delivery business through Bradley Stoke and also as far afield south as Avonmouth and east to almost Chippenham.

The staff in Tesco will spend the next few days stocking up the fresh produce area ready for Monday.

One final fact – Warehouse manager Emma has been wearing a pedometer while the store was fitted and stocked and has averaged more than 10 miles of walking a day.

Demolition work on the old store is due to begin on Wednesday, the new large retail units will be open in the summer of 2009.

Nick has started a thread in the Bradley Stoke Examiner forum asking for opinions on whether Tesco dominates retail in Bradley Stoke too much.

The supermarket giant is less than a week away from opening a huge Tesco Extra and also runs two Express shops in the town.

… Do any of you feel that Tesco dominates retail in Bradley Stoke to much. We now have no independant news agents in the area for instance, and none that I believe deliver papers.

To their credit I asssume they have fronted up a huge amount of cash to invest in our town centre, however I am not sure whether any of the new smaller retail shops will help give the centre the ‘high street’ appeal that I think some of us wanted.

I am not anti-Tesco. I spend hundreds of pounds there a month to feed my family, but I am getting a little uneasy that they are so dominant. What do you think?

So the question is: How do you feel about Tesco? Happy that they’re putting in money and jobs? Do you think Aldi is ample competition? Would you like to see more choice in the Express shops?

Hit the comments on this story or head over to the forum (if you’re not a member there you’ll need to register, but it’s very quick, so feel free to join in there) to post your views.