This week on Love Shrewsbury

Shrewsbury’s new mayor officially opened a leisure company’s ‘Christmas adventure’ yesterday (Thursday) to lift spirits in the town following the latest Covid-19 lockdown.

Councillor Gwen Burgess paid a visit to Salop Leisure’s headquarters, based alongside Shrewsbury bypass at Emstrey, where the company is pulling out all the stops to make the festive season memorable and safe for customers of all ages after a challenging year.

Love Plants, the specialist plants centre based at Shrewsbury’s caravan and motorhome dealership Salop Leisure, is offering tips to shoppers as they prepare to buy their Christmas tree for the home or office.

Shoppers have a choice of freshly cut Christmas trees or potted varieties with roots in a range of species and heights. Cut trees often come with a slice of wood to stand them upright.

A Christmas party and a visit from Santa will be among the highlights at a Shropshire sports coaching company’s festive holiday clubs.

Crossbar Coaching Education in Sport has organised action-packed Christmas-themed clubs at eight county primary schools.

The company will also be running a soccer school and dance camp at Shrewsbury’s London Road Sports Centre.

All clubs are for boys and girls aged between four and 11, with early booking recommended to avoid missing out as demand for places is expected to be high once again.

A new team of expert advisers has been recruited for the Marches Growth Hub to provide detailed support to help the region’s businesses to grow.

More than 30 independent advisers will support the hub across its bases in Herefordshire, Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin to offer one-to-one support.

The hub – the one-stop gateway to business support and funding which is delivered by each of the three local authorities across the area – says the move will help it support more businesses than ever before as the region recovers from the impact of the Covid pandemic.

As Shropshire quietly emerges from the second national lockdown, care homes across the county have been welcoming back visitors for the first time in months. 

Paul Cooke from Hollinswood was one of the first visitors through the doors at Barclay Gardens in Donnington where he was reunited with his 94-year-old mother Lillian after nearly three months. 

The pair talked about Christmas, shared photos, laughed and blew each other a kiss in what Mr Cooke described as a 'fabulous’ occasion. 

350 UK businesses pledged over 50,000 minutes of tech free time on the 1st December.

West Midlands business, techtimeout, challenged the people of the UK to take a break from their screens and devices for ‘techtimeout tuesday,’ following Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

techtimeout founder, Steff Henson, said it had been fantastic to inspire so many people to think about the negative impact of spending too much time looking at their screens - with participants staying free of tech from 10 minutes to as much as 24 hours over the challenge.

Shropshire business Zoom! 1hr Delivery have pledged to deliver 20 free family meals to deserving households during Carols on the Doorstep on the December 16.

The ordering and delivery service, which operates across Wales and English border towns, are one of the sponsors of the Doorstep Carols event. The event has now gone national, with radio stations across the UK and the BBC lined up to cover the event, which asks people to tune in their local participating radio station to singalong to carols from their doorstep - spreading some socially distanced Christmas cheer.

Children are being invited to post a letter to Father Christmas using a special post box which has appeared in the centre of Shrewsbury. 

The bright red post box has been placed in The Square by Shrewsbury BID (Business Improvement District), alongside a large Christmas tree taking pride of place under the Old Market Hall. 

A letter template can be downloaded from the Original Shrewsbury website which children can use to ensure they receive a reply from Father Christmas himself. 

Father Christmas and his elves will be all dressed up for the festive season at one of the region’s leading visitor attractions thanks to a massive team effort from a dedicated costume team.

The Costume Project at the Ironbridge Gorge Museums has created around 50 pieces of individually-designed and hand-made costume for this year’s festive celebrations in a three-month race against the clock.

Shrewsbury Town in the Community have today launched their 2019/2020 Annual Review.

Their 2019/2020 Annual Review highlights the work they have produced this year and details the impact they have throughout Shropshire. The Annual Review takes you month by month, outlining key stories, dates and events that have happened throughout the year, allowing our community to see the results of STiTCs work, and to see how your support enables to connect, support and inspire our local community.