Red hot wing Nev Codlin is fit once again and ready to score some tries for lowly Cinderford.

The pace ace has recovered from a groin hernia which saw him sidelined for more than two months.

He is yet to play a game for Cinderford this term but instead has watched frustrated from the sidelines as the Foresters sank to seven defeats from eight National One games.

Last Saturday, Cinderford squandered a 17-16 lead over Rosslyn Park in injury time. Concending a last-gasp penalty, they fell to their most painful defeat yet, 17-19 at home.

Though they lie 14th from 16, Cinderford have found themselves up against the top five sides in the league.

With Loughborough, Old Albanian, Blaydon and Wharfedale to come in the next month, Codlin believes they will shoot up the table.

And he wants to be at the heart of the action.

"It has been so frustrating watching from the touchline, knowing that you would do things differently," the England Counties star said.

"I am raring to go now. On paper, we have so much strength and depth in the side but injuries means we are missing experience in certain areas.

"But things will change massively now. The fixtures we have coming up, we can get some massive results. We are in a false position, considering how close we were to top teams like Ealing and Rosslyn Park.

"Loughborough is a target and I am happy to take that on, whether I start or come on from the bench.

"I want to make an impact and change things, and score some tries. I've got some catching up to do on Sam! (Baker - top try-scorer this season so far)."

Cinderford finished one place above Loughborough last season in 11th and beat them 22-19 at home.

But they lost 36-28 at the University last term and the Students are currently two places better off than Cinderford.

"We know what to expect from Loughborough," Codlin said.

"They have big strong ball-carriers, but that is a key part of my game and I can match that.

"They are a similar team to us, they can switch on and play so we have to be more consistent." 

Secrecy surrounds the name of the buyer in the frame for Gloucester Prison as the details of a deal are negotiated behind closed doors.

It is no great secret that buyers have been in talks with the owners of the landmark Gloucester city centre site, the Ministry of Justice, for some time.

Developers LXB Retail Properties PLC, the business involved in another Gloucester's Railway Triangle, a name strongly linked to the prison – has now been ruled out of the running.

It is believed the shortlist is down to one, but the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) remains tight-lipped. Speculation suggests the prospective buyer is a business already involved in the city.

"Bids have been evaluated and we are currently in commercial negotiations. We have worked with a number of organisations, including the local authority and English Heritage, and will always seek best value for the taxpayer," said an MoJ spokesperson.

The site, which closed as a prison in February last year, is believed to be worth between £1.5million and £3million.

Jeannie Pritchard, of LXB, said: "We were one of the bidding parties, but we were not chosen to go forward.

"I think the Ministry of Justice is now talking with a preferred party and negotiations are underway."

There has also been speculation the site will be 'sold-off' along with other prisons to the Government's Homes and Communities Agency (HCA), but there is no confirmation of this.

Paul James, leader of Gloucester City council, said: "I have not got the faintest idea who the bidder is.

"My preference would be a private sector developer who is then going to get on with developing it. The elements are likely to include residential and possible offices."

Richard Graham, MP for Gloucester, said: "The important thing is that the MoJ has identified a buyer and is in discussions to mark out the detail of a potential contract. When they have done that we will decide if we (Gloucester's leaders) are happy with that. We can exercise a veto, but we would need a very good reason to do that.

"We would also want to see progress as soon as possible"

Gloucestershire comic and actor Simon Pegg threw his weight behind the actors who have taken his zombie flick to a Stroud stage.

Simon Pegg, from Brockworth, teamed up with Universal Pictures to grant rights for a Gloucestershire theatre company to bring hit zombie flick Shaun of the Dead to the stage.

Almost Legal Productions will perform the world premier theatre production of the cult comedy at Lansdown Hall, in Stroud, this Halloween.

It will run from October 30 to November 1 and audience members are encouraged to dress as zombies for some audience participation.

On Twitter, Pegg said prior to the opening show: "Good luck or I should say, lose a leg, to Almost Legal's production of Shaun of the Dead Live tonight in Stroud."

Director Chas Burns said: "Everyone at Almost Legal Productions is ecstatic. This is a very exciting point in time for the company."

Pegg, who grew up in Brockworth, has sent the theatre group his well wishes for the production and given his seal of approval for the artwork the team has created for the interactive stage show.

The film was directed by Edgar Wright, who co-wrote with Pegg.

The 'zom-rom-com' sees slacker Shaun (Simon Pegg) struggling to make progress with his life and with his relationship with his girlfriend Liz (Kate Ashfield).

