THE online community newspaper for Nailsea people, their family and their friends

September 2025

Our town is a very, very nice town

Property people

Developers have their eyes on more farmland towards West End and the eyesore which was Weston College at Somerset Square has a PPA (planning performance agreement) submitted to North Somerset Council in an attempt to move forward to redevelop the Somerset Square site. Read our Hensons sponsored property page for more HERE

What's On 2025

Schools back after the long summer holidays and as we move towards Christmas our What's On page takes on an autumnal look. There are lots more lovely markets, live music gigs, two charity fashion shows, and concerts galore. Read all about it on our What's On or Christmas pages HERE

Gallery 2025

This summer has been so busy with the carnival, beer & cider festival, Trendlewood community day and more. The latest images are from the August bank holiday weekend HERE. But this image by Phil Williams of a mackerel sky is on the Breaking News page as it accompanies a weather forecast HERE

More about our Gossip girls

Nailsea People has been catching up on all the news (and gossip) about our three former Nailsea School students who have all become famous TV celebs and social media stars...

The Unite Union has announced its bus drivers are going on strike.

It is predicting there will be major disruption to bus services in Bristol and local towns and cities as more than 1,000 drivers at six First West of England depots have voted to strike.

In Bristol, the First West of England drivers work at Bristol Bus Station, Lawrence Hill and Hengrove, which provide inner-city bus routes in the city as well as services for Bristol Airport, the local universities and Amazon's Bristol warehouse.

The other three affected depots are Weston-Super-Mare, Bath and Wells.

It comes after Unite members at the depots rejected a two-year pay deal, which would give them just £1 an hour extra of pay per hour from now until March 2026, then a miserly 30p hourly increase from April 2026.

New starters will only be offered 50p extra on the hourly rate, which goes up by just a pitiful 10p next April.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: "First Group PLC can clearly afford to pay our members more but are choosing to put profits over people.

"This dispute is entirely of First Group's own making and any disruption could be easily avoided. Our members will have Unite’s complete support."

Drivers will also lose out on backpay, as despite the pay anniversary date being April First West of England has not committed to giving any renumeration for the past four months of the wage increase.

First West of England is part of First Group PLC, which had an operating profit of £204.3m in 2024 while share dividends were increased by 45 per cent compared to the previous year.

There will be an initial four days of strikes from Thursday to Monday, September 4-8, followed by further strikes on Tuesday to Friday, September 16-19.

As First West of England is the main bus operator in Bristol and so many drivers are set to strike, any industrial action is likely to be extremely disruptive with cancellations and long delays to services expected.

Unite regional officer Amy Roberts said: "While the situation will be frustrating for passengers, our members have no choice but to take industrial action to make their voices heard.

"First West of England could still stop this disruption by coming back to the table with a meaningful pay offer."

North Somerset Council subsides routes in our area to the tune of £3m per year and cabinet member for highways and transport Hannah Young told a recent disabled access meeting that no services here make a profit.

Bus strike in September

Access for all

Continuing our theme of access for all from our August front page we receive this news: “Plans have been submitted to install a new lift at Lawrence Hill train station to make it accessible to everyone. This would make the railway station, which first opened in 1863, step-free.”

Well, we are pleased for passengers who use this Severn Beach Line and Cross Country Route station, but what about Nailsea & Backwell railway station which has been waiting more than a decade to have its ‘down line’ made accessible for people with mobility issues.

The Lawrence Hill works is set to be funded by the West of England Mayoral Combined Authority (WMCA). We don’t know how much is will cost but the feasibility study was £100,000.

Network Rail have submitted the plans to Bristol City Council, subject to final business case approval in the autumn.

If approved by the local planning authority, the scheme will see a lift installed on platform 2 (the southbound platform heading towards Bristol Temple Meads) which currently only has steps.

Platform 1 currently has step-free access through the Lidl car park.

Alison Morgan organises the Nailsea & Backwell Disabled Access Café and has been an avid campaigner for improvements to our railway station for decades.

She said: “I was advised by Network Rail, back in June, to email the WECA Mayor, asking if there was any chance that our station could be included in the 'smaller scale enhancement projects', mentioned when the government funding was announced.

“I only ever received an automated acknowledgement and no reply.

“I feel that the desire for lifts leads to over engineering, and unnecessary costing, when all we need is a ramp as originally planned.

“Lifts also bring a concern over breakdowns and vandalism, especially at unstaffed stations.”

Town councillor James Tonkin and resident Roger Trubridge have initiated analysis through the Local Access Forum to map all the existing problems in Nailsea.

Not sure if the broken crab apple branch on the Shaftsbury Close footpath is a priority but Nailsea People also has a somewhat controversial page full of vehicles parked on paths and grass verges HERE.

