Bath Pubs

Two buses were destroyed in a fire at a council depot in Bath yesterday.
The vehicles, owned by Bath and North East Somerset Council, went up in flames late yesterday afternoon, causing £12,000 worth of damage.
It is understood that flames spread from one to the other, and it is not known what triggered the fire at Windsor House at Windsor Bridge.
Two coaches were completely burnt out and a further seven were damaged in the blaze.
Fire investigators were due to examine the scene this afternoon and bring in police crime scene investigators if it was thought the fire had been started deliberately.
Detective Inspector Andy Gwyther is heading up the case and appealed for anyone with information to come forward.
He said: "I believe that it was probably vandalism caused by kids and it probably took more than one person.
"We were lucky that there wasn't more damage, we could have lost all the coaches.
"The schools are going back this week and we are just appealing to anyone who hears any whispers or sees anything on Facebook to get in contact."
The damaged buses were specially designed to transport disabled adults and children.
DI Gwyther said the culprits obviously did not care about the consequences of their actions and the people they were hurting by destroying the coaches.
He also warned that arson attacks could quickly get out of hand and injure innocent people or the vandals themselves.
He said: "There is a high probability that some sort of accelerant, probably petrol, was used in this incident and there are very high risks involved with that.
"If you are dousing petrol on a vehicle and then throwing on a match then you can get engulfed with that."
A spokesman for B&NES Council said the vehicles would be replaced as quickly as possible.
He said: "The Council deplores the actions of the mindless vandals that perpetrated this crime.
"Two buses were completely burnt out – another seven suffered minor damage but we hope to have these operational by Thursday.
"The Council anticipates having enough vehicles to cover our services for disabled adults and children – contingency plans are in place if for any reason we don't by utilising our network of private operators."
The council parks buses used for school and community transport in a car park at the site, where it has its main vehicle depot.
The rest of the building is the former Bath Chronicle office.
Eight firefighters put out the flames after being called to the car park at 5.39pm.  Smoke could be seen from a wide area around the site, prompting a series of 999 calls.
Eyewitness Mark Wishart said he spotted the smoke from The Park tavern pub, in Park Lane, and walked over to the site to see what was happening.
The 47-year-old, from Weston, said: "The fire engines were turning up as I arrived at the gates and there was quite a crowd of people who followed them in.
"There was a lot of smoke and the wind was blowing the wrong way so I couldn't smell anything but I imagine people down wind would have smelt it quite strongly."
Anyone with information about how the fire was started is asked to contact Bath police on 0845 4567000.
* On Friday night, crews from Bath fire station pulled a man from the river in the same area.  The man – thought to be in his 50s – was rescued at 10.28pm and handed over to an ambulance crew.
Picture: Mark Wishart

​Scores of families packed up picnics and joined the fun and games when a milestone for Bath's industrial heritage provided cause for celebration.
Visitors packed in to Sydney Gardens for the Holburne Museum Picnic in the Park today, celebrating the 200th anniversary of the completion of the Kennet and Avon Canal.
A selection of activities focusing on the heritage of the waterway were on offer including making hobbyhorses and sun bonnets, face-painting, dressing pegdolls, decorating flowerpots and dressing up as 19th century characters. There was also live music from Bath band The Mandibles and puppetry from the Great Xa's Magic Show - featuring museum director Alexander Sturgis - and vintage swing boats and a bouncy castle.
The event was based around the canal's past, but Sarah Brice, regeneration manager for British Waterways, said the aim was to help raise awareness of the potential the route had for the future.
She said significant restoation was planned: "We are hoping to upgrade the wartime bridges and the chimney in this area of the canal. British Waterways has promised to fund the upgrading of the bridges in November and we hope to be able to raise the money to pay for the structural repairs to the chimney and, with the help of volunteers, improve the stonework and state of the vegetation. We also plan to gather memories people have of the canal from over the years and display them in the Holburne Museum alongside heritage and cultural information about the canal and railway."
The canal between Newbury and Bath opened in 1810 and is 87 miles long. In the later 19th century and early 20th century the canal fell into disuse following competition from the Great Western Railway. In the latter half of the last century the canal was restored, largely by volunteers, and today is a popular heritage tourism destination, for boating, canoeing, fishing, walking and cycling, as well as important for wildlife conservation.
The museum and gallery, which organised the free event, had been building up to it with summer workshops in its Lodge centre looking at canal art.
The event took place as the attraction is undergoing a £13.8 million revamp to completely refurbish its interior and add a glass extension on to the rear of the building in Sydney Gardens, which is due to reopen next May.
Glen Morris, 45, from Bath, who was at the event with his two daughters - four-year-old Phoenix and nine-year-old Liberty - said: "It is amazing to think how times have changed for the city since the canal opened and what an important part of our heritage it has been. It would be great to see more made of the canal and what it can offer for people by way of leisure time entertainment."
Cyclist John Keen, 28, said: "From my point of view canal towpaths make the perfect cycling routes. I would like to see more people ditching the car and opting for the greener healthier way to travel, and canal towpaths allow people to try it out away from the dangers of other road traffic."