Motivation comes in the form of a freak zombie attack that has once-ordinary citizens terrorising the streets of London.

With support from his well-meaning best mate (Nick Frost), Shaun acts quickly to save Liz and his mother (Penelope Wilton) from danger.

The film is the first in Wright and Pegg's Three Flavours Cornetto trilogy, followed by 2007's Hot Fuzz and 2013's The World's End.

Almost Legal Productions is looking for sponsorship from members of the public and local businesses to help fund the show.

Chas said: "Having such strong local values we are passionate about our community and would like to offer Gloucestershire based businesses the chance to be part of history by inviting 100 local companies to sponsor our production and help us to raise £5,000 for us to stage the show."

Good luck or I should say, lose a leg, to Almost Legal's production of Shaun of the Dead Live tonight in Stroud. http://t.co/WrGgKgylhw

— Simon Pegg (@simonpegg) October 29, 2014

The search is on for the best dressed in Gloucester.

The Citizen is giving away two free tickets to the Fashion Rocks event next week to the winner of the most stylish selfie.

Fashion Rocks, on Friday, November 7, is set to be one of the highlights of the Gloucester Style Festival featuring all the current looks and trends.

Afterwards, guests will be able to dance the night away with music from local DJS and King Solomon and there will be a cash bar throughout the night. The event starts at 7.30pm

Send your style selfies to citizen.news@glosmedia.co.uk or upload to the Citizen's Facebook page. Please include a contact number or email address.

To buy tickets visit the Citizen's Oxebode office or visit

Struggling to tie her shoes or bend down without getting out of breath, 18-stone Beth Dorrington realised she had to do something about her crippling obesity.

At just 35, the Hardwicke mum was in her prime. But an escalating passion for takeaways had seen her weight balloon to the point where her health was starting to suffer.

That was a year ago. Since then, Beth has shed more than six stone and said her achievement shows anyone can transform their lives with the right advice and willpower.

Beth, who works in Quedgeley, signed up to her nearest weight loss group, Slimming World, run by Becky Baker, herself a slimmer who has lost substantial weight through lifestyle changes.

At first it was a 12-week course, but Beth has continued with her dietary changes and has not looked back.

"I needed a bigger uniform at work as mine was too tight but it meant asking for a size 26," she said. "There was no way I was going to the office to ask for that size. I had also seen pictures from a recent hen do. I had not noticed how big I had got.

"It was daunting walking through the doors of Slimming World for the first time.

"My son is 14 and came with me for moral support. I lost four pounds in my first week. From then on the journey has just gone up and up. I've had times where I've slipped a little but I was determined. Remembering what I looked like before was the motivation to keep on going.

"I have made big changes to my diet, I used to love takeaways an would have four or five a week.

"Now I'm making much better choices. Everything I eat now is in moderation and I make sure I'm eating at the right time."

Beth is now 6st 1.5lbs lighter and weighs a healthy 11st 13lbs.

A weight loss study by the University of Sheffield claims where people live and the level of deprivation in that area can have a major impact on sensible eating.

It found people from wealthy areas are more likely to have used slimming clubs than people from more deprived areas. Experts also found those from more deprived areas are more likely to have used weight-loss medications than their richer neighbours.

More than half of the 26,000 people who took part in the study were overweight, with 19.6 per cent obese. When asked which methods they had used to diet, the most common included healthy eating at 49 per cent, increasing exercise at 43.4 per cent and 43 per cent reducing portion sizes.

Beth insists weight loss is not just about being able to afford signing up to a club.

"It is a myth that these kind of clubs are expensive and people in poor areas are obese because they can't afford to attend," she said. "It's about getting the right dietary advice and sticking to it."

