Purton's poor start to the season continued with an eight-wicket home defeat against Red Marley on Saturday. Purton elected to bat on a good dry wicket but managed just 133-6, with only Booth (53) and Ben Collier (29) making decent contributions. But
NOT even a battling unbeaten half century from 18 year old Andrew Reynolds, his first league 50 for the club, could prevent a third successive Gloucestershire County League Division one defeat for Cirencester on Saturday as visitors Cam edged home by
SIXTY six runs from Kim Barnett helped Gloucestershire secure a 79-run victory over Lancashire in the Norwich Union Division Two clash at Old Trafford. The visitors won the toss and reached 269 for the loss of eight wickets in their 45 overs. Lancashire
DANNY INVINCIBLE has missed out on the chance to stake a claim for the start of Australia's 2006 World Cup qualifying campaign due to cash woes Down Under. After two seasons of financial worries at club level, the 23-year-old is now feeling the effects
COLUMN: MG's 'Golden Jubilee' sports car, the latest TF, took part in a charity cavalcade in central London yesterday as part of the Queen's golden jubilee celebrations. That's quite appropriate. MG is part of Britain's motoring history and is proud of
BUDDING gardeners in Bath are being offered the chance to look after their very own allotments and only pay half the price. Anyone who chooses to rent an allotment in either Monksdale Road or Moorfields Road during the month of June will have only to
PEOPLE using a payphone in Bath's city centre will be treated to a photographic exhibition, courtesy of the city's Big Issue vendors. There are 15 BT telephone boxes in the Southgate area that are currently exhibiting photographs. The magazine vendors
FIVE days of bowling, batting and feasting begins next Wednesday with the start of the Bath Cricket Festival. The festival, held at Bath Recreation Ground, is expected to attract more than 10,000 cricket fans for two games a four-day Frizzell County Championship
SUE HOLDERNESS was very nearly the star that never was. Her character in Only Fools and Horses, Marlene, had played a key role as a running joke in the series for two years: yet she had never made an appearance. The joke was that whenever her screen husband
ROYAL Mail has launched a campaign to crack down on the number of attacks against its staff by dangerous dogs. According to the postal delivery company, a total of 75 separate attacks against delivery staff were recorded in Bath during the 12 months leading
A MOBILE telephone mast that is to be installed in Wanborough has prompted fears about a new 'Swindon Disease'. The mast is to tower 15 metres over countryside around a water pumping station and in spite of official reassurances that such masts give off
SWINDON'S charity bike race raised more than £10,000 on Sunday but it also threw up heroes by the bucketload. Foremost among them was Dave Case, the 54-year-old Freshbrook man who completed the 25-mile Great Ridgeway Ride less than four months after undergoing
NEW COLLEGE has submitted plans for a £1.5m sports hall. The hall will be built alongside the college's £11m campus next to its current building in Queens Drive and is part of the Parks and Walcot regeneration programme. It has already been granted outline
HREOD Parkway has become one of the first schools in Swindon to be awarded the prestigious Artsmark. The award recognises schools that demonstrate a commitment to providing opportunities across all the arts from drama to music, design to literature, dance
MOST of us were mere twinkles in our great grandparents' eyes when Sarah Wallace was born 103 years ago. Born on June 4, 1899, she is a living encyclopaedia of the 20th century, recalling the death of Queen Victoria, the sinking of Titanic and both world
THE PRIVATE company now running Swindon's education has commissioned a report into the crisis surrounding surplus school places. And Tribal Education has not ruled out closing primary schools in West Swindon. An Evening Advertiser investigation has already
THE mother of Swindon girl Inderjeet Bharaj, who collapsed and died of an asthma attack as she walked to an aerobics class, is planning a massive fundraising programme in her memory. If Balbir Bharaj has her way, Swindon's new hospital will have thousands
JUNE 9: A PERFORMING arts student from Trowbridge is on her way to pop superstardom. Emma Holmes, 18, has won her way through to the final of the Carling Bath City Pop Superstar competition on June 9. She said: "I'm really looking forward to it. It will
ELSEWHERE, the jubilee service at St Paul's was broadcast live at its namesake in Swindon. Around a hundred people attended St Paul's Church in Dorcan, which was hosting a special Jubilee day. Also present was the Deputy Mayor Derek Benfield (Lab, Covingham
THE chief executive of one of Swindon's biggest employers, Tyco International, has resigned after revealing he is under investigation for tax evasion. Tyco employs some 1,000 people at its six sites in Swindon. Shortly before Christmas it announced that
CHILDREN at Tregoze Primary School will return from their half-term break with playground mascot Bart Simpson back in place. The eight-feet tall cut-out of the cheeky cartoon character marked the site of a buddy bench where children are invited to sit