​Funding for a three-year research project which could have helped find new solutions to Bath's gull nuisance headaches has been refused.
Cash to look into the living, eating and breeding habits of gulls across the South West has been rejected due to Government spending curbs.
Bristol University applied for £500,000 from the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) to track urban gulls in Bath, Bristol and Gloucester, using global positioning satellite technology to work out their feeding sources and migratory movements.
Bristol-based urban gull expert Peter Rock had hoped the research would go some way to finding a solution to the ever increasing gull populations in urban areas and to reduce council and private sector spending on the problem.
However, along with most other government departments and quangos, NERC is having to make 25 per cent savings, and has turned down the approach.
Mr Rock described the news as a 'bitter blow' for everyone who has been involved in trying to find a solution.
He said in an email to politicians and council chiefs: "As urban gull populations continue to grow rapidly, without research, we all know that the inevitable prospect is one of increasing problems and increasing expense.
"Having discussed the matter at length, we have decided that we will devote our determination to exploring other funding possibilities."
Bath and North East Somerset Council spends £10,000 a year using egg oiling and egg replacement techniques to try to reduce the gull population but the cost to tourism businesses of the birds is likely to be far higher.
It is now estimated that there are around 1,000 breeding pairs of urban gulls in Bath and north east Somerset, a figure which is rising annually by eight per cent, with numbers in the city centre going up by 2.5 per cent each year.
Bath MP Don Foster, who has been pressing successive governments to take the issue of urban gulls more seriously, said such a research project was necessary to find a solution which would work.
He said: "I am very disappointed that the research grant has not been approved.
"I think part of the issue is that people, unless they are directly affected as people in Bath are, don't realise how serious the problem is.
"It is sometimes treated as a bit of a joke but the truth is it affects many people, it is a growing problem, and action does need to be taken."
He added: "Unless we have the research we will continue to use measures which, on the whole, are not very successful.
"The problem is growing despite the fact that the council is taking action.
"We need the research project and we need to get over to people that this is a much more serious problem than many people believe it to be."
Mr Foster said he would continue to lobby for research funding in Parliament.
According to Mr Rock the vast majority of urban gulls have now left town and cities.
However the next breeding season begins in November, with the majority of the gulls returning by the end of January.
He says: "We need to start preparing for the 2011 season as soon as possible."

​A distinctive aircraft used throughout the Second World War has been put on display at Colerne today.
A Spitfire being piloted by Russ Eatwell was at Colerne Airfield for a training sortie and practice display.
Flying at the base is controlled by the RAF but private aircraft can use the airfield provided the owner pays a fee and makes a booking.
Onlookers watched with interest as the double-seater aircraft took off and landed at the base, which is also home to the Bristol University Air Squadron.
One of the Wiltshire airfield's first uses was as a base for a maintenance unit handling Spitfires and Hurricanes in the 1940s.
In later years, a Spitfire used in the Battle of Britain film was based at an air museum there, which closed in 1976.

​Council chiefs have been urged to ensure they back a series of plans to safeguard Bath's World Heritage status with hard cash.
Bath and North East Somerset Council has just launched a consultation exercise over a 122-page blueprint for the future of the city's sensitive buildings and heritage setting.
The document - which stresses the need for a balance between conservation and the demands of a busy living city and would-be investors - includes 75 action points for the next six years.
But a number of the proposals - ranging from the development of a tall buildings strategy to training sessions for councillors - have no extra money allocated to them.
Bath Preservation Trust chief executive Caroline Kay said the council needed to keep things simple - and make sure its proposals were properly resourced and backed from the very top of the organisation.
"It's better to have a few action points with absolute commitment to implementation than 100 actions that depend on so many partnerships that they get dissolved in the process.
"Unless and until there is proper resource and proper senior management direction, the impact will always be partial."
She said there needed to be dedicated officers and budgets for the priorities established in the document, the revised Bath World Heritage Site Management Plan, which has prepared by the World Heritage Steering Group with the support of the council.
The council is required by the international body Unesco to update its management plan, which sets out why Bath is a World Heritage Site, the opportunities and pressures facing the city, and how heritage issues will be managed over the next six years.
The council said, however: "Although it contains sound aspirations for the future, the timescale for implementation of individual actions will depend on the availability of both public and private resources."
The public consultation will run until October 7 and the council is asking people to answer three key questions:
* Are the main issues which affect the site correctly identified or are there others to be added?
* Do the actions proposed address these issues or are there other actions required or under way?
* Are there any further opportunities to benefit from World Heritage status?
The document is on the website www.bathnes.gov.uk/worldheritagesite and at public information points.
Mrs Kay, who stressed she had not yet read the whole of the final version of the consultation document, said the principles behind the city's World Heritage status should be "inscribed on the heart of every councillor" - and that it was often the smallest details which were the most important.
She said there ought to be "absolute and clear" policies about "nitty-gritty" issues such as the design of shopfronts and street lights.
The city's other high profile conservation campaign group, Bath Heritage Watchdog, is studying the document and said it was too early to comment.
There had been claims that development on the Western Riverside could risk the city's cherished status but two inspectors who staged a fact-finding mission two years ago raised no fundamental concerns about the scheme.
The entire city has WHS status - one of only two in the world, the other being Venice - and the council oversees nearly 5,000 listed buildings.
The consultation document says: "The whole of the city is a World Heritage Site, and this brings both opportunities and challenges. The city's unique and much-celebrated heritage generates the economic and cultural vibrancy that is essential for its long-term protection. But whilst heritage is one of Bath's key strengths in attracting clients and employees, this may also inhibit investment in contemporary buildings and the growth of businesses and employment."
It adds that over the last six years, "balancing conservation against growth has been a significant challenge."
"Large scale developments of contemporary architecture have come forward, and provided important lessons on how to handle such applications. New developments such as the Thermae Bath Spa have proven that high quality, contemporary architecture can be entirely compatible with Bath's status. If potential investors in the city are not to be deterred, decision-makers within the development process need to appreciate, understand and properly interpret Bath's status. This requires continual support and reinforcement."
The report says that the aspect of Bath's appearance which is vulnerable is the "overall interaction between groups of buildings in terraces, crescents and squares and views to the surrounding landscape that contributed to the city's visual harmony."
It says: "There is a need for new developments to respect the planning of the Georgian terraces, to respect the scale and rhythm of its structures, and to contribute to picturesque views."
It says allowing contemporary architecture to flourish can be "challenging" but that it is "desirable."
Its authors say that the city's popularity with visitors keen to see its heritage charms can cause problems.
"Tourism can have detrimental impacts. The greatest pressures in Bath are felt through traffic. Coach parking, especially for specific events such as the Christmas Market, needs to be carefully managed. Coach day trip tours bring visitors for a stay of only several hours which cause congestion without bringing the wider economic benefit of an overnight stay. There is a need for greater long stay tourism."

