The Port Avery Courier https://stop-press.innovistadigital.com/ The Port Avery Courier is the weekly paper for Port Avery and the Merrow estuary: the council, the harbour, the schools, the Rovers, and the people who keep the town running before anyone else is up. en The night buses are full. The city wants to know who is riding them. https://stop-press.innovistadigital.com/2026-10-14/night-buses/ https://stop-press.innovistadigital.com/2026-10-14/night-buses/ Wed, 14 Oct 2026 18:30:00 GMT City A six-month pilot of all-night routes has carried twice the passengers anyone expected. Most of them are on their way to work. Under the ice of Lake Merrow, a winter of bubbles https://stop-press.innovistadigital.com/2026-10-14/lake-merrow/ https://stop-press.innovistadigital.com/2026-10-14/lake-merrow/ Wed, 14 Oct 2026 18:10:00 GMT Science & Nature Methane frozen into the lake tells scientists how fast the marsh around it is warming. This year the bubbles came early. Plans for 120 homes on the gasworks site go to a vote https://stop-press.innovistadigital.com/2026-10-14/gasworks/ https://stop-press.innovistadigital.com/2026-10-14/gasworks/ Wed, 14 Oct 2026 06:00:00 GMT City The developer wants to keep the old gas holder and build a park inside it. Foundry Lane wants the traffic kept away from the school. The last letterpress on Harbour Street has a waiting list https://stop-press.innovistadigital.com/2026-10-14/letterpress/ https://stop-press.innovistadigital.com/2026-10-14/letterpress/ Wed, 14 Oct 2026 17:45:00 GMT Culture Fifty-one years after it opened, Calder & Daughter prints wedding invitations for couples who were not born when its press was cast. Rovers come from two down to draw at Halden https://stop-press.innovistadigital.com/2026-10-14/rovers/ https://stop-press.innovistadigital.com/2026-10-14/rovers/ Wed, 14 Oct 2026 06:00:00 GMT Sport A nineteen-year-old who works mornings at the fish market changed the game in twenty minutes. The school that swapped homework for a reading hour https://stop-press.innovistadigital.com/2026-10-14/reading-hour/ https://stop-press.innovistadigital.com/2026-10-14/reading-hour/ Wed, 14 Oct 2026 06:00:00 GMT City Every afternoon at Kestrel Primary, four hundred children and the caretaker stop and read. A year on, the results are in. Ruth Penhaligon, who opened the harbour café at half past four for forty-one years https://stop-press.innovistadigital.com/2026-10-14/ruth-penhaligon/ https://stop-press.innovistadigital.com/2026-10-14/ruth-penhaligon/ Wed, 14 Oct 2026 06:00:00 GMT Culture She kept the fishermen's tabs in a school exercise book and never once asked for the money. Harbour Street's empty shops get a six-month rent holiday https://stop-press.innovistadigital.com/2026-10-14/high-street/ https://stop-press.innovistadigital.com/2026-10-14/high-street/ Wed, 14 Oct 2026 06:00:00 GMT Business Seven units, no rent until July, and a short list of things the council does not want to see in them. Three calls in one night for the lifeboat crew https://stop-press.innovistadigital.com/2026-10-14/lifeboat/ https://stop-press.innovistadigital.com/2026-10-14/lifeboat/ Wed, 14 Oct 2026 06:00:00 GMT City A drifting yacht, a lost dog and a fishing boat bailing with a bucket, between ten at night and five in the morning. The sea wall that grows itself https://stop-press.innovistadigital.com/2026-10-14/sea-wall/ https://stop-press.innovistadigital.com/2026-10-14/sea-wall/ Wed, 14 Oct 2026 15:55:00 GMT Science & Nature Along the Merrow estuary, reefs built from old oyster shells are holding back the tide better than the concrete did. Why every corner shop now sells sourdough https://stop-press.innovistadigital.com/2026-10-14/sourdough/ https://stop-press.innovistadigital.com/2026-10-14/sourdough/ Wed, 14 Oct 2026 16:20:00 GMT Business Three bakeries, forty shops and a delivery van that leaves at 4 a.m. In praise of the slow update https://stop-press.innovistadigital.com/2026-10-14/slow-update/ https://stop-press.innovistadigital.com/2026-10-14/slow-update/ Wed, 14 Oct 2026 14:30:00 GMT Opinion News does not need to arrive every second. Some of it is better left to settle overnight. Ask the Courier: why do the bells ring at quarter past nine? https://stop-press.innovistadigital.com/2026-10-14/ask-courier/ https://stop-press.innovistadigital.com/2026-10-14/ask-courier/ Wed, 14 Oct 2026 06:00:00 GMT Letters & Listings A reader wants to know why St Anne's rings forty-five minutes early. It is the pigeons, partly. Ashgrove pupils’ robot wins the regional final https://stop-press.innovistadigital.com/2026-10-14/robotics/ https://stop-press.innovistadigital.com/2026-10-14/robotics/ Wed, 14 Oct 2026 17:00:00 GMT City A robot built from a vacuum cleaner motor and a cereal box won the regional schools final for Ashgrove Academy on Tuesday. The team of five goes to the national round in March. The central library will stay open until 10 pm https://stop-press.innovistadigital.com/2026-10-14/library-hours/ https://stop-press.innovistadigital.com/2026-10-14/library-hours/ Wed, 14 Oct 2026 20:30:00 GMT Culture From next month the central library on Wren Square will stay open until ten on weekdays, in a two-year trial paid for by a local trust. The reading room was full most evenings last winter. Tram 11 gets its last