OVER 200 vehicles have been stopped and two seized in an international crime deterrence operation tackling human trafficking, money laundering and fraud in Gloucestershire.
Gloucestershire Constabulary and its Tri-Force partners from Wiltshire and Avon and Somerset Forces have achieved significant results in cracking down on the crimes that have a widespread negative effect.
Working with international officers for Eastern Europe, Operation 'Trivium 3' was aimed at investigating people on suspicion of a range of offences as part of a five day campaign to tackle foreign criminals operating in this country.
In the Tri-Force area, some 280 people were spoken to and three were arrested.
Almost 250 vehicles were stopped and two seized in the Tri-Force region during the joint operation, in which Gloucestershire Police among officers from across the country and Eastern Europe took part in.
The operation specifically targeted travelling criminals using the road network to avoid detection and transit around the country using Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) checks on foreign-plated vehicles.
The cameras can immediately tell police which cars were linked to criminality or uninsured, with Gloucestershire stopping nearly 20 vehicles as a result of ANPR 'hits'.
The Wiltshire and Gloucestershire Forces' efforts on the M4/M5 resulted in 202 offences being dealt with, £23,000 fines administered, 36 vehicles prohibited, and invaluable intelligence gained.
British partner agencies that helped maximise results included the National Crime Agency, Home Office Immigration, Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs, the Gangmaster Licencing Agency and Driving Vehicle Licencing Agency.
Gloucestershire Chief Constable Suzette Davenport, who is the national lead for roads policing, said the criminal activity had a damaging impact on communities and businesses that are targeted.
"We want to prevent the public from the misery they cause and build on the intelligence we already have," she said.
"These criminal gangs must use our roads to carry out their illegal activity, so by targeting them in this way we are aiming to develop a robust system to tackle the issue in the future."
Many of these criminals use the road network to travel from area to area in an attempt to avoid detection and there are an estimated 3,600 international Organised Crime Groups active in the EU.
Chief Inspector Yannis Georgiou of Tri-Force, said the operation had proved "enormously successful".
"The operation proved that foreign nationals who commit crime in UK, and who use our road network to facilitate that criminality, are not untouchable - operations like this prove that borders are no barrier to justice," he said.
"In the past we've arrested people for crimes ranging from motoring offences to human trafficking, money laundering, GBH and fraud, as well as motoring offences like driving with no insurance or licence.
"But I should stress that we were targeting criminals, not the communities these offenders hail from. There are thousands of law abiding residents here from Eastern Europe who have integrated well."

Business secretary Vince Cable announced almost £6 million of funding for Staverton-based aerospace business Messier-Bugatti-Dowty when he touched down at the landing gear specialist.

Arriving at the French-owned Gloucestershire-based world leader, Dr Cable said the money was for research into how aircraft landing gear could be better designed and manufactured to produce smoother landings for passengers.

He also unveiled a new production line at the facility, called Flow Line, aimed at increasing production rates for landing gears for both Airbus A350 and Boeing 787 aircraft.

All of that is expected to help the high-tech industry – of which Messier-Bugatti-Dowty is a major player – remain at the forefront of a growing market for years to come.

"As a Government we believe in aerospace," said Dr Cable.

"We have invested millions in research projects, half of which is funded by business and half by Government and that is commitment and support which will continue past the next election and help secure the continued future development of the sector."

The business secretary spoke first with apprentices Bradley McDowell, from Innsworth, and Ben Brown, from Abbeymead, both in the fourth year of their advanced engineering apprenticeships.

And he met the man who managed the project to install Flow Line. Germain Forgeoux.

The Gloucestershire operation employs an estimated 1,000 staff.

"Great Britain has a very significant advanced manufacturing sector," said Dr Cable.

"There are some areas where we are world leaders and Messier-Bugatti-Dowty is one of them.

"In aerospace we are second only to the United States and we have some fantastic companies here in the UK but the world is a competitive place. We have to continue to develop to remain part of it.

"Through the Aerospace Growth Partnership we have put in the best part of a billion pounds for research stretching over the next seven to 10 years.

"That gives businesses like Messier-Bugatti-Dowty some long-term certainly that they can invest in projects like Flow Line.

"It is giving them confidence that the Government has some skin in the game."

Dr Cable's visit was part of a whistlestop tour of the region, which was also expected to take in Premiere Products in Cheltenham, as well as companies based at the Bristol & Bath Science Park.

During the trip he announced the winners of £13 million of Innovate UK funding to help companies develop innovative new technology for nuclear power stations.

The money will be split between 15 research and development projects involving large and small businesses and universities.

The manufacturing sector supports two and a half million jobs and contributes almost £140 billion a year to the UK.

More than 5,000 people have signed a petition which calls for a public inquiry over the regeneration of Cinderford's northern quarter.

The Dean Natural Alliance (DNA) has launched a campaign to block the £100million redevelopment which it fears will put at risk one of the "nation's most treasured landscapes."

DNA secretary Derek Foster said: "This is an overwhelming response both locally and nationally. It shows the strength of feeling that people have about protecting the Forest of Dean.

"We hope the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Eric Pickles MP, will listen and intervene. This is a national issue. By holding a public inquiry, it will give all opponents and supporters an opportunity to present their case to an independent planning inspector."

Plans include a state-of-the-art college campus for 1,200 students, business premises, an access road and dozens of homes which could create 1,000 new jobs if planning permission is granted by Forest of Dean District Council.

