Cllr Gill Cleeve - Shottery

13/09/2026

I was delighted to be the first person to buy a wristband for next weekend’s Stratford Upon Avon Food Festival, sponsored by The Red Lion, Stratford upon Avon.

I bought mine because the wristband is not just about the stalls on the weekend. Shops, pubs and restaurants across town have signed up too, offering from 10% off to anyone wearing one. That means a busy festival weekend benefits the whole town, not just the market.

We often talk about supporting local businesses, and this is a really easy way to do it. Every pound spent in an independent shop or a family-run restaurant stays in Stratford. It keeps our high street varied, it keeps people in work, and it is a big part of why this town feels like it does.

So if you are heading in for the food, take the chance to wander a little further. Pop into the shops you have been meaning to try, stop somewhere for a drink, have a proper look around. The wristband makes it worth your while, and our local businesses will feel the difference.

Wristbands here: https://www.ticketsource.com/stratford-upon-avon-bid/stratford-upon-avon-food-festival-wristband-sponsored-by-the-red-lion-a-heartwood-inn/e-djbgdo

11/09/2026

Twenty-five years ago today, I was living in Portsmouth and working at the HM Land Registry when the news came through. I went home and sat in front of the television, watching it all unfold in disbelief.

I didn't lose anyone that day, and I know how fortunate that makes me. But New York wasn't a faraway place to me. My husband had just finished working there, and I'd spent a year travelling back and forth, getting to know and love the city. We were due to go back that December, with a table booked at Windows on the World, the restaurant on the 106th and 107th floors of the North Tower, to celebrate his birthday.

That dinner never happened. That morning changed the course of world politics, and it changed how so many of us see the world.

In the days that followed, people showed up for each other. Strangers queued to give blood. Firefighters, neighbours and volunteers worked side by side. People who had never set foot in New York lit candles and held one another up. When everything felt broken, it was community that carried people through, and it still is.

"If we learn nothing else from this tragedy, we learn that life is short and there is no time for hate."
Sandy Dahl, wife of Flight 93 pilot Jason Dahl

Today I remember everyone whose lives were lost, the courage of the first responders, and the families who have carried that loss ever since. May it remind us all to choose kindness, hold our loved ones a little closer, and never take a single moment for granted. ❤️

10/09/2026

It was a pleasure to attend the Stratford Town Trust AGM yesterday, with my former trustee's appreciation of the work that goes into an evening like this. Lovely to see the Trust's new 25th birthday film, featuring organisations including Escape Arts, Stratford upon Avon Foodbank, New Meaning Training Warwickshire, VASA Community Transport and Clopton Community Centre, beautifully filmed and put together by The Tall Photographer. Also great to see Stratford Upon Avon BID, Warwickshire & Solihull Community And Voluntary Action, Rubbish Friends Stratford Upon Avon, Tóra Wilson and so many other organisations there and represented, alongside its members.

Over the past 25 years the Trust has generated almost £45 million for our community, supporting nearly 3,500 groups, individuals and partners. In 2025 alone it awarded 102 grants totalling £1.3 million to local charities, schools and community groups. None of that happens without the dedication of the Trust's trustees and team, so thank you for everything you do.

Chief Executive Matthew Poole spoke about belonging being at the heart of the Trust's next strategy, because people who feel connected are more likely to get involved, volunteer and support one another. As he said, "This Town Trust does not belong to one individual. It belongs to all of us."

We're proud to be part of that story, and grateful for the difference it makes to the people we serve every day.

15/08/2026

Today at Bancroft Gardens.

13/08/2026

To everyone in Shottery and across Stratford collecting their A levels, T levels, and Level 3 results today: this is a proper milestone, and it’s worth taking a moment to acknowledge that.

Whatever the grades say, you’ve made it to a point where genuine choices open up. Some of you will head to university, others to apprenticeships, training, or work. All of it matters. All of it counts.

If today feels brilliant, brilliant. If it feels uncertain, that’s normal too, and there’s always someone to talk things through with.

Be proud of what you’ve achieved, I’m excited to see where you all go next. Our town’s future is in good hands.

Well done.

12/08/2026

🌒 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙤𝙡𝙖𝙧 𝙚𝙘𝙡𝙞𝙥𝙨𝙚 𝙞𝙨 𝙏𝙊𝘿𝘼𝙔! ☀️

I’m ridiculously excited about this one! This evening we should get a fantastic view of a partial solar eclipse from Stratford-upon-Avon, with more than 90% of the Sun covered at its peak.