​Retired diplomat and high-flying civil servant Sir Donald Maitland has died at the age of 88.
The onetime press secretary to 70s Prime Minister Edward Heath lived near Bradford on Avon and was involved in the life of a number of charities and groups in the Bath area.
The Scotsman ended his national public life as chairman of the now-defunct Health Education Authority and was involved in campaigning for greater awareness of Aids and HIV.
Sir Donald served in the Army in the Middle East, India and Burma, with his knowledge of Arabic leading him to the Foreign Office and a post in Iraq.
In 1956, he was appointed director of the Middle East Centre for Arab Studies near Beirut. Lebanon was already in the grip of sectarian feuding but when militia warned him to flee, Sir Donald initially refused to move. Only when the firing started did he successfully evacuate staff and their families to the safety of the Lebanese capital.
In 1960, he became deputy head of news at the Foreign Office and spokesman for Mr Heath's team involved in the UK's doomed negotiations with the EEC.
When French president Charles de Gaulle blocked Britain's entry, Sir Donald moved to Egypt but was back to London in 1965 to head the Foreign Office news operation.
Sir Donald, who was just 5ft 1ins, had a tempestuous relationship with the new Labour government's Foreign Secretary, the volatile George Brown.
After one particular Brown eruption, he replied: "Secretary of State, you don't think somebody my size has got where I am by kow-towing to bully-boys, do you?"
Brown replaced him as the head of news but made him his principal private secretary, and charged him with re-opening the Common Market negotiations.
But before the EEC talks were completed, Sir Donald was appointed ambassador to Libya. His appointment coincided with the rise to power of Colonel Gaddafi and during one meeting with the eccentric leader, an unflappable Sir Donald nonchalantly pushed away a pistol pointed at his stomach.
When Mr Heath won the 1970 election, he made Sir Donald his press secretary. The cut and thrust of the lobby did not suit him entirely but he had the respect of the journalists and became one of Mr Heath's few close confidants.
In May 1973, Sir Donald moved to New York to be Britain's ambassador to the UN and was heavily involved in the aftermath of the Yom Kippur War. Two years later, with Labour back in power, he was in Brussels as ambassador to the then EEC.
In 1979, he returned briefly to the Foreign Office, as deputy to the permanent under-secretary only to be promoted by Margaret Thatcher in 1980 to permanent secretary at the Department of Energy.
After his retirement in 1982, he became a government director of Britoil, deputy chairman of the Independent Broadcasting Authority and chairman of the Independent Commission on Worldwide Telecommunications Development.
In 1989, Sir Donald was appointed chairman of the HEA and was instrumental in putting momentum behind the move to curb tobacco sponsorship of televised events and in helping to formulate a media strategy in the fight against HIV and Aids.
A qualified pilot, he was made an OBE in 1960 and knighted in 1973.
His leaves his widow Jean, whom he married in 1950, a son and daughter, and two granddaughters.
He was closely involved with the city's Royal National Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases and a long-serving president of the Bath Institute for Rheumatic Diseases.
He was a onetime pro-chancellor at the University of Bath, and was given honorary degrees by it, the University of the West of England and Bath Spa University.
University of Bath vice-chancellor Professor Glynis Breakwell said: "We are all deeply saddened to learn of the death of Sir Donald Maitland.  Sir Donald brought energy, enthusiasm and an immense wealth of experience to any activity he undertook on our behalf.   His international expertise was an immense asset to us.   His wise counsel was especially valuable to the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences."
Sir Donald was a pro-chancellor of the university from January 1997 to December 2000 and a member of its governing council from 1997 to 2004.
He was chair of the advisory board for the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences and a visiting professor.
Prof Breakwell added: "On behalf of the university, we would like to offer our condolences to his family, friends and colleagues."
His family will be organising a thanksgiving service on a date to be arranged.