Graham Morgan, chairman of Cinderford Regeneration Board, is frustrated by the petition which he claims has been signed by many supporters of Hands of Our Forest (HOOF) which wants an amendment made to the Infrastructure Bill to protect forest land from developers.

HOOF says the Bill, if it receives Royal Assent to become an Act, will allow any Government to sell any part of the Forest, close footpaths and bye-ways and even grant planning consent for development.

Mr Morgan said: "There are nowhere near 5,000 people against the northern quarter development. They have got (the signatures) on the back of HOOF.

"The DNA has got people to sign it because people are genuinely supportive of HOOF which is against the sell-off of the Forest.

"I am a bit annoyed they have twisted it to include the northern quarter site because it is wrong – there is no precedent being set whatsoever.

"I have never seen wildlife being catered for to the degree they are being catered for at the northern quarter."

The Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) is behind the plans and has invested significant sums of money so ecological work, including re-homing of great crested newts, can be carried out, in the event of planning permission being granted.

RESIDENTS in Barton, Tredworth and Grange have been invited to share their views with Gloucester MP Richard Graham.

Mr Graham will be holding the surgeries, where people can talk about any issues or ideas they may have.

The surgery in Barton and Tredworth will be held at the trust in Conduit Street on Tuesday, November 11, from 5 to 7pm.

The surgery in Grange will be held at the Tuffley Library in Windsor Drive, on Friday, November 14 from 5 to 7pm.

To book an appointment call Holly Piper on 01452 501167 or email holly.piper@parliament.uk.

Gloucester hooker Richard Hibbard has been named in Wales' starting line-up to face Australia on Saturday.

He is joined by Sam Warburton, Leigh Halfpenny and Rhys Webb who also make their return to the Test arena following injuries.

Halfpenny returns to the Wales team after missing the last three tests through injury and lines-up in a back-three alongside Alex Cuthbert and Liam Williams.
The centre partnership comprises of Jamie Roberts and George North, the same centre pairing that faced France at the Millennium Stadium in the Six Nations.
Ospreys half-back pair of Rhys Webb and Dan Biggar start at nine and ten respectively.
In the front-row Bath prop Paul James, who has featured in every game for Wales this calendar year, starts at loose-head alongside the returning Richard Hibbard and Scarlets tight-head Samson Lee.
Jake Ball packs down alongside Alun Wyn Jones in the second-row, whilst the back-row features British and Irish Lions trio Dan Lydiate, captain Sam Warburton and Number 8 Taulupe Faletau.
Wales' last eight matches against the Wallabies have ended in single figure defeats but head coach Warren Gatland is hopeful that run can be ended.
"We have spoke a lot about this autumn and the year ahead and we are really excited to kick off the campaign this weekend," said Gatland.
"We have had a couple of very hard weeks at training, the squad have been put their paces but come have come through well.
"It's good to be able to bring back a number of players who missed the last two tests and they add to what is a very experienced side.
"Injuries in the midfield means we get to see Jamie and George line-up together there again and we were pleased with how that went earlier in the year.
"We have been impressed with the form of Rhys and Dan at half-back for the Ospreys so it will be good to see hem together on this stage again.
"Paul James and Jake Ball have impressed as well so they get the nod to start.
"The last few outings against Australia have been extremely tight, we are expecting the same this weekend and its going to be another huge battle but it's a challenge we are really looking forward to."

Ospreys hooker Scott Baldwin, Gethin Jenkins and Rhodri Jones comprise the front-row replacements alongside fellow forwards Bradley Davies and Justin Tipuric. Mike Phillips, Rhys Priestland and Cory Allen are named as the backs cover.

WALES TEAM TO PLAY AUSTRALIA:
Leigh Halfpenny (Toulon), Alex Cuthbert (Cardiff Blues), George North (Northampton Saints), Jamie Roberts (Racing Metro), Liam Williams (Scarlets), Dan Biggar (Ospreys), Rhys Webb (Ospreys), Paul James (Bath), Richard Hibbard (Gloucester), Samson Lee (Scarlets), Jake Ball (Scarlets), Alun Wyn Jones (Ospreys), Dan Lydiate (Unattached), Sam Warburton (Capt), Taulupe Faletau (Newport Gwent Dragons).
Replacements: Scott Baldwin (Ospreys), Gethin Jenkins (Cardiff Blues), Rhodri Jones (Scarlets), Bradley Davies (London Wasps), Justin Tipuric (Ospreys), Mike Phillips (Racing Metro), Rhys Priestland (Scarlets), Cory Allen (Cardiff Blues).