The last survivor of a torpedoed World War II ship has died aged 101 - on his daughter s birthday - after testing positive for Covid-19.
Dennis Morley, from Chalford, near Stroud, Gloucestershire, was a prisoner on the Japanese ship Lisbon Maru when it was attacked by an American submarine in 1942 and more than 800 captured British troops died when it went down.
Mr Morley survived and after being rescued from the sea remained a prisoner of war of the Japanese until Christmas Day 1945.
Exactly 75 years later he spent Christmas 2020 in Gloucestershire Royal Hospital being treated for a leg infection and a fall.
Tributes have been paid to David Eastwood, who died last month aged 83. David, who was born in London but spent the majority of his life in Nailsworth, had battled Parkinson s disease for the last 12 years. He was well know in the Stroud district, having been a member of various clubs and societies. David trained as a commercial artist before he saw action in Cyprus and Suez as a Royal Marine Commando as part of his National Service. After meeting his wife, Carol, he trained in youth service and later spent 20 years as youth officer for the Stroud district. David, who has three children and four grandchildren, was also the Postmaster at Amberley Post Office for a short period.
Boris Johnson read a Christmas card created by a Stroud student after they won MP Siobhan Baillie’s Christmas competition. Year six pupil Oscar McCracken, from Thrupp Primary School, made a colourful design of a robin in a Christmas tree which was judged the best card against a high standard of entries from children across Stroud. The card, which also featured images from three runners-up on the back, was sent by Mrs Baillie to people across the country including the Prime Minister. “Many congratulations to Oscar for his lovely picture that I know will cheer everyone up when they receive it,” said Mrs Baillie.
River Frome at Brimscombe and Thrupp and at Chalford have been issued a red warning. A spokesman for The Environment Agency said: River levels are slowly rising at the Brimscombe river gauge and the Chalford river gauge as a result of recent heavy rainfall. Consequently, flooding of property, roads and farmland is expected to continue. We expect flooding to affect properties and roads in the Brimscombe and Thrupp area. Our incident response staff are liaising with emergency services. Please avoid contact with flood water and avoid using low lying footpaths near local watercourses.
It was great to hear that cyclists and walkers will benefit from Community Infrastructure Levy funding after the council agreed to spend more than £350,000 on creating or upgrading cycle paths in the district. May I suggest that some of the money is spent on improving and making safer the cycle route from Stroud to Chalford? Encouraging active travel and getting more people to cycle to work and for leisure is to be applauded. This is good cheer indeed for walkers and cyclists, as exercise is so important to physical and mental health in these challenging times. Lucas Schoemaker