Friday 14th January 2011 Last chocolate bar made at historic factory
The Cadbury factory at Keynsham near Bristol has made its last bar of
chocolate. The factory has been making chocolate since 1919 but new
owners of the historic Cadbury brand, American firm Kraft, has closed
the Somerdale plant despite pledging not to do so during the takeover
in February 2010. Kraft has no plans to officially mark the end of
almost 100 years of chocolate making at the Somerdale plant. Double
Deckers were the last chocolates in production at the site. Production
is now being moved to Poland. Bristol

Wednesday 10th November 2010 Severn river toll in price hike
Car drivers face a 20p rise to use the two Severn crossings from next
year, with the toll rising to £5.70. Van drivers and truckers face
even larger rises. Van drivers face a 60p increase on the current
£10.90, while HGV tolls will rise by 80p to £17.20. MPs on the Welsh
Affairs Select Committee by the UK Transport Minister Mike Penning
announced the increases in January. Mr Penning told the committee that
queuing onto the Second Severn Crossing affects the Welsh economy. He
said: "The queuing and the congestion does affect the economy, there's
no doubt about that, because it's all to do with perception." Bristol

Friday 6th August 2010 Cars powered by poo hit the streets of Bristol
A VW Beetle running on methane gas has been driving the streets of Bristol to showcase sustainable motoring. The so-called ‘Bio-Bug’ runs on methane gas generated from raw sewage. Wessex Water engineers have suggested that 70 homes produce enough waste to run the car for 10,000 miles. Contrary to what you might expect, the car does not produce a nasty smell: "It performs like a normal car - you wouldn't know it was powered by biogas," a company spokesman explained, adding: “Our site has been producing biogas for many years which we use to generate electricity to power the site and export to the National Grid. We decided to power a vehicle on the gas, offering a sustainable alternative to using fossil fuels which we so heavily rely on in the UK." Bristol

Monday 26th July 2010 Council stadium rejection leads to protest march
Bristol City FC fans, and some players, took to the streets on 25 July 2010 for the first time in the club's history to express their disappointment at a recent council decision which has blocked plans for a new team stadium. The fans staged a protest after the council decided against Sainsbury's application to build a new store near the new ground. The march started at the current Ashton Gate ground and went over to the nearby Ashton Vale, where the club hopes to build a £92m 30,000-seater stadium. Bristol

Monday 26th April 2010 Ice falls through roof in Bristol
A football-sized lump of ice punched a hole through a roof in a
Bristol house after it fell from the sky. Alan Wood and his wife Gwen
were at home decorating when the ice pierced their roof. It is likely
the ice fell from an aeroplane with a water leak.

Mrs Wood, 72, said: "I was on the landing and knowing he's got heart
problems that's the first thing I thought," she said. It was a hell of
a bang, a terrific rumble, and then I looked out and the tiles were
just falling off the roof over the window." Bristol

Thursday 15th April 2010 Tree snails saved in Bristol zoo
The world’s last colony of a rare tree snail is being nurtured in the
confines of Bristol zoo. The zoo is attempting to save the species,
which are originate from Raiatea in French Polynesia. The
centimetre-long Partula faba snail is now extinct in the wild but what
is thought to be the world’s last colony is now being cared for a in a
temperature controlled room in Bristol Zoo.

Keeper Grier Ewins of Bristol Zoo said: "Tree snails are incredibly
endangered, with Partula faba being one of the most endangered of them
all - they really are on the edge of survival." Bristol

Monday 29th March 2010 New flood defences in Bristol
Gates weighing 50 tonnes each will be installed at Bristol's historic
docks in the next few days. The steel back-up lock gates, known as
leaves, were shipped 1,000 miles from the site of their manufacture at
the Deest shipyard in the Netherlands. The gates were specially built
by Dutch shipyard and construction company Ravestein.

The 140-year-old Victorian wooden lock gates at Junction Lock will now
make way for these modern replacements. A pontoon barge will take the
gates into Junction Lock before they are lifted into place by a
500-tonne crane. Work is expected to finish on Wednesday of this week.
The work is part of an ongoing programme of repair and replacement at
the docks costing about £11m. Bristol

Wednesday 24th March 2010 £200,000 more for Cabot Tower
Bristol’s Cabot Tower has been granted an extra £200,000 in
restoration funds by English Heritage. The tower needs an estimated
£420,000 worth of work after investigations found serious structural
problems in the tower’s masonry. The tower was originally built
between 1896 and 1898 to mark the 400th anniversary of explorer John
Cabot’s voyage to America from 1947. The explorer left England sailing
from Bristol, which for many years was one of the country’s most
important Atlantic ports.

Councillor Simon Cook, Cabinet member for culture, sport and capital
projects, said said: "Work has been ongoing since the start of the
month and will continue now in stages through the year and into 2011
on this complex restoration project. But the end result will mean that
this much-loved landmark will be re-opened then for all to enjoy once
again." The council have committed £150,000 to the project. Bristol

Tuesday 9th February 2010 Target practice for Bristol’s spitting fish
Artificial flies are being used to hone the hunting techniques of a
shoal of spitting fish in a Bristol aquarium. In the absence of the
usual prey of flies, mosquitoes and spiders the fish could let their
skills become rusty so staff at the aquarium have put out some target
practice for their eight spitting fish.

Each the fish get the aim right and hit the target, a portion of fish
food is dislodged and drops into the water as their reward. Senior
aquarist Lindsay Holloway said: "In the summer if we have some insects
flying around I'll be surprised if they don't go for them." Bristol

Monday 4th January 2010 Baby boom at Bristol Zoo
Staff and keepers at Bristol Zoo face an uphill task to complete their
annual census after a boom in births in 2009. It seems the zoo’s 450
species of animals and insects were very busy expanding their families
at the end of the last decade. Births have included four meerkat pups,
three Malagasy giant jumping rats, seven penguin chicks and much, much
more. Some of the aviaries now have flocks of birds in them that a zoo
spokesman said might prove impossible to log individually.

Senior curator John Partridge explained that a physical count was
needed to cross check computer data and said: "Our collection records
are far more than a simple count - we know precise information on
individual animals and groups, which we share with colleagues around
the world to help manage our animals." Bristol