Ship Inn Community Enterprise - Spice

03/09/2026

Come and try out an ebike on Sunday from 11-3 for our Walkfest Welcome event.

🚲 Ding Ding! We're launching two new types of e-bike to help even more people try out power-assisted cycling 🚲

🌟 Introducing 🌟 our brand new accessible e-trike for riders who need a bit more support and stability AND our newly converted Swytch bike - so you can test out how conversions ride for yourself!

Take a look & book through https://www.pedal-power.bike

Thanks to our brilliant partners and funders for helping us to grow our project even more! The Bike Shack in Stonehouse, The Bike Drop Stroud District Council Gloucestershire County Council and the Stroud Valleys Cycle Campaign for their generous support.

And Mouse About Town for the lovely piccies :)

03/09/2026

Transition Stroud will be at our event on Sunday with e-bikes that people are welcome try out. Remember to bring some form on ID with you if you'd like to take them for a ride.

They are hoping to show their newly converted Swytch bike - converted just this week by local bike shop The Bike Shack, as well as one of their eJoys - a more family-friendly ride that comes with a big carrying capacity and child seat.

About the project:
Pedal Power - E-bikes for everyone
Nearest Stonehouse pick-ups from The Bridge Cafe on Stonehouse High St.

See you on Sunday from 11-3pm on the Ship Inn Community Space to have a go on one of these bikes!

02/09/2026

Our Walkfest Welcome event is just 4 days away! This will be a great day - open to everyone. Come and enjoy a nice day by the canal, here in Stonehouse - have your breakfast, lunch and if you're like us - dinner as well. We are usually so busy during our events, but Los Cubanos Ltd can wrap it up for later if you like!

Enjoy free boat trips with The Cotswold Canals Trust, a Digital Heritage Walk at 11am, a Teddy Bear Walk - including Zip wire adventure from St Cyrs at 12 noon for children of all ages! We'll be back then for a picnic.

Find out how you can get around our beautiful area and where you can go. Come and register for your Stonehouse Walking Festival GL10 walks.

See you all soon!

22/08/2026

Looking for prizes for our ShIPS dice game which we'll be enjoying at our Walkfest Welcome event on Sunday 6th - we need several prizes with a value of about £5 and a few bigger ones. Let us know if you have anything by emailing [email protected]

20/08/2026

Everyone is welcome - even your teddy bears at our event on Sunday 6th September 11-3. The Ship Inn Community Space will be open to all. We'll be showcasing Stonehouse and our surrounding area - how and where to get around on foot or cycle and learning about our history, as well as having fun on site. All our stallholders are from Stonehouse or Stroud. Keeping it local and supporting our town.

We'll be doing burgers (Frocester Fayre Farm shop), and there'll be Cuban food from Los Cubanos Ltd. Stroud Brewery & Taproom will be serving your favourite beers and Bubble and Brew will have their amazing coffees - hot or ice cold and a selection of other drinks and sweet treats - some especially for those with teddies!

So dig out and dust off your teddies and show them a good time in our picnic area. There just might be some fun entertainment! Dress them up - we'll be off at 12 noon for a teddy bear walk to St Cyr's Church - Stonehouse for a zip wire experience from the tower and back soon for chilling on our canalside site with our friends and families.

To book the teddy walk go to Stonehouse Walking Festival GL10: website:
https://stonehousewalkfest.wixsite.com/walkstonehouse/event-info/teddy-walk-zip-picnic-2026

19/08/2026

Welcome, Stroud Valleys Cycle Club!

We are super excited to announce that the Stroud Valleys Cycle Club will be joining us with a stall at our upcoming Walkfest Welcome event!

When: Sunday 6th September, 11:00 AM – 3:00 PM

Where: Ship Inn Community Space

What to expect: Drop by their stall to chat about local cycling opportunities, find out more about Cycling UK, and pick up tips and advice for cycling around our beautiful valleys—whether you are a seasoned rider or just getting back in the saddle!

https://www.stroudvalleyscyclingclub.org.uk

While you are there, enjoy free taster walks, boat trips, great food, and family-friendly activities. Bring teddy bears (will be a teddy bear picnic) and enjoy chilling out on our community space.

See you all there!

  Welcome to Stroud Valleys Cycling Club website. Our club is a Member Group of Cycling UK The club welcomes

18/08/2026

More work accomplished this morning. Thank you to Carol - filling our gabions, using stones found on site. Marcus, Paul, Laurence and Jan continued work on our accessible slope to the pontoon, Lorraine also worked hard moving rocks and lumps of waste concrete from our compound and distributing it to another area which needs filling.
And also our youngest volunteer who was keen to help and took some great photos!!
We also had a meeting on site - seems our Regatta was a hit with Stroud Valley Canoe Club and Cotswold Boatmobility as well. It may be back next year!

13/08/2026

Another morning's work today before it got far too hot!

Paul and Gill got started levelling off the area immediately in front of our main gates. Marcus finished off the framework for our entrance sign, and then with Mike's help we positioned the gabions and got the posts in with a few rocks and broken concrete found on site to secure them in place. Then the frame was lifted into position, levelled and screwed into place. This now needs wood treatment before the sign can be put up, and some solar powered lights will follow.

Paul moved on to the pontoon walkway area to tidy up the edge of the first gradient. This meant cutting away the bank so planks of wood can be positioned at the bottom of the fence behind the posts, and together with a sheet of plastic should stop the edge from slipping down onto the path.

Carol was summoned to monitor positioning of rocks in the first gabion but by then we were all sweltering so much we had to put tools away. Even our out of date icecreams didn't do much to cool us down but they were very welcome.

Adjourning til next Tuesday's work party but no doubt some of us will be back at cooler times to tinker away in the meantime.

12/08/2026

We've had a couple of great days of grafting on site and progress can be seen.

Yesterday it was lots of pick-axe, shoveling and raking of earth and stones as Paul and Gill tackled the repositioning of the green waffle boards at our entrance. We now have better access for wheelchair users and less trip hazards! Paul also did some weeding in this area - lots of persistant brambles keep poking through!

Today new volunteer Laurence made putting in fence posts on our walkway look easy! Amazing work - makes such a difference having volunteers with years of experience. Only a few more to do now before we can move on to the next stage of this project. Mike was satisfied they were standing up straight, Marcus stood guard as safety manager whilst Carol enjoyed watching the swan family on the canal!

Marcus soon found alternative employment constructing some heavy-duty posts for mounting our entry sign. These will be placed in gabions (assembled by Gill). Now he will make the sign's framework which will incorporate solar lights!
Next job will be choosing stones to go in the gabions to hold them in position. Carol will be keen to ensure they are carefully chosen and artistically placed - in keeping with her other great works! Looking forward to getting our sign up at last!

We are back in the morning to see what we can finish off. If anyone else fancies giving us a hand, we'd very much appreciate it.

Thank you all.