VOLUNTEERS are needed to help Swindon's libraries take part in a national reading challenge. The Reading Planet challenge will run across the country from July 20 to September 14 and is aimed at encouraging children to enjoy reading outside school hours
THE fighting spirit that allows ordinary people to defy the odds can astonish even the most experienced experts. For all the advances in medicine, there are some things that doctors cannot account for why it is, for example, that some people can claw
THE PARISH church of St John the Baptist in Inglesham features in a new leaflet brought out to mark the Jubilee which celebrates royal coats of arms. Royal Arms began to appear in churches as a symbol of the monarch's authority after Henry VIII became
GREEN-FINGERED man-ager Lynette Welch was at the Chelsea Flower Show to receive a coveted gold medal on behalf of Wyevale Garden Centres. The prize was awarded for the company's Wye- vale Globe Garden. Lynette, who is in charge of planting at the company's
WINGWALKER Marie Duguid will be reaching for the skies later this month at the Castle Combe race meeting. The 24-year-old is part of the Utterly Butterlys, Europe's only professional wingwalking team. Marie has been training to recreate wingwalking magic
EX PUPILS of Headlands School are being called together for a reunion. If you are aged 49 or 50 and were in the 1966/67 fourth form then a reunion is being arranged by former pupil John Turner. There are well over 100 former classmates logged on to the
THIS year's Swindon Council masala marathon has drawn to a close and the final winner will be announced later this week, Over the last three weeks the judging team, including Advertiser reporter Dominic Ponsford, has visited some of the best curry houses
THE QUEEN'S Jubilee has been marked in style by Wootton Bassett Town Band. Their new red, white and blue uniforms are designed to turn the clock back to the band's 1920s heyday. The band used a vintage uniform held in the town museum as the basis for
A wheelchair-bound pensioner had her handbag stolen as she left the Co-op in Old Town at 1pm yesterday. The 74-year-old was heading out onto Newport Street in her electric wheelchair when her handbag was snatched by a man aged between 35 and 40. The bag
THE former Governor of the Falklands Islands, Sir Rex Hunt, had an emotional reunion with the RAF pilot who flew him back into Port Stanley at the end of the Falklands War. Sir Rex met with Squadron Leader Harry Burgoyne at RAF Lyneham 20 years after
It's easy for Sue Bates to say "we'll pull the plug on Swindon Town Football club" (EA, May 30). We sent people to prison for non payment of the poll tax. If any of us owed a small part of what the football club owes we would be in court or worse. Why
I READ with interest the article about Jason Putt trying to pay his parking fine with £85 worth of pennies (EA, May 21). This strange and archaic law preventing payment in copper also extends to silver and even to 20p and 50p coins how ridiculous! I am
I'M glad to see the Evening Advertiser giving publicity to an 'ignored' illness, fibromyalgia. I was told by a doctor 15 years ago that I had this illness in a throwaway remark with the comment that nothing could be done to ease what can only be described
I MUST protest at the picture on page 26 of your newspaper on Friday, May 31, of me being shamelessly manhandled by Martin White in Lydiard Park. I know I look more dead than alive but that's no excuse to wake up after dozing off to find myself naked
Wootton Bassett recorded an easy 102-run victory in their local derby against Swindon in the Gloucester and Wilts League Division One clash at the County Ground. Swindon captain Will Nicholls won the toss and put Wootton Bassett in to bat. On a slow wicket
ONLY a parent who has mourned the death of their child can fully understand the depth of the tragedy endured by Balbir Bharaj. But thousands of Swindon people should support her bid to fund the best memorial she could provide for her 16-year-old daughter
THE Jubilee partying is over, but we shouldn't forget it. For today it is clear that countless people still have huge affection for Her Majesty and for the Monarchy. The smiles on the faces of the millions who turned out in London to enjoy the music,
NOW that the World Cup is under way, there are doubtless those among you for whom the 'beautiful game' continues to remain mysterious and elusive. Not, of course, that you should need to feel ashamed about this, but should you want to take part in everyday
COLUMN: WHEN it comes to hotels synonymous with class, frankly you would be hard pushed to come up with anywhere better than the Lansdown Grove Hotel, on Lansdown Road, Bath. What a dignified but pleasant hostelry this is, complete with elevator music
Do not leave your dog unattended where callers could come into contact with it. Make sure all side or back gates are closed before letting your pet into the garden. Even the most lovable dogs can be a danger to postal staff. Dogs are territorial by nature
YOUNGSTERS eager to become the next pop idol are to battle it out at a talent contest in Bath this weekend. A total of 12 competitors, all under the age of 25, will play to a crowd of more than 300 for the Bath City Football Club pop superstar competition
COLLECTORS of stamps and old picture postcards are being invited along to a major collectors' fair in Saltford this month. The Bristol and Bath Festival of Stamps and Postcards is set to take