​Two men have been arrested in connection with stolen cars following a raid on a farm in Bradford on Avon.
Officers from the Wiltshire police priority crime team executed a warrant at Woolley Grange Farm yesterday afternoon and recovered a stolen Mitsubishi 4x4 and vehicle parts.
The Mitsubishi, which is a L200 Trojan model, had a 07 number plate, meaning it is likely to be worth up to £10,000.
A 32-year-old man from Corsham and a 21-year-old man from Chippenham have been arrested on suspicion of the theft of motor vehicles and handling stolen property.
The pair were taken to Melksham Police Station and interviewed, before being released on bail without charge.
Further inquiries are now being made.
Anyone with information or anyone who has any questions relating to recently stolen vehicles should contact PC Alex Curtis on 0845 4087000 ext 728502.

The amount of money spent on consultants by Bath and North East Somerset Council has doubled in the past five years.

In the past financial year, the authority spent £1.957 million – up from £975,000 in the year 2004/5.

The figures relate to revenue costs for strategic and management consultancy, excluding schools, and do not include the cost of employing major projects director John Betty.

The figures were obtained by under the Freedom of Information Act after the council said its use of Mr Betty's firm Hammond Project Management reduced the amount of money it needed to spend on piecemeal consultancy.

Questions have been raised over a new three-year contract awarded to the experienced troubleshooter, who was effectively given a 15 per cent pay rise last year. His firm was taken on five years ago to oversee the biggest and riskiest part of the council's operations following problems with the authority's Bath Spa Project.

Mr Betty's firm was paid £258,196 last year, up from £224,533 in 2008/9, and his contract has been extended until January 2013.

The council's recent use of consultants ranges in scope from the Bath Transportation Project to work on tourism and street drinking.

The authority stressed that last year's figure was just 0.8 per cent of its gross revenue spend excluding schools.

Council Unison branch joint secretary Joy Davis said she kept a close eye on spending on consultants at a time when her members' jobs were on the line.

She said: "My answer is always that you should look at the staff you've got first."

The council said in a statement that "in common with practically every local authority, public sector, and private sector organisation across the country", it used consultants for issues which were highly specialised and required expert advice in a particular field for a relatively short period of time or during peaks of work.

It said the 0.8 per cent figure compared to 0.6 per cent in 2004/5.

Onetime Arsenal footballer Bath-born Alan Skirton has visited an exhibition that celebrates the sport in this area.

Skirton started his professional career as a footballer with Bath City in 1956 and went on to play more than 150 times for Arsenal, before moving to Blackpool, Bristol City and Torquay United.

After periods playing in South Africa and for non-league Weymouth, Skirton rejoined Bath City as commercial manager in 1974.

Last week, he toured an exhibition devoted to local football at Radstock Museum, which highlights his career.

The display covers the sport at all levels from junior through to the Football League.

It runs until next Tuesday, while tomorrow between 11am and 5pm the FA Cup and the first World Cup – the Sir Thomas Lipton Trophy of 1909 – will be on display.

An historic landmark will be celebrated this weekend with a mini-festival in a Bath park.

The Holburne Picnic in the Park on Sunday will commemorate the 200th anniversary of the completion of the Kennet and Avon Canal.

The event will run from 11am to 2pm at Sydney Gardens, which lies between the Holburne Museum art gallery and the waterway.

The museum has been building up to the event with summer workshops in its Lodge centre looking at canal art.

People are asked to take a picnic and enjoy a range of fun, free creative activities such as making hobbyhorses and sun bonnets, face-painting, dressing peg-dolls, decorating flower pots and dressing up as 19th century characters.

There will be live music from Bath band The Mandibles, the Great Xa's Magic Show laid on by museum director and magician Alexander Sturgis, and a puppet show.

There will be tea and cake in the Gardener's Lodge, vintage swing boats and a bouncy castle.

Museum head of education Cleo Witt said: "What could be lovelier than the canal, which was such a great addition to the gardens in 1810? It's tremendously exciting to have the opportunity to do it proud, with its very own birthday party – and to pull out all the stops."

The event takes place as work progresses on the restoration of the museum, with a new extension to show off more of its treasures facing into the park.

Meanwhile, Girl Guides from across the country arrived in Bath as part of a journey to mark 100 years of the Guide Association.

Youngsters from all over the South West travelled from Reading to Bath and back again in a narrowboat to celebrate the centenary of guiding.

The Falcon Adam narrowboat became home to the group, who varied in age from the five-year-old rainbows to the adult trefoil guides, for two weeks.

Organiser Tamsin Phipps, barn owl leader for the Wargrave Brownies in Berkshire, said the trip gave the girls chance to mark the milestone in fun. She said: "On this trip we are celebrating with thanks for the past 100 years of guiding along with hopes that the next 100 years will continue to provide women and girls with the opportunity for personal challenges, development, fun and lasting friendships."

The day after she celebrated receiving her A-level results last week 18-year-old Charlotte Hecquet died in a tragic car accident.

The popular student from Bath was an extremely talented artist and has had her work exhibited at professional galleries in the city.

Her family have paid tribute to a daughter who had left them with "beautiful memories".

