CLOSE to a thousand mourners gathered at Gloucester Cathedral for the funeral of Nick Bonnie.

Prince’s Trust worker Nick, 30, who grew up in King’s Stanley, died in the early hours of Saturday, September 28, after taking an illegal drug at the Warehouse Project nightclub in Manchester.

Dozens of friends helped to set out extra chairs but many had to settle for standing room only during the memorial service to say goodbye to their “most loyal friend”.

Store wars erupted in Stroud after Morrisons became the third supermarket development to be announced for the town in four months.

The proposal for a medium-sized outlet at the Stroud Metal Company site in Dudbridge Road – a stone’s throw from Sainsbury’s – was announced around the same time supermarket giant ASDA formally submitted plans for an outlet at Daniels Industrial Estate in Bath Road, Lightpill

Plans had been announced earlier in the year for an unknown supermarket at a brownfield site near the Ryeford junction on the Ebley bypass.

Environmental activist Rowan Burrough spent almost a week living in a tree on land off Belle Vue Road in Stroud in an attempt to stop developers from building on a badger sett.

Parents launched a petition to save St Rose’s School after it was revealed that the special educational needs school could face closure after it was deemed no longer financially viable due to a substantial fall in the number of pupils.

So far the petition has attracted more than 1,000 signatures. There is still a chance to sign the petition at ipetitions.com/petition/stop-st-roses-school-from-closing.

A group of 50 residents living in Woodchester Valley village in Nailsworth raised a staggering £2 million to save their homes.

Meanwhile SNJ reporter Hayley Mortimer raised £300 for the Door Youth Project by running the Stroud half marathon and Stroud Maternity Unit celebrated its 60th anniversary.