DO visit the magical Christmas Tree Festival in St Laurence parish church at the end of the Shambles. This is its fourth year and it is now on for a whole week, with over 50 trees lavishly decorated by local churches and other organisations. Each tree has a theme, usually associated with the organisations taking part. One new entrant is Summer Street Area Community Association, on the theme of Winter Wildlife in Summer Street, with help from Stroud Valleys Project. The festival starts with the lights being switched on at 4pm on Sunday, November 30 by BBC Points West weatherman Richard Angwin. Tickets including refreshments cost £2.50 from the church office in the Shambles, also tickets at £5 for a concert by Chorus Felum on Wednesday, December 3 at 7.30pm. The church will be also be open all week with free admission from Monday to Thursday from 10.30am to 4.30pm, and on Friday, December 5 from 10am to 8.30pm (during the Goodwill Evening), and on Saturday from 10am to 5pm. On Sunday, December 7 the church opens at 1.30pm, ending with a Christmas Tree Festival Songs of Praise at 4pm. Programmes with free prize draw tickets are available each day at £1, and all proceeds will go towards the church and hall roof repair fund.

Some people still haven’t found Cards for Good Causes, the multi-charity Christmas card shop in the Old Town Hall, the Shambles. It is open from 10am to 4pm Monday to Saturday until December 18, and sells wrapping paper and small gifts as well.

Tickets are on sale in Stroud Tourist Information (01453 760900) for A Few Good Men by Aaron Sorkin. This production by the Cotswold Players is a classic courtroom drama about US marines and runs until Saturday, November 29 at the Cotswold Playhouse.

The new exhibition at Stroud House Gallery invites you to Take It As Read. The gallery in Station Road is open Wednesday to Saturday from 10.30am to 5pm with free admission, and the exhibition runs until December 20.

David Drew MP has arranged a teach-in on the new Sustainable Communities Act for local councils and others concerned to know more about its relevance to the Stroud area. Come along at 7pm on Thursday, November 27 to St Laurence church hall in The Shambles.

You can find out more about GOPA (the Gloucestershire Older Persons’ Assembly) at a meeting in St Laurence church hall, the Shambles, on Thursday, November 27 at 3pm. It aims to enable over 50s to have an active voice in decisions which affect them. Membership is free and open to individuals and groups.

The next coffee drop-in at the Church of the Holy Spirit, Paganhill, is on Saturday November 29 from 10am to noon, offering home-made cakes and time for a chat.

Stroud Symphony Orchestra holds its autumn concert on Saturday, November 29 in Holy Trinity Church, next to Stroud Hospital, at 7.30pm. The programme includes Dvorak’s overture, Realms of Nature, Violin Concerto No 3 by Saint Saens with Emil Huckle-Kleve as soloist, and Mahler’s Symphony No 1. There will be a retiring collection for Cruse Bereavement Care. Tickets are available from Stroud Tourist Information with a £1 reduction before the night.

Cotswold Care holds its annual ceremony, Light Up a Life, with carols, readings and music around the Christmas tree in Merrywalks precinct at 7pm on Monday December 1. Stroud Light Music Choir, the King's Stanley band and Uplands Community School will all be taking part.

The next monthly Antique and Collectors Fair will be held on Monday, December 1 in St Laurence Church Hall, The Shambles, from 8am to 4pm with free admission, just in time for a quiet bit of Christmas gift shopping.

The Space Cinema Club screens Lou Reed’s Berlin (12A) at The Space on Thursday, December 4 at 8.15pm (£2 membership, £5/£3 tickets).

Stroud MP David Drew’s next Stroud surgeries are on Friday, December 5 at 2pm and Friday, December 12 at 4pm. Book a ten minute appointment on 01453 752684.

On Friday, December 5 David Drew MP has arranged a public meeting on Stroud and climate change at the Cotswold Playhouse from 7pm to 9pm, all welcome.

Stroud’s Goodwill Evening has been rescued this year, thanks to Clare and Gerb Gerbrands, and takes place on Friday December 5 throughout the town centre with events from 4pm to 9pm. With a theme of Be Inspired! and will feature more events and lots of family entertainment. Songs by the Cotswold Players from The Secret Garden, a dragon and a Venetian masked lantern-lit procession are just some of the attractions, also a St Nicholas-themed event, carols, music and street stalls, and of course Stroud traders will be open late for Christmas shopping.

Stroud Valleys Project invites shoppers to buy a Christmas tree gift with a difference. It is looking for sponsors for the planting of native variety trees in the Stroud area, either by you or by project volunteers. Over the last 40 years the loss of hedgerows and woodlands has led to a fall in the diversity of wildlife species and habitats. New trees will provide valuable homes for birds and insects and enrich the biodiversity of the area. For more information, visit the website www.stroudvalleysproject.org or ring 01453 753358, or call in at the office at 8 Threadneedle Street.

It’s not too late to find out more about the Public Realm Strategy, on show in Stroud Town Council offices and the library, or visit the website www.stroud.gov.uk and send in your comments by Friday, December 5. There are far-ranging proposals for making Stroud centre streets more attractive and with easier traffic flow. Opening up Russell Street and London Road to two-way traffic is a radical change which could make it easier to access the town centre from both directions, and leave George Street part of the pedestrianised area. Restricted access to the top of the High Street is also proposed, instead of the present Berlin Wall.