They said: "Charlotte was the most wonderful girl to have entered our lives.

"She has touched so many people's lives and has left us all with beautiful memories that we will treasure forever.

"We know that Charlotte would have been overwhelmed and touched by the love and support she has received from her friends.

"Thank you all for being there for her." Charlotte, who lived with her parents and two brothers in Lansdown, was a talented artist and had recently had her work displayed in the city's Chapel Row Gallery.

She had been planning to take a gap year to go travelling with friends before going on to study art at university.

Kingswood head teacher Simon Morris sent his condolences to her family and said: "This is such a terrible tragedy.

"Charlotte was a wonderful young person who had just heard of her outstanding success at A-level. She had so much to look forward to.

"We are all in shock and our thoughts are with her family and friends at such a very difficult time."

Almost 300 people have joined a Facebook group in Charlotte's memory with many posting messages describing her as an "angel" who was always smiling.

One friend wrote: "Words cannot express how much you meant to me.

"My best friend, my partner in crime, you made every day sparkle and without you life will never be the same.

"I could fill up thousands of pages reminiscing on all of our epic adventures and maybe one day I will but for now I want you to know this: I love you, I miss you and ... I hope you know how happy you made everyone who had the pleasure of knowing you.

"We will see each other again some day, my angel, I'm sure of it."

Another described Charlotte as "an unfailingly friendly, lovely person who was always so nice to everyone."

The diaries of a naval wife who tended Lord Nelson's battle wounds at sea have been rediscovered by a researcher in Bath.

Bath Spa University history lecturer Dr Elaine Chalus has won a research grant to investigate diaries kept by Elizabeth 'Betsey' Wynne.

Wynne married one of Nelson's colleagues, Captain (later Admiral Sir) Thomas Francis Fremantle, during the Napoleonic Wars.

Dr Chalus will use the £100,000 funding from the British Academy – a national body for the humanities and social sciences – to bring to light the 40 volumes of diaries, most of which have never been published, and to write a biography of Wynne and her descendants.

Wynne began keeping a diary at the tender age of 11 in 1789, only weeks after the outbreak of the French Revolution, and kept up her journal until she died in 1857.

The diaries tell of a remarkable life shaped by revolution and take in a spell with one of Louis XVI's leading political agents and his family in Switzerland and her marriage to Fremantle in 1797, organised by Nelson's mistress Emma Hamilton.

Wynne sailed into war with Fremantle on board his ship in Nelson's fleet and when the legendary hero lost his arm in a battle off Tenerife she nursed him on the voyage home. Fremantle later fought alongside him, and survived, at Trafalgar.

Dr Chalus hopes not only to revive interest in the little-known diarist but also to look at the bigger historical picture in the 18th and 19th centuries using the eyewitness account of a woman who took part in key events at a time of important social, cultural and political transition.

Nelson has strong links with Bath, and he and his lover Hamilton visited the city many times.

He came to the city after losing his arm and was later made an honorary freeman of the city, with Nelson Place and Nile Street being named in his honour after his great victory of the Nile in 1798.

Meanwhile, the first collection of poems by Bath Spa creative writing lecturer Dr Carrie Etter has won the London Festival Fringe New Poetry Award.

Her volume, The Tethers, was published by Seren Books and has been widely and positively reviewed.

The American poet has taught at Bath Spa since 2004 and is also a regular reviewer of contemporary poetry for the Times Literary Supplement and various periodicals.

An endangered plant and a bird species in decline have both been given a boost by work in north east Somerset.

Bath Asparagus has been found growing in abundance in a hedgerow in Peasedown St John, while new nest boxes are being put up for tawny owls in the Cam Valley.

Peasedown residents Ruth and Ken Hills, who recently attended a lecture on the rare flower, found it growing at the Beacon Field open space.

They were concerned that the plant might be destroyed and alerted local councillor Sarah Bevan to see whether protective measures could be put in place to allow the plant to seed before the area was mowed.

They also planted a specimen in their own front garden, so that if the worst came to the worst, one plant would survive.

Now Bath and North East Somerset Council senior ecologist Lucy Corner has drawn up an action plan to protect the species.

Mrs Hills said: "Originally I was greatly afraid that it would be cut back before it had a chance to produce seeds. I am so relieved that the council is prepared to put this action plan in place to protect this very rare and valued plant."

Ms Bevan, who is the current chair of B&NES, added: "The action plan from Lucy makes full provision for ensuring the continued propagation and health of this and other rare plants, including instructions to mowers to leave their planned schedule until after seeding, not to plant conifers nearby and to keep the areas around Bath Asparagus free from brambles, fires and fertilisers."

The green and white flowered plant – which flourishes in the Bath area but is rarely seen anywhere else – is a priority species in the Bath and North East Somerset Wildthings Biodiversity Action Plan.

Meanwhile, a project to boost tawny owl numbers in north east Somerset is off to a flying start thanks to financial support from Wessex Water.

The Cam Valley Wildlife Group has received a £400 Watermark award from the Bath-based water company to buy materials and equipment for its newly launched Tawny Owl Project.

The scheme involves putting up nesting boxes for the owls in the countryside around Midsomer Norton and Radstock, after a successful scheme involving barn owls.

