Stroud District Council update - w/c 24 August 2026

As we head towards the end of the school summer holidays, there's still plenty happening across the district for residents and visitors to enjoy.

The final Big Summer Picnic & Play event takes place at Stratford Park on Friday 28 August from 10am to 4pm. These free family events have been hugely popular throughout August, offering everything from sports and games to arts, crafts, museum activities and entertainment. If you're planning to attend, please remember that overflow parking is available at SGS College and Tesco when the main car park is full.

The Museum in the Park will also be open on Bank Holiday Monday, giving visitors a final chance to see the popular Park Life exhibition, which celebrates our parks and green spaces through a range of artwork.

There's exciting progress to report on the Canal project, with work now underway on the 'missing mile' section that will eventually take the restored canal beneath the M5. The project's Bonds Mill Lift Bridge has also been shortlisted for a prestigious award, and there's still time to vote in the People's Choice category before it closes on 28 August.

If you have an idea for a community project, now is a great time to find out more about Stroud Funding, our community crowdfunding platform. Since launching in April 2024, it has helped raise more than £588,000 for local projects across the district. Two workshops are taking place in September for anyone interested in learning how to develop a project and launch a crowdfunding campaign. Why not take a look at the website for inspiration, and to sign up.

Finally, if you'd like to keep up to date with council news, events, service updates and other local information, why not sign up for our weekly email bulletin? It lands in subscribers' inboxes every Friday and is a simple way to stay informed about what's happening across the district. Sign up at www.stroud.gov.uk/emailalerts