A 'Cotswold Ranger'

I arranged to meet Ryan at lunchtime today and we drove up to an area of Stroud Town called Uplands. I wanted to hear about the plans of the recently formed Cotswold Rangers football team, who have asked the Town Council if they can possibly use the playing field next to the allotment at Uplands for their football club.

Ryan is a founder, and now the Chairman, of the club and we walked around the site so that I could have a sense of the impact on the neighbourhood of a football team and its necessary resources. I think it could be an excellent addition to the community, as they seem to have a very inclusive attitude to those who might want to join the team, and clearly are on their way.

They will be presenting their proposal to our Council in a short while and by discussing both their needs and ours I hope the process will be successful for us all. Better use of the town's open spaces must be a positive outcome, as long as there are no hidden problems. That is why the various committees must discuss the positive potential, whilst foreseeing and dealing with any problems.

The elevated site is in a fantastic setting, looking south westwards through the gap in the Cotswold hills where Stroud is sited, out across the Severn Vale. It does get rather breezy though, which he says is not going to be a big problem. You can see Doverow Hill in the background which is an outlier from the main escarpment.

I asked Ryan if he minded me taking his picture, along with the general reference shots of the site that I also took. He told me he wasn't very photogenic, but I disagree.