A semi-retired solicitor who was arrested after a row over the treatment of his elderly mother in a Bath hospital is now facing an extra charge.

The Crown Prosecution Service has added a count of battery to the public order offence charge laid after hospital staff objected to the way John Blanning complained about the treatment being given to his ailing mother.

Mr Blanning was handcuffed by police after a manager at the Royal United Hospital called in security officers to remove him from the ward where his 89-year-old mother Joan was being treated in June.

The 50-year-old refused to pay an on-the-spot fine and will be contesting both charges at a two-day trial before Bath magistrates court in November.

He says he has been told that the charge of battery has arisen because he is alleged to have pushed past one of the security guards.

The offence is used where someone is alleged to have unlawfully touched another person.

The father of three from Cornwall was initially just charged with committing an offence under section five of the Public Order Act, which covers threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour, or disorderly behaviour.

His frustration came to a head when a manager, worried about the spread of the sickness and diarrhoea norovirus, tried to stop him re-entering the ward where his mother – who has symptoms of advanced dementia and who lives in Keynsham – was being treated for a chest infection and dehydration.

Mr Blanning had been defending himself in court but has now engaged his own solicitor and says he believes the additional charge has come about because he challenged the legitimacy of the section five accusation.

"The type of push that I'm talking about – whoever's fault it was – is like that which happens when jostled in a crowd or if you bump into someone on the way into a crowded Marks and Spencer's," he claimed. He has also been charged with two offences under the Bail Act after illness prevented him attending a case management hearing at the court earlier this month.

He said: "I find this to be amazing in an age of austerity, given that this matter will cost the public purse thousands of pounds, for a matter for which I was originally offered an £80 fixed penalty, but which I refused for the simple reason that I had not committed any offence."

He said he felt he was being singled out by the CPS because he was a solicitor himself.

The CPS declined to comment on why the extra charge had been made against Mr Blanning.

A summer playscheme in Bath has been praised by police for helping reduce the level of school holiday nuisance.

The Bath Area Play Project (BAPP) has been running a programme of activities for youngsters aged five to 19 to keep them occupied over the school break.

It has proved such a success that police community support officer Andy Brooks, who works in the Odd Down and Lyncombe areas of the city, has praised the team behind it.

Bath neighbourhood inspector Steve Mildren said it was obvious that keeping young people occupied over the holidays was a good way to stop them being a nuisance to others.

He said: "If we have somewhere for kids to go and things they can do then they will not be out in the streets making nuisances of themselves.

"There are bound to be some children in these projects that, if they weren't there, might be out on the street corner causing concern for some members of the public.

"We are not talking about serious troublemakers or people who commit crimes, but simply young people who need something to keep them occupied. Keeping young people engaged and giving them a chance to interact with each other is always going to be a good thing."

The project receives funding from Bath and North East Somerset Council and works with other agencies to provide a range of opportunities for children.

BAPP co-ordinator Caroline Haworth said of the police praise: "It shows that, given options, children and young people can make positive choices rather than the assumption that they choose to get up to no good.

"Holiday playschemes provide a wide range of exciting and challenging opportunities which engage children of all abilities and backgrounds.

"This summer we have had a record number of younger children attending playschemes in addition to higher numbers of disabled children.

"None of this would be possible without the fantastic staff team many of whom come back year after year to provide a consistent adult workforce for these children."

The project has been running a Summer of Fun Activity (SOFA) programme, which has enabled 140 disabled and non-disabled young people to take part in a range of activities, including canoeing, rock climbing, music production and T-shirt printing.

SOFA development worker Jo Cooper said: "What stands out is that young people with challenging behaviour develop empathy and assist disabled young people in fully participating.

"Young people have been able to take on new challenges and to do things that perhaps they haven't considered before.

"Staff are advocates for all young people who are then able to do things in a broad mixed group, which is so rewarding not only for the young people but also for their parents as well."

The Bath Chronicle is delighted this week to launch an exciting new competition which gives people a chance to make a short film celebrating life in Bath & North East Somerset.

The LoveBath short film competition is being launched as part of the Chronicle's 250 year anniversary celebrations and, to tie in with our theme, your film must be no longer than two minutes and 50 seconds.

The competition is being organised by the Chronicle, Bath & North East Somerset Council's Film Office, the City of Bath College, the Bath Film Festival and the Little Theatre, Bath's independent cinema.

The collective aim of the organisers is to celebrate film and also give people a chance to reflect life in and around Bath. And it will also give a chance for a host of film makers to have their work shown in the Little Theatre – and possibly win a great cash prize too.

The choice of the story is completely down to you, the film maker.

It could be anything from a comedy to a horror story or from an historical drama to a documentary. All it needs to be is your own work and to be set and filmed in the Bath & North East Somerset area – and of course to come in under the time limit.

Would-be film makers have until October 21 to get their work together and all submitted entries which fit into the strict criteria outlined in the Terms and Conditions on our dedicated website which will be put online for people to view.

The best of the entries will then be shortlisted and the selected films will be screened at the Little Theatre, in Bath, in front of a judging panel and a local audience.

The winning film will be hailed as the LoveBath film of 2010 – and the film makers will pick up a £250 cash prize in line with the Chronicle's 250th anniversary celebrations.