For Stratford, the approximate timings are:

☀️ Eclipse begins: around 6.15 pm
🌒 Maximum eclipse: around 7.11 pm, with approximately 92% of the Sun obscured
☀️ Eclipse ends: around 8.05 pm

But please, watch it safely. Even when most of the Sun is covered, the remaining part is still bright enough to cause permanent eye damage.

𝙎𝙖𝙛𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙮𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙬𝙖𝙩𝙘𝙝:
🕶️ Use proper 𝗲𝗰𝗹𝗶𝗽𝘀𝗲 𝗴𝗹𝗮𝘀𝘀𝗲𝘀 or a solar viewer marked ISO 12312-2. Ordinary sunglasses are NOT safe, however dark they are.

📦 Make a 𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗵𝗼𝗹𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗿: make a tiny hole in a piece of card, stand with your back to the Sun and let the sunlight through the hole onto another piece of white card. You’ll see a little image of the eclipsed Sun projected onto it. Don’t look through the hole at the Sun.

🥣 Grab a 𝗰𝗼𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿: hold it so sunlight shines through the holes onto the ground, a wall or a sheet of white card. Each hole acts like a tiny pinhole projector and you should see lots of little crescent Suns!

🌳 Look 𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗮 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗳𝘆 𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗲: the gaps between the leaves act as natural pinhole projectors, so around maximum eclipse you may see dozens of crescent-shaped images of the Sun on the ground.

📱 𝘼𝙣𝙙 𝙖 𝙬𝙖𝙧𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙥𝙝𝙤𝙣𝙚: eclipse glasses protect your eyes, but they don’t protect your phone camera. Pointing a camera directly at the Sun can damage its sensor. If you want to photograph the eclipse itself, put a proper solar filter over the camera lens first. Don’t rely on sunglasses.

🔭 The same goes for cameras, binoculars and telescopes. Never look at the Sun through them without a proper solar filter fitted to the front of the equipment. Eclipse glasses on your eyes are not sufficient when looking through magnifying optics.

This should be a really special sight over Stratford this evening. Fingers crossed for clear skies!

If you get any good photos, particularly of your pinhole projections, crescent shadows or the changing light over Stratford, please share them in the comments. I’d love to see what everyone spots! 🌒☀️

06/08/2026

As many people are aware, an unauthorised encampment has been established at Cottage Lane Play Park.

We are pleased to inform the community that Stratford Safer Neighbourhood Team (SNT), working in partnership with Stratford District Council, has attended the site and served the appropriate notice to those involved.

We will continue to work closely with our partner agencies and monitor the situation.

^6013

05/08/2026

Some good news from last night’s Stratford upon Avon Town Council meeting.

I proposed that we look at bringing back our Stratford-upon-Avon Youth Town Council. It ran successfully for three years, from 2020 to 2023, but sadly we couldn’t sustain the interest to keep it going.

Now, thanks to Josh Turner, who came and spoke so passionately about it at yesterday’s meeting, we may be able to get it back up and running. It’s exactly the kind of energy this needs.

The plan is to set up a working group in the new term, and crucially we want to invite young people along to tell us how they want it to operate and what they want from it. This has to be shaped by them, not for them.

Watch this space, and thank you Josh for the push. This is what youth voice looks like.

24/07/2026

Empty Chairs Comes to Stratford

Brilliant to see Robin Ford and the Crowne Plaza Stratford Upon Avon launching Empty Chairs in Stratford. Their first session last week went really well, which tells you something about what happens when people show up for each others, the next one is at 6pm on July 28th.

This is a space for people to.. No agenda. No pressure. Just the chance to sit with someone.

We talk a lot about community, about neighbourliness, about isolation being a real issue in modern life. What we don’t always do is create the actual spaces where connection happens naturally. This is exactly what we need, especially here in Stratford where so many of us are juggling busy lives and can still feel pretty alone.

Robin saw something that mattered and acted on it. That’s good community leadership, and it matters.

If this resonates with you, if you’ve felt it, if you know people who have, come along. It’s at the Crowne Plaza, and if it lands well, it’ll grow from there.

Find out more at

A community-led campaign inviting people to sit together at pub tables across the UK - no one has to sit alone.

16/07/2026

Yesterday I had the pleasure of sitting down with Josh at Stratford Youth Collective alongside Aaron from Stratford Upon Avon BID!

Josh is full of exciting ideas for young people in Stratford, and we had a brilliant conversation about how we might be able to support him in making some of them happen.

What an incredible young lad. Watch this space! 👀