Cheltenham had a week that actually moved the needle: a High Street comeback, a bridge finally reopening, a heritage flashpoint over a beloved pub, and a wave of neighbourly action that makes the town feel smaller in the best way. We start with Topshop’s return to bricks-and-mortar inside John Lewis—why it matters for choice, fit, and service—and the A40’s Hambrook Bridge reopening after grueling repairs that hit local trade for months. Then we dig into the Bell Inn’s planned conversion and what it means when living history risks becoming a memory on Bath Road.

From there, community energy takes over. Myra Showers and Cheltenham Town’s shirt partnership channeled £72,000 to Young Lives vs Cancer, funding mental health support, family stays, and life logistics when it’s all too much. A 12-year-old’s zebra crossing campaign is within a few hundred pounds of the finish line, proof that smart local pressure changes streets for the better. We also share a heads-up for Haven’s Coffee’s brief service changes, a police-advised alert on a suspicious van in Prestbury and Leckhampton, and a children’s book drive at Regent Arcade that turns preloved stories into real joy.

Our guest, Beth from Barking Buds, brings the most actionable segment: how scent work and rally transform everyday dogs. If recall stalls or loose-lead walking frays, this is your playbook. Beth shows why training on lead can still build focus, how to choose the right motivator—treat, toy, or sniff—and why consistency beats cleverness. We talk youth trainer programmes that boost kids’ confidence, mentoring for aspiring adult trainers, and how a scrappy Covid-era start created a library of video resources that now make owners more self-sufficient. For puppies, we get crisp timelines: start gentle one-to-ones at home after a week of settling, wait for vaccinations for group classes around twelve weeks, and introduce harnesses slowly with rewards so the walk starts calm, not combative.

Round it out with what’s on: YMCA Sleep Easy fundraising, a craft beer festival, a Radiohead tribute at Town Hall, and a sweep through the Everyman, Playhouse, Bacon Theatre, and more. It’s a full circuit of what to know, where to go, and how to help your dog thrive so your streets, parks, and living rooms all feel better.

If this helped you plan your week or train smarter with your pup, follow the show, share it with a neighbour, and leave a quick review—it helps more Cheltenham folks find us.

Zebra Crossing Campaign

Sleep Easy YMCA

Friends of Cheltenham Samaritans February Craft Beer Festival

Friday Tickets

Saturday Tickets

The Radiohead Project, a stunning live tribute celebrating Radiohead's

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What if the classroom that finally works isn’t a room at all, but a quiet clearing in the woods? We sit down with Stacy, founder of Children Lead the Way CIC in Cheltenham, to uncover how a forest-based, trauma-informed community helps anxious and neurodivergent children feel safe, reconnect with learning, and rebuild trust—one hammock swing, tree net bounce, and woodwork project at a time.

Stacy’s journey began at home when her son hit severe separation anxiety and burnout at four. Traditional strategies failed, but nature didn’t. In the forest, the nervous system found cues of safety and regulation. That insight became a child-led model where behaviour is seen as communication, not defiance; safety is the foundation, not a reward; and play, choice, and attuned adults do the heavy lifting. We explore how sessions actually run, why the first 30 minutes often focus on settling and co-regulation, and how parallel play gradually turns into authentic friendship when pressure lifts and predictability rises.

We also dig into support for families and schools. Parents stay on site, build community, and shed the self-blame that often comes with school refusal or emotional-based school distress. On the education side, Stacy’s team collaborates with teachers on practical, psychology-informed adjustments that reduce overwhelm and increase connection—through their Seen Herd Supported training, EHCP guidance, and thoughtful environmental tweaks. Growth has been rapid: from seven families to dozens, with plans for secondary sessions and a pioneering GCSE in Nature and Wellbeing that recognises diverse ways to achieve and thrive.

This conversation is a blueprint for inclusive education across Gloucestershire: not a replacement for school, but a partner that widens the path. If you care about SEND support, trauma-informed practice, sensory regulation, or simply want to see children fall back in love with learning, you’ll find hope and concrete ideas here. Subscribe, share with someone who needs it, and leave a review to help more families and schools find this story.

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What if you could watch a city grow before your eyes? Jonathan from Majestic Studios joins us to share how he turns dusty engravings and archival photos into living, breathing histories using AI, careful research and a documentary maker’s eye. This isn’t about flashy tricks. It’s about building trust: start with a rock-solid script, choose a measured voice that sounds like a real historian, and guide the visuals so they evolve smoothly from a Roman fort to a modern skyline without losing plausibility.

We dig into the leap from quick viral shorts to 30-minute, 4K documentaries and why long-form is where real immersion happens. Jonathan breaks down the pipeline, from selecting reference images and generating motion to stitching timelines that feel cinematic on a TV. He’s candid about the challenges too: fact-checking when sources clash, hunting down AI glitches before they slip by, and tackling audience expectations when the subject is London, Paris, or soon, New York and Rome. The archive is vast, the pressure is real, and the pay-off is a clear, visual map through centuries that holds attention without noise.

Beyond technique, we talk about what survives when AI lowers the barrier to entry. Storytelling still separates signal from slop. Taste, pacing and editorial judgement turn tools into films. That stance shapes Jonathan’s vision for Majestic Studios: a go-to history channel for living rooms, not just phone feeds, expanding from cities to figures and inventions while keeping accuracy and clarity at its core. If you’re curious about where AI genuinely adds value to education, creativity and cultural memory, you’ll find a thoughtful, grounded roadmap here.

Subscribe, share with a fellow history fan, and leave a review telling us which city, figure or invention you want to see brought to life next.

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