Chronicle editor Sam Holliday said he was very excited by the whole project.

"I'm so pleased that we have been able to get together with some of our friends and colleagues in the city who share our love of both Bath and film and therefore are happy to support the LoveBath competition.

"We are convinced that there will be many aspiring film makers out there who would love the chance to project their ideas to a wide audience and we believe this will be a competition that will stimulate interest and excitement throughout the local community."

Darren Rogers, the head of department for media, music and performing arts at the City of Bath College, believes the contest will attract a wide and diverse amount of entries.

"LoveBath is an excellent opportunity for both new and young film makers from the area. I've been working for a couple of years now with local film makers to raise the profile of film in Bath, particularly among young people, and a short film competition about Bath was always my dream.

"I'm delighted that it's finally happened and can't wait to get my students working on it in September when they return, " he said.

Lynne Locker, the development manager at Bath Film Festival also welcomed the new competition

"Bath and the landscapes, buildings, waterways and villages nearby have been a strong inspiration for many fine film makers in the past. Perhaps the film makers who are inspired by the LoveBath competition will tell us tales about unfamiliar corners that we rarely notice and prompt us to see the places where we live and work in a new light? And what better backdrop than Bath and North East Somerset?"

Bath and North East Somerset Council say they are 'very pleased' to be supporting the LoveBath film competition through their hard working Film Office.

"The main aim of the Film Office is to promote film making in the area and the competition provides us with an excellent opportunity to do so. At the same time, we can fulfil our other equally important responsibility which is to ensure that filming is managed safely and efficiently on the streets of Bath and North East Somerset and to minimise disruption to the local community, '' said Jenni Wagstaffe, the film commissioner at the Bath Film Office.

Mrs Wagstaffe said that although the council team wants as many people as possible to enter she urged them to be respectful of the city and surrounding towns and villages – and to read the rules of the contest very carefully.

"We would ask any competition entrants who wish to film in public places – parks, libraries, museums, streets, for instance – to complete our application form, downloadable from the competition website, and send it to us at least 48 hours' prior to filming. In this way, we can help film makers obtain any necessary permission beforehand."

Full details about how you can enter this exciting and unique competition – including the rules that must be strictly adhered to – can be found within our Terms and Conditions on the special LoveBath website www.thisisbath.co.uk/lovebath.

The official entry form which must be submitted with every entry is enclosed here.

An organisation which enriches the lives of older people through music and singing will be one of the key official charities for next year's Bath Half Marathon.

The Golden-Oldies, which was launched by choir leader Grenville Jones more than two years ago, will be the lead local charity for the race which will take place on Sunday, March 6.

Founder Mr Jones ran the 13.1-mile race last year, along with 40 members of his Bath Male Choir, raising nearly £15,000 for the charity which organises regular singing sessions in community halls.

He plans to take on the challenge again this year with hundreds of Goldies supporters.

Chairman of the charity Howard Cunningham-Smith said by the end of this year, the organisation would have put on 1,500 Goldies sessions across the west, but needed money to double that figure in 2011.

He said: "I urge people to support us by running for Goldies in the Bath Half Marathon."

The Holburne Museum will also benefit from the race as an initiative to help raise money for the museum's development project has been chosen as the race's featured appeal.

The Holburne Challenge seeks to raise a further £300,000 towards the cost of the development, which will allow the museum to extend its work in the community and schools.

The museum has already raised £9 million and aims to raise a further £2m before its reopening in May 2011.

Alexander Sturgis, director of the gallery, said: "We are thrilled to have been selected as one of the Bath Half's official charities and see it as welcome recognition of the work the museum does with a wide range of local communities.

"We know from experience that engaging with the arts and creativity can change people's lives and it is our job to provide as many people as possible with the opportunity to do so.

"The renewed Holburne will transform the ways in which we can use our collection, our building and exhibitions to engage, to teach and to inspire."

Meanwhile the national charity for the popular race will be the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI).

The charity provides a 24-hour on call lifeboat search and rescue service around the coast of the UK and Ireland as well as a seasonal lifeguard service in the north, east and south of England and Wales.

Carla Rowley, its lifeguard events manager, said she was delighted – and that money would be spent in Bath despite the city's landlocked position.

"As well as providing training and equipment for the charity's lifeguards in the South West, our Bath Half runners will help to prevent incidents on the beach through a specific beach safety and education project for young people within the Bath and north east Somerset area."

She added: "We've been involved in the Bath Half for four years now and are looking forward to welcoming back runners from previous years as well as inspiring new runners to take part and support the RNLI."

Each year the race supports more than 50 local and national charities and raised an estimated total of £1.3 million this year.

Director of organiser Running High Mel Taylor said: "We are delighted to have these three charities on board for the 2011 event and are looking forward to working with all of them to encourage entrants to run for their causes and raise as much money as possible to extend the good work they do."

To find out more, go to www.bathhalf.co.uk.

A bereaved mother has led a protest over the axing of speed cameras – and sparked a row with a motorists' campaign group.

Since the death of her 20-year-old son Ashley, near Bath in 2004, Clare Brixey has devoted her life to road safety campaigning.

Last week, she led a protest, organised by the safety group Brake, over the decision to switch off Wiltshire's speed camera network to save money.

