Burglars Up The Stakes Stealing Rare Crockery

Thieves stole a priceless collection of rare crockery from a Cheltenham home last week. This comes after a spate of burglaries in the area.

The burglary happened at around 5pm on Saturday 28 November, the items stolen were from a priceless 19th century tea and coffee set including a teapot, sugar bowl and lid, milk jug, teacups, saucers can coffee mugs.

Police are being cautious about identifying the victims of the burglary; Prestbury House hotel has denied rumours that they were the targets of this crime. There has been no confirmation that this was a planned attack to seal the items in question.

PC Adam Bundock has recently urged residents to secure their homes and vehicles, he said: "We've seen a number of night time burglaries in the Prestbury community lately, and the sad truth is that the majority of these could have been avoided." He also said: "We are trying hard to encourage residents to take better care of their belongings... if you love it then lock it."

Gloucestershire Police have confirmed that no arrests have been made in connection to the incident however they are appealing to anyone who might have information about the crime, and are looking towards local antique dealers who may have been offered the pieces.

PC Mark Gosland, Crime Prevention Advisor for the Cotswolds asked the counties residents to: "Deny thieves the opportunity by following the simple crime prevention advice." Details of this are available on the Gloucestershire Police website.

Anyone with information can contact the police on 0845 090 1234 and quote incident number 424 of 28 November 2009,or alternatively call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

They are also offering support for any victims of the burglaries through victimsupport.org.uk and offering advice on how to protect their homes further.

Lifetime Service Certificate for Cyril

Local legend receives Long Service Certificate from Gloucestershire County Council in honour of 24 years of service as a school governor. Cyril Beer, of Prestbury, has received a certificate for services to St Mary's Junior School. After almost a quarter of a century he has no regrets: "I loved being involved with the children." He said.

He took a lead role in helping when the school was subjected to the 2007 floods, cleaning out gutters and trying to get the school back in working order.

Daphne Philpot, Chair of Governors at St Mary's Junior School said he was always very helpful with the school and was even "on call ready to bale the school out of yet another flood".

When asked how the school system had developed and changed over his years there he said: "Now it is more about making sure there is enough money to take care of the school."

Although he is now retired, Cyril still takes an extremely active role in the community working with local groups such as, Prestbury Hall and St Mary's Church youth group. He now just plans to "relax".

iSafety

Gloucestershire Police are developing a scheme aimed to educate parents about Internet safety and demonstrate the dangers of the web.

Sergeant John Skilling of Gloucestershire Constabulary’s Schools Unit said: “We have been delivering these talks to children for almost three years it is only this year we have extended this offer to parents.”

The scheme began after Child Exploitation and Online Protection revealed that parents are ignorant when it comes to what sites their children are accessing.

Sgt Skilling said: “There are parents out there who do not realise the harm that their children could come to if they misuse the Internet.”

He then explained why parents might, be reluctant to get involved: “They don’t want to admit that their children know more than they do about technology.”

The talks are designed to demonstrate what can happen when the Internet goes unregulated and ground rules are not enforced. They will focus on sexual exploitation of children, cyber bullying, commercial exploitation and exposure to extremist material.

Sheila Kingsley, a children’s service practitioner for the NSPCC said: “Anything that raises awareness to the risk to children is useful.

“Parents should apply boundaries for the Internet but you can’t always guarantee that will happen, so it’s important to educate the children too.”

She added: “People are using technology from a very early age so they need to be educated in an age appropriate way.”

St Mary’s Junior School, Prestbury, is hosting one of the talks on Wednesday 4 November. They have encouraged parents to attend and stressed the importance of the talk, particularly for those with teenage children.

Ghost Hunt

Cheltenham Tourist Board is this week paying homage to Prestbury’s reputation as one of the most haunted towns in Britain with a guided ghost walk.

Many residents of the town remain uncertain about the presence of the spooky spirits, whereas others are totally convinced that they roam all corners of the village.

The guided tour starts at Prestbury House, allegedly one of the most haunted places in Britain. Some of the stops along the way include the nearby Burgage, which was originally a 13^th century market place, and apparently home to the ghost of the charging horseman.

Also on the tour is St Mary’s churchyard. Many believe the hooded figure of the Black Abbot can be seen strolling the grounds surrounding the church during Halloween, Christmas and All Saints Day.

Another stop on the walk will be the Kings Arms. It is meant to be home to the ghost of record-breaking jockey Fred Archer. Even though it is documented Archer shot himself in Suffolk, his legend lives on in Prestbury.

Kings Arms employee, Sue Scourfield said: “I hear the staffroom door slamming and knocking about, it could be the wind but I don’t think it is.”

A Plough Inn worker said: “I’ve worked here for a year and stayed in the pub a few times and I’ve never seen or heard anything, it’s complete rubbish.”

