THE year began by getting rid of the old to make way for the new, with the demolition of former college buildings at Five Acres as part of the £9 million project to build a new leisure centre.

Deputy Leader of Forest of Dean District Council Paul Hiett said it was “fantastic” that residents were able to see tangible progress in the redevelopment of the site, which forms part of the wider £20 million Levelling Up project for the Forest. 

Throughout the year, the council held consultation with the public and key stakeholders on the designs for the centre, which include space for community and business uses and an outreach education facility for Hartpury University and College.

The plans have since been revised to include space for a potential swimming pool.

The first phase of the project is now well underway, with demolition complete and the refurbishment and extension of the retained Speedwell Building set to begin soon.

Elsewhere, the new cafe opened for business at Lydney Harbour as part of its £2.1 million redevelopment. 

The cafe, run by Lydney’s Hips Social, has proved a popular addition to the site, and the wider development - funded by a grant from the government’s Coastal Communities Fund - has now been completed. 

The works have included the addition of a visitor information hub and public toilets, the resurfacing of harbour road, tree planting, a new art trail inspired by the harbour’s industrial heritage and a lit pathway from the harbour to the railway station.

A CALL for candidates to stand for election as a Forest verderer was officially made in February, following the death of Maurice Bent of Ruardean in 2021.

The election was held just weeks later at Gloucester Cathedral and was contested by two candidates - former head of the Foresters Forest Landscape Partnership Sue Middleton and freeminer and geologist Spencer Thomas. 

And Sue made history by becoming the first female to hold the post since it was created 800 years ago. 

In a short speech before the election - which consisted of a show of hands - Sue said: “I have always believed that our Forest is a very special place, but in the last seven years I have learnt so much more about our natural, built and cultural heritage because I have led the Foresters’ Forest programme. 

“It has been the best sort of apprenticeship to become a Verderer.” 

The High Sheriff of Gloucestershire, Mrs Jane Tufnell, hosted the election along with the three other Verderers, Mr Bob Jenkins, Mr Ian Standing and Mr Rich Daniels.

THE Forest made prime-time TV in March when popular variety show Ant and Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway came to Whitecroft.

Presenter Andy Peters rocked up for a burger at the Only Food and Sauces bus, run by Caroline Pritchard and assistant Jill Coles, as part of a segment of the show celebrating food businesses with unusual names.

The double decker is a homage to another TV great, beloved sitcom Only Fools and Horses.

Owner Caroline said: “It was a brilliant day but very tiring.”

“I couldn’t believe it when they contacted me but I thought it was my son fooling around. 

“He’s forever trying to get one over on me.” 

Her eldest son Jarred and brother Isaac turned up as Batman and Robin – another echo of a much-loved scene from the show.

Caroline had to keep the visit of the TV cameras a secret until the night before –  when she was able to put out an appeal for people to go along and cheer along.

Some 200 people crowded around the bus as Caroline delivered her two lines to the camera. 

Also in March, “the world’s largest indoor farm” was given permission to start growing as councillors green lit plans to convert the site of the former JD Metal Foundry in Lydney.

Food producer the Jones Food Company (JFC) are building a new state-of-the-art hydroponic, vertical farm at the site, where they will grow mainly leafy greens and herbs. 

The company says the facility will “comfortably” be the largest facility of its kind in the world.

THE Co-op announced it was ending its 148-year presence in the centre of Cinderford in April, marking the end of a long-running battle between major supermarkets in the town.

The company sold its Dockham Road store to rivals Tesco having previously stopped them, and later Asda, from building there over a period of more than 10 years. 

The store reopened as a Tesco in September, retaining the Post Office and Your Coop Travel branches.

Rupert Newman, Chief Retail Officer for Your Co-op, said at the time of the sale: “We would like to thank all our customers and members for shopping with us over the years we have been in Cinderford and I’d like to give a special thanks to all of our colleagues at the store, whose hard work and dedication has been incredible.” 

Elsewhere, a mystery resident took matters into their own hands to initiate  repairs on a damaged road - by marking out a string of potholes themselves.

District Councillor Richard Leppington had contacted Gloucestershire County Council’s Highways team to come out and assess the poor condition of a stretch of Bream Avenue.

But when the Highways team arrived there to mark out the potholes for repair, they found they’d been beaten to the punch.

The team told Cllr Leppington it was nothing to do with them and were mystified as to who had carried out the work.

Both parties guessed it had been done by a local resident.

Cllr Leppington said: “They’ve done a great job of it whoever has done it, I’ve never seen anything quite like it.” 

But he added: “What we don’t want is a situation where people are heading out onto the roads with paint brushes - it really should go through the proper channels.”

THE owners of a family-run jewellers in Lydney were left to pick up the pieces after their shop front was ‘ram-raided’ by thieves in May. 

The frontage of Taylors Jewellers was driven into by offenders in the early hours of May 25.

Two men entered the shop and made off with a number of jewellery boxes, which turned out to be empty, before fleeing the scene in a vehicle.

Then, shortly before 5am, police attended “an altercation” in the town centre and, on arrival, one man ran away.

A foot chase took place before officers commandeered a bicycle and cycled up to the man and arrested him. 

A second man was arrested later that day.

Both men, a 22 year-old from Lydney and a 25 year-old from Monmouth, have since pleaded guilty to being involved in the burglary. 

On a lighter note, May also saw children from St Briavels and Redbrook primary schools receive top honours at the RHS Malvern Spring Festival for a garden designed and created to celebrate Her Majesty the Queen as “a woman that can”. 

The pupils were beaming with pride after their Platinum Jubilee-themed garden received a ‘Highly Commended’ award at the show, and was even given the Royal seal of approval from Her Royal Highness Princess Anne.

The children up-cycled a soapbox derby go cart and turned it into the Queen’s Land Rover, planted out with a range of spring flowers.

And, inspired by Her Majesty’s time spent working as a mechanic during World War Two, the pupils came up with the idea of adding in the Queen’s legs - complete with a kilt and diamond-encrusted shoes - to the underside of the Landy to demonstrate her “this girl can” attitude.

STREET parties and community events were held the length and breadth of the Forest to celebrate the Platinum Jubilee of Her Majesty the Queen in June.

The celebrations were given an official start with the reading of the Proclamation of the Jubilee by the Chair of the Forest Council, Cllr Julia Gooch, at the council offices in Coleford, where she was joined by local dignitaries including Forest MP Mark Harper and the Vice Lord Lieutenant of Gloucestershire Roger Deeks. 

Lydney Mayor Cllr Natasha Saunders planted oak trees and hosted family events across the weekend, while the beacon on Primrose Hill was also lit to mark the occasion.

There was a large crowd for the lighting of the Cinderford beacon in The Triangle, while there were street parties in Church Road, Commercial Street and Market Street in the town.

The beacon lighting at Mayhill featured specially composed music by piper Trevor Reynaert and bugler Craig Wintle, who are both members of Longhope British Legion.

And in Newent, Gary Brown stood in for Her Majesty, complete with a coach, for a cream tea celebration at the memorial hall. 

Elsewhere, a 200-year-old harbour wall dating back to the industrial revolution was discovered as part of restoration works by the Environment Agency in Lydney. 

The teams were surprised to discover the stonework at Lydney Harbour, which has Scheduled Ancient Monument status, during the removal of vegetation along a canal basin bank.

The canal and basin were originally built between 1810 and 1813, while the outer harbour was completed in 1821.

Look out for part 2 next week