James said at the time: "We want to reclaim the highways and byways of Nailsea making them accessible to all.”

Roger said: “If anyone is aware of barriers that do not meet the national standard, please report them to me by email rtrubridge47@gmail.com with a photograph if possible.”

North Somerset MP Sadik Al-Hassan, pictured, has been out and about with Alison on a brief tour of some of the pavement issues in the Trendlewood/Nailsea Park area.

Sadik said: “Since our meeting between Alison and North Somerset Council I am happy that 36 different potholes and problem areas along our route have been reported.”

And David Howard and his wife Grete, the globetrotting award-winning photographer, captured on film the highways and byways it is impossible to navigate in Nailsea mostly due to signposts positioned in the middle of footpaths.

Nailsea & Backwell RFC 250 Club has launched Operation Uplift to raisedmonies to install a lift at the West End clubhouse.

The group has already crowdfunded £30,000 of the £45,00 needed towards building a small extension that will house a lift.

The clubhouse is currently split into two levels, with the upstairs function rooms and viewing areas only accessible via steep steps and stairs.

A lift will enable access to the second floor for wheelchair users, those with limited mobility, parents with pushchairs and injured players unable to use the stairs.

https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/operation-uplift---nailsea-backwell-rugby-club

No-one currently can use the shortcut between The Perrings and Backwell Lake while the legal issues of ownership and status of the permissive path are investigated. Read more on our On The Road page HERE.

PHOTOS: Top how Lawrence Hill station will look with lift and a model of Nailsea & Backwell made by Roy Ackrill which has been on display at Yatton railway station

Our three celebrities who all went to Nailsea School have been very busy during the past few months, see three brief slideshows top.

School catering supremo Amber Francis has shown photos of the back of her baby’s head with an accompanying sound track called Welcome To Motherhood from the debut album of Emily Rose. Could this be the little girl’s name?

In the National Reality TV Awards the Great British Menu BBC2 programme in which Amber took the top prize thanks to her Hannah More Infant school inspired pudding.

And The Traitors UK also took the prize for Best Reality Competition Show which saw our own Mollie Pearce as runner-up and standout personality.

Mollie and her boy band boyfriend Connor Ball are fashion icons, first class travellers and lovers of fine food. Even Mollie’s 12-year-old cat Tilly is in on the product placement act posing online eating Kat Kin luxury pussycat dinners!

Mollie and Connor braved the Padstow to Rock charity open water swim which is one mile across the Camel Estuary and is organised annually to raise funds for Marie Curie.

The couple have also enjoyed a short break in Morocco, shopping in Marrakesh market where Connor found a top music shop they then took a quad bike ride in the Agafay with desert temperatures reaching 42 degrees. Phew it ain’t ‘alf hot mum!

Connor and Mollie took her Nailsea mum and dad to The Big Feastival held on an Oxfordshire farm during August bank holiday with headliners Nelly Furtado, Faithless, Alex James' Britpop Classical, Travis, and The Wombats.

And in October Mollie is off on an adventure retreat in the Pyrenees with Traitors finalist and inspirational speaker Andrew Jenkins, of Challenge the Wild.

While Amber who is still on maternity leave has been busy praising her exam pupils for their success and using the time to concoct new dishes using fresh salad produce from her garden and fruit from the community orchard used by her parents.

And a friend even gifted her new baby a knitted set of colourful vegetables so they can have their own cabbage patch!

She said: "So proud of all the GCSE and A-level students at Christ College Finchley whose dedication and hard work have truly paid off - such inspiring achievements.

"Working in education is a real privilege - being part of young people's journeys and watching them grow and thrive is something I never take for granted."

Meanwhile, Hope’s had a mad summer!

As well as the eight shows a week, she was invited by Joel Montague, who played Harvey Goldsmith in Just For One Day world debut at the Old Vic last year to teach acting at an intensive summer school Beginners Call UK.

This is the school founded by Joel and his wife theatre actress and singer Carrie Hope Fletcher, to offer professional tuition from working West End professionals to the next generation of aspiring performers, aged 14-21.

Corbin Bleu, the US actor best known for High School Musical, and currently appearing with Joel in The Great Gatsby was among the other performers taking part.

Hope wasn't much older than some of the young adults that she was teaching and enjoyed being able to support them with her knowledge of the drama school and agency process.

She said that she felt as if she'd come full circle walking to work at the theatre after teaching.

In June the original cast album of Just for One Day was released, increasing the funds raised by the show to well over the £1m which they had set as a target for Christmas!

At the gala performance Hope got to meet Dame Claire Bertschinger an Anglo-Swiss nurse and advocate on behalf of suffering people in the developing world.

Her work in Ethiopia in 1984 inspired Band Aid and subsequently Live Aid, the biggest relief programme ever mounted.