Adam, another Kings Arms employee said: “I’m highly sceptical, but I’ve seen and heard a few things that have made me think twice.” He claimed that glasses from the dishwasher smashed all over the floor: “It was like they were pushed and not just fell.”

The ghoulish guides take place on Thursday 29 and Saturday 31 October; one will also take place on 1 November 2009. All walks start at 7:30pm, tickets cost £4.50 and are available from Cheltenham Tourist Information office.

Ok... so I think it's safe to say that this year is going to be amazing for features. So far the one to watch is going to be the new Fox Searchlight Pictures film with Jospeh Gordon-Levitt called '(500) Days of Summer' it's a basic romcom guy meets girl story. He falls in love with her, she doesn't fall in love with him, he doesn't know what to do with himself. It's written by the same guys who wrote Pink Panther 2... but don't let that put you off, I think it's going to be a hit. UK release date: 4 September 2009

Another one to check out is going to be the follow up to Twilight, called 'New Moon', this follows the characters of Bella, Edward and Jacob. After Edward leaves Bella she is distraught and resorts to reckless living in order to cling onto an echo of Edward's disapproving voice, her friendship with Jacob becomes more than she bargained for. Edward fears the worst making some reckless decisions himself. And Victoria seeks revenge on Edward for killing her mate James. It will be interesting to see how they make this into a good film as the book did drag along a little in places. The screen adaptation has been written by Melissa Rosenberg who wrote Twilight, however the director has changed and Chris Weitz has been brought in who directed the 2002 Brit-hit About a Boy. UK release date: 20 November 2009

'The Proposal' Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds, directed by Anne Fletcher who is just a genius. A boss bribes her assistant to marry her to avoid deportation to Canada. It just looks too funny to be true, ultimate chick-flick! UK release date: 22 July 2009

So mostly there I just talked about chick-flicks, but if any half way decent films were brought out with any action/explosion in there I would most definitely rave about those. Well, I have missed the big action/Sci Fi film of possibly this decade... 'StarTrek', but I figured it would be a waste of time posting for people to "go and see" when it's already been out for over a month. You've probably read the reviews and watched the trailers, and if you haven't seen it... Treckie or not... GO NOW! Definitely one of the best films of the year and Quinto's performance is just... well nothing short of legendary! - The DVD release date for this has not yet been confirmed, but I'll be sure to keep you posted.

One release to stay away from (well in my opinion anyway) is 'Angels & Demons'. The shame about this is, it had such potential to be a fantastic film, and for non Dan Brown fan's I'm sure it is a fantastic film, but for me, it just lacked that special something. Very disappointing considering the perfection of the first film, The DaVinci Code.

...procrastinating

I have unfortunately been MIA for a while, procrastination is a fantastic art form in which you can find yourself doing things, such as blogging, when more important things press, such as revision. So the exams are coming up for us... oh joy, I'm certain that the depths of the internet can submerge a person through an entire degree... I feel like I've wasted my entire first year, just simply on the net. This can't be good.

Ok, so what's new... recently I've been getting more into music and film which is always good, Southern Gothic seems to be picking up and gaining funding for its film which I'm looking forward to seeing and anyone who likes small indie films should 100% check the production company out if you haven't already!
Music wise... the Cribs have taken my fancy recently on the opposite end of the spectrum, also been listening to quite a bit of Tegan & Sara, think the Spring has mellowed me out! =)

Exiting stuff going on over the Summer, in one way I can't wait for uni to end because there's Amsterdam, Leeds Festival has now been cancelled for me because of a confusion with tickets, but there we go, stuff happens I guess.

The Secret Life Of Bees

The Gina Prince-Bythenwood adaptation of Sue Monk Kidd's novel entitled 'The Secret Life Of Bees' had its UK premier on Friday night. It's a stroy about a young girl who knows nothing of herself or the world, the only thing she is sure of is that when she was 4 years old she shot her mother dead. Now 14 and living with her aggressive father; played by Paul Bettany (better known for his role in Wimbledon) Dakota Fanning's character Lily Owens yearns for a mothers love.
Lily has only one friend in the world; Rosaleen (Jennifer Hudson), a black servant. Rosleen is racially abused and beaten one day and Lily cannot understand this, so she helps Rosaleen escape from the hospital and the two being their adventure as fugitives from the bitter cruel law. They being to follow a hidden trail, left by a woman who died 10 years prior, to a sanctuary bee farm and the warm love of a mother.
Lily begins to understand her mother and live out her final months vicariously through the trail that was left.
The film also start Queen Latifah, Alicia Keys and Sophie Okonedo and the three loving Boatwrights that shelter Lily whist she discovers herself.

This is most definitely a heart-warming, uplifting and lovable film that leaves you with a sweet satisfaction.