coat of paint https://stop-press.innovistadigital.com/2026-10-14/tram-eleven/ https://stop-press.innovistadigital.com/2026-10-14/tram-eleven/ Wed, 14 Oct 2026 19:00:00 GMT City Volunteers restoring the city’s last wooden tram say it will carry passengers again in the spring, for the first time since 1961. It returned to the depot on Tuesday for its final coat. Saturday market adds a winter evening https://stop-press.innovistadigital.com/2026-10-14/market-evenings/ https://stop-press.innovistadigital.com/2026-10-14/market-evenings/ Wed, 14 Oct 2026 13:15:00 GMT Business The Saturday market on Exchange Square will also open on Thursday evenings from November to February, with lights and hot food. Thirty of its fifty traders have signed up. Letters to the editor https://stop-press.innovistadigital.com/2026-10-14/letters/ https://stop-press.innovistadigital.com/2026-10-14/letters/ Wed, 14 Oct 2026 06:00:00 GMT Letters & Listings I ride the N4 home after a late shift three nights a week. Please tell the council that the buses are not a luxury. Before April I was paying £14 for a taxi I could not afford. Now I pay £2 and I sleep on the way home. (Name supplied, Fiveways) What's on this week https://stop-press.innovistadigital.com/2026-10-14/whats-on/ https://stop-press.innovistadigital.com/2026-10-14/whats-on/ Wed, 14 Oct 2026 06:00:00 GMT Letters & Listings Thursday. Lifeboat station open evening, 7 pm, the slipway. Tea, and a chance to sit in the boat. Fog closes the northern quay for six hours https://stop-press.innovistadigital.com/2026-10-14/fog-quay/ https://stop-press.innovistadigital.com/2026-10-14/fog-quay/ Wed, 14 Oct 2026 21:00:00 GMT City Thick fog closed the northern quay from mid-afternoon until shortly before nine on Tuesday, cancelling four ferry crossings. The harbour master lifted the warning at 21:40 and the 22:10 sailing will run. Walk-in clinic opens on Saturday mornings https://stop-press.innovistadigital.com/2026-10-14/clinic/ https://stop-press.innovistadigital.com/2026-10-14/clinic/ Wed, 14 Oct 2026 06:00:00 GMT City The walk-in clinic at the health centre on Wren Square will open on Saturday mornings from November, from eight until twelve, after the winter rise in patients filled the weekday waiting room by nine most days last year. The orchard nobody planted https://stop-press.innovistadigital.com/2026-10-07/orchard/ https://stop-press.innovistadigital.com/2026-10-07/orchard/ Wed, 07 Oct 2026 18:30:00 GMT Culture Forty pear trees on the edge of the Kestrel estate were left behind by a nursery that closed in 1987. Now the whole street picks them. Your water bill, explained line by line https://stop-press.innovistadigital.com/2026-10-07/water-bill/ https://stop-press.innovistadigital.com/2026-10-07/water-bill/ Wed, 07 Oct 2026 06:00:00 GMT Business Why the standing charge went up, what the sewerage line pays for, and the three numbers worth checking. Council keeps the night ferry, for now https://stop-press.innovistadigital.com/2026-10-07/night-ferry/ https://stop-press.innovistadigital.com/2026-10-07/night-ferry/ Wed, 07 Oct 2026 05:40:00 GMT City The 22:10 crossing survives a budget vote by two votes. A Sunday walk along the old tram line https://stop-press.innovistadigital.com/2026-10-07/tram-line-walk/ https://stop-press.innovistadigital.com/2026-10-07/tram-line-walk/ Wed, 07 Oct 2026 08:00:00 GMT City Six kilometres from the depot to the sea, following rails that have been under the road since 1961. Half-term: twelve things to do that cost nothing https://stop-press.innovistadigital.com/2026-10-07/half-term/ https://stop-press.innovistadigital.com/2026-10-07/half-term/ Wed, 07 Oct 2026 06:00:00 GMT Letters & Listings Rock pools, a ferry ride, a film on the library carpet and a tram that will tell you about its brakes. Morning swimmers ask for a lifeguard at Fiveways https://stop-press.innovistadigital.com/2026-10-07/swimmers/ https://stop-press.innovistadigital.com/2026-10-07/swimmers/ Wed, 07 Oct 2026 06:00:00 GMT City Two hundred people swim off Fiveways now. Not all of them know about the tide. Rovers’ new stand passes its safety check https://stop-press.innovistadigital.com/2026-10-07/rovers-stand/ https://stop-press.innovistadigital.com/2026-10-07/rovers-stand/ Wed, 07 Oct 2026 17:00:00 GMT Sport The new east stand at Riverside Park passed its final safety inspection on Monday and will open for Saturday’s home game, adding 1,800 seats. Recycling days change in the east of the city https://stop-press.innovistadigital.com/2026-10-07/recycling/ https://stop-press.innovistadigital.com/2026-10-07/recycling/ Wed, 07 Oct 2026 06:00:00 GMT City Recycling collections in the east of the city move from Tuesdays to Thursdays from the first week of November, as the council merges two rounds. A leaflet will come with the next collection. Glass is still collected separately, on the same day as before. Café asks to put tables on the quay https://stop-press.innovistadigital.com/2026-10-07/quay-tables/ https://stop-press.innovistadigital.com/2026-10-07/quay-tables/ Wed, 07 Oct 2026 06:00:00 GMT Business The new owners of the café at the end of the northern quay have applied for permission to put six tables outside from April to September. Objections can be made on the council website until the end of the month.