Sadly, Hope brought Craige Els the Dad's Joke Book for his birthday, she's going to get him a bottle of wine next year lol! (Probably his plan.)

Craige who plays the lead role of Bob Geldof has been popping in Hope ‘s dressing room daily to read from aloud the jokes which aren’t all funny.

Our brilliant gossip girls

Going up, finally?

Backwell’s iconic 'strawberries and cream' tree is 'struggling' and in need of serious remedial work, according to North Somerset Council.

It's one of only two hybrid trees in the country producing both pink and white blossom

Work including some pruning and the laying of mulch is now planned to help the tree recover.

Backwell Parish Council, who had called in the tree officer, said in a post on Facebook: “He considers that the tree is struggling, probably due to the long period of very dry weather which is affecting many trees across the district.

To provide some assistance to the tree, he plans to lay down a layer of bark mulch to help retain soil moisture. This will also act as a feed, as the nutrients from the mulch will leach into the soil as it breaks down.

“He has also recommended some remedial tree pruning.

“This will be very limited but will include a moderate crown lift over the highway and the removal of dead wood. He will arrange this in due course.

“This is an appropriate time to year to carry out this work.”

The tree on Rodney Road is a village landmark and is currently behind metal fencing to protect it from construction traffic heading to and from the Rodney Road development next to the scout hut and playground.

This fencing has become a focal point for signs opposing the huge development taking place around the village.

There are about 2,000 homes in Backwell but planning permission has already been granted to build about 800 more on fields around the village.

STOP PRESS: We have reported online no recycling collection at The Perrings to North Somerset Council. Its refuse company has a shortage of HGV drivers. We note that Gloden which had 21 tanning salons including the one at Colliers Walk, Nailsea which opened mid-February and abruptly closed this summer is officially in administration. It owes money to former staff, suppliers or customers. And we hear another retail unit near Coffee Corner has been let but no more details at this time...

Strawberries and cream

Fingers-crossed building on the semi-derelict site on the edge of Somerset Square, Nailsea, will go ahead soon at a reduced height.

Planning permission was given in June 2022 to build a seven-storey tower block on the derelict former health centre/college annex but stalled due to height concerns.

Plans for the abandoned former Weston College building in Nailsea's Somerset Square involved demolishing most of the structure and replacing it with a seven-storey apartment block with commercial units on the ground floor.

The idea was to include a budget supermarket like Lidl or Audi.

While initially approved with a condition for affordable housing, North Somerset Council decided to allow the development to proceed without any affordable units due to viability issues.

The developer, Developments Bristol, has now applied to the council for a PPA (Planning Performance Agreement) hoping to deliver the 38 one and two-bedroom apartments on the site with commercial space on the ground floor facing the square.

But businessman Paul O’Brien was told when he decided to reduce the height of the building that the planning process would have to go back to the beginning.

North Somerset Council planners considered the new design to be a substantial change requiring a completely new application.

However the council seem to have relented and an agreement to fast track the planning process has been put in place.

This should facilitate an agreement this month allowing work on this town centre eyesore to begin.

The applicant asked Nailsea Town Council to support the principle of it being a minor amendment in the hope of accelerating the planning process.

Top is the originally drawing of the tower which has planning permission and right are the revised images showing new height projections.

Hope you aren't as confused as we are which is going to be the 'final look'?

WhatsApp Image 2025-08-27 at 17.27.32_1d2d2550.jpg

The Red Hat Society is a unique international playgroup for women of a certain age.

It promotes their passion of fun, friendship, fitness and the freedom to express themselves in positive ways.

It even produces a Red Hatter Handbook, that includes helpful resources (for instance party games and songbook) for Queens.

The RHS Bristol Belles chapter celebrated their third birthday with an afternoon party on Thursday, August 28.

This included good company, fine wine and fancy cakes at Downing’s Bar in Nailsea High Street.

A ‘chapter’ is the name given to the smaller groups of Hatters.

Each chapter runs independently, so they are all different in terms of how many members they have, how often they meet and what activities they do.

The person who founded the chapter is called the ‘Queen’ and Nailsea resident Jackie Lucas is the Queen Loquacious of the RHS Bristol Belles.

Jackie has extended an invitation to other women aged 50+ to join them.

She said: “It is a dedication to the fulfilment of lifelong dreams, gained all through the power of fun!”

Do you enjoy meeting new people, and are willing to wear purple and a red hat and go out and about having fun?

If you feel like growing old(er) disgracefully email Jackie at jtl-bristtolbelles@virginmedia.com to find out more.

TOP HAT: Although allowed to try on the hats, membership for bar host Geoff Downing who was thanked for his generous hospitality along with good sport magician/entertainer Steven Burley was declined