But the protest at County Hall in Trowbridge saw her involved in a heated exchange with anti-camera campaigner Idris Francis, who had driven from Petersfield in Hampshire to make his points.

Ashley was killed in a crash at Limpley Stoke in Wiltshire when the car in which he was a back-seat passenger landed upside-down in a swimming pool after the driver lost control.

The friend who was driving had been taking drugs and drinking, and had been speeding at more than 80mph at the time.

Mrs Brixey, who lives at Standerwick on the Wiltshire/Somerset border, urged Wiltshire Council and the county's police to rethink their decision to end the Wiltshire and Swindon Safety Camera Partnership in the face of Government transport funding cuts.

The authorities say the decision is being made reluctantly and have stressed that traffic officers will continue to watch out for speeders.

But Mrs Brixey, who now speaks in schools about road safety issues, said: "I cannot just stand by while the council puts an axe to vital road safety services that save so many young lives here each year.

"They need to know how appalled local communities are about this. Most people fully support cameras and feel safer with them turned on.

"The cost of a speed camera does not compare to the cost of a life."

But the Association of British Drivers dismissed her calls for the cameras to be retained, saying no camera would have stopped the accident which killed her son.

ABD chairman Brian Gregory said: "We commend Ashley's mother Clare for campaigning against drink/drug driving and for speaking to schools about road safety, but to see her campaigning for speed cameras makes no sense to us.

"It would be more logical for her to campaign for diminishing radius bends to be re-engineered or against swimming pools being built next to roads."

And Mr Francis, who is a member of the association, questioned statistics being used by Brake.

He said of the accident in which Ashley was killed: "There is no reason to think that even saturating that area with cameras would have made the slightest difference to that accident or others like it.

"What might have prevented it would have been greater police presence both on foot and in patrol cars to catch such people before they kill themselves or others – but the emphasis on speeding as the be all and end all of road safety, and cameras as the automatic and profitable means of controlling it has been partly responsible for the near invisibility of police patrol cars in recent years." Mrs Brixey said she was determined not to let the ABD's comments upset her.

"When I set out to campaign on road safety, I did so in every capacity, not just those which had to do with the death of Ashley. I've got the right of free speech, the same as everyone else.

"The ABD are talking nonsense, but obviously they're worried because now they're making it personal."

Ellen Booth, campaigns officer for Brake, added: "Increasingly, decisions being made on speed cameras are more about politics and less about facts. The fact is speed cameras reduce speeding and save lives."

He's already cycled nearly 2,000 miles for charity and had pledged to give up this year.

But 75-year-old Donald Thompson will be completing a final 100-mile cycle ride in one day this weekend.

The fundraiser from Colerne will be among dozens of people taking part in an annual ride for the charity Action Medical Research.

Mr Thompson took part in the challenge, which sees riders going from Bath to Kempton Park in Middlesex, for the first time in 1987.

Since then he has completed the route annually, raising thousands of pounds for the organisation which funds medical research in the UK.

Mr Thompson, who has been a keen cyclist since the 1950s, still uses the same bike he did when he began taking part in the event – and has only needed one change of saddle since.

He said he had planned to stand down from the challenge this year but after his window cleaner decided to sign up for Sunday's ride, decided to keep going to provide moral support.

He said: "I was going to stop this year but after he told me he wanted to do it, I wanted to encourage him.

"It gets harder as you get older but the challenge is more or less the same as it was when I started."

Mr Thompson, who before retirement was managing director of a typesetting company in Bath, is a paper boy in the village and his rounds have been part of his training regime.

He has been part of a team of people from Colerne embarking on the challenge which has consistently won an award for raising the most amount of money during the event.

Over the years he has raised around £15,000 for Action Medical Research.

He said: "When you're younger you start supporting a charity for whatever reason and you just carry on supporting them."

The group funds research into a range of diseases and conditions and its work has helped develop the UK polio vaccine and ultrasound scanning.

For more information on the ride and for sponsorship details visit www.action.org.uk.

She may have an award-winning comedian for a son.

But Bath doctor Maddy Piper has never seen him perform live.

The consultant rheumatologist says she is very proud of her 20-year-old son Phil Wang, who has just won the Chortle Student Comedy Award.

But she said: "The thought of standing up on stage terrifies me so I think I get stressed on his behalf and I stay away. I've seen him on YouTube, I have a quiet look."

Maddy, who works at the Royal National Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases, said she and her retired engineer husband Benny were very proud of their son.

The Cambridge University engineering student started his comedy career at Kingswood School, which has its own comedy club, at the age of 17.

He now performs two or three times a week, with his biggest audience so far being a 700-strong crowd in Oxford.

Phil, whose routines regularly involve him playing the ukelele on stage, has been busy performing at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, where he picked up his award.

He got a standing ovation as he was chosen as winner last week in a final involving nine student comedians.

Editor of Chortle, a specialist comedy website, Steve Bennett said: "We had a diverse, high-quality line-up for the final, so all credit to Phil for seeing off such tough competition."

Phil, a member of the Cambridge Footlights group where entertainers from John Cleese to David Mitchell started their careers, says he will be carrying on with his degree.

Maddy, who lives at Weston and also has two daughters, says she has no idea where her son's talent comes from. "It's come from nowhere," she said.