BCCS celebrated its 21st Birthday on 15 August 2026 in fine style, great weather, and with our 2nd Local Nature Action Plan BioBLITZ on the Chestergate allotments. Special honoured guests Eddie Bailey “opened” our new memorial Pedestrian Gate designed and made by Sam Pearce artist blacksmith. Eddie’s inspired talk wove the connections between the quality of best craft, the quality of our soils, the vibrancy of nature, and the goodness of our food and our guts, and simply how important compost is. Good neighbours had made amazing pink birthday cake shaped like a worm that was cut by Fiona Taylor CEO of Garden Organic and Eddie.
The founders of BCSS Nicola Blight, Lesley Greene and Elizabeth Howlett were present, with 80 guests and with many who had volunteered for the scheme over the years. They enjoyed a home-made organic “allotment” lunch, as well as walks and talks around the composting site and allotment plots, and other activities as part of the BioBLITZ, surveying insects, bat and bird walks, and soil analyses.
Thanks to Stroud District Council for a grant from their Climate and Nature Fund, as well as Bisley with Lypiatt Parish Council and the CAPB for support for the new gate and to Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust for the hard work for the BiobBlitz.
Bisley Community Composting Scheme was given a special mention in GRCC’s Gloucestershire Village of the year competition 2026 winning a Highly Commended in the Climate and Resilience section
