Truculent Manc popstar and Britpop enfant terrible Liam Gallagher was apparently spotted in Bisley recently, though we can rest easy - it seems he has moved to the area, but to Selsley, which, for non-locals, is four or five miles away near Stroud. Far enough. (For older villagers, Gallagher was the lead singer of the 1990s Beatles tribute act and musical beat combo, Oasis, m'lud, best known for the feud between Liam and his guitarist brother Noel and a few admittedly good songs.) The rumour is Liam is now renting Stanley Park, which was built in the 1800s for Sir Samuel Stephens Marling - the cloth magnate and Liberal MP for Stroud who lent his name to the boys' grammar school in the town.
The main reason for sharing this non-story though is to link to this interesting site showing the state the place was in in 2014, and, conversely, what it's like now. Some renovation job, that!
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The Saint Cecilia Singers - the very highly-regarded chamber choir of Gloucester cathedral - are in Bisley this coming weekend to perform ‘The Bisley Boy'.
For the uninitiated, apocryphal local legend has it that the ‘virgin queen', Elizabeth I, was actually a man from Bisley, having as a child replaced the-then nine year old Princess Elizabeth after she drowned in a well at Overcourt House. There is some grounding in fact: in 1542 she was indeed staying at Overcourt, her father Henry VIII having ordered that she be removed to the countryside to escape an outbreak of plague in London. Fearful of Henry's wrath at the death of his daughter, her guardians found a small boy from Bisley who could be passed off as the young Elizabeth, and Henry never noticed. The legend has been dramatised in music and song and will be staged at All Saints Church at 7.30pm on Saturday May 11. Tickets are available priced £20 (admission is free for under-16s) via this link or by cash and card on the day. Tomorrow (Thursday May 9) will see the 161st Ascension Day Well Dressing.
Started in 1863 by the village's then vicar, Rev Thomas Keble, it was organised as a way to give thanks for Bisley's fabulous, gushing, and, importantly, clean spring water - an interesting reminder of a time before the days of tap water and antibiotics, when death in childhood was commonplace. It's also interesting in that this is a much more common practice in the Derbyshire Peaks - as far as we know, we are the only village in Gloucestershire which has this tradition. As ever, it will be led by the children of Bisley Blue Coat Church of England Primary School. The flowers will be available to see in the school playground before the church service, which starts next door at 1.30pm, and will be followed by the procession to the wells for the dressing at 2pm, and then tea and cakes in the village hall courtesy of the WI. Here's a link to some photos from last year's event. |
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