Silly sports event in park

A group of volunteers has set up a keep fit group with a difference.
The Silly Army meets every Sunday in Kings Park, Boscombe, to play crazy sports like polo on spacehoppers, dodgeball with peanut shaped foam balls, spacehopper sumo, and footnetball - a cross between netball and football. They also lark about playing kids' games too, like splat and bulldog.
Club chairman Pete Reed said: "The things we play vary each week, we are always inventing and trying new games, and in the summertime, to keep cool everyone brings along water guns."
The group meets at 1pm each week and the sessions are free.

School to take extra pupils

Corpus Christi Catholic School in Boscombe is one of 10 primary schools earmarked to take extra pupils to cope with extra demand for places.
The school in St James's Square, off Parkwood Road, could take up to 30 pupils under plans announced by Bournemouth Borough Council.
The council says it needs a further eight reception classes next year because of a record rise in the birth rate in the borough.
The council is also considering creating a new primary school to cope with a predicted future increase in pupil numbers.
Neil Goddard, service director for children’s strategic services, said: "This is an issue facing not only us, but the UK as a whole, and urban areas in particular. Pupil numbers are increasing across Bournemouth with particular pressure on the centre and south east of the borough."

Shopping pledge campaign falters

A councillor is hoping boost trade in Boscombe by getting people to do all their shopping there.
Lisa Northover (Lib Dem, Boscombe West) has already pledged to shop nowhere else but Boscombe for nine weeks after Christmas and is asking 10 others to join her.
Cllr Northover launched the campaign last month but so far only four people have signed up.
The deadline to sign the pledge is Christmas Day. You can sign up here.

Art to lure visitors to precinct

Calling all public artists... Bournemouth Borough Council is commissioning an art trail to link Boscombe town centre to the seafront along Sea Road.
The council says it has £74,000 to spend on the project which will consist of seven pieces of public art.
The money is from the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE) Sea Change project, which aims to stimulate cultural and economic growth in seaside areas.
The successful applicant will be expected to engage with the community during the project's development stage before creating "high quality and robust, site-specific artworks" that will form an "orientation feature and art trail".
The deadline for submissions is Thursday, December 3, at 5pm.
You can download the brief here.

RNLI releases reef training video

The RNLI has released a video of a training exercise at Boscombe.
Lifeguards practiced how to launch a recovery jetski and rescue a surfer in trouble on the reef.
RNLI lifeguards will be patrolling the reef during daylight hours 365 days a year following its launch earlier this month.

Kings Park School refurbishment approved

The council has given the go-ahead for a £5.3m refurbishment of Kings Park School.
The money has come from the Government's primary capital programme, which aims to improve facilities at primary schools across the country.
The Department for Children Schools and Families has also given a further £200,000 to improve the school's kitchen and dining facilities.
St Michael's School in Bournemouth will also undergo similar improvements and, when complete, both schools will have capacity for an extra 210 pupils.

Families produce area cycle map

A map of cycling and walking routes in Boscombe and Springbourne is being launched next week.
The map has been compiled by families from Boscombe Children's Centre with the help of Sustrans, the sustainable transport charity.
Boscombe Children’s Centre manager Lynn Bourne said: "We have been working closely with Sustrans this year to help encourage local families to consider walking and cycling as a healthy and environmentally friendly alternative to driving. The main problem seemed to be that families didn’t feel safe enough to walk or cycle on our busy roads and were unsure of the areas with cycle lanes and appropriate footpaths."
Local families are invited to help launch the map at Boscombe Children's Centre next Wednesday, November 25, at 1pm.
The free A4 colour map will be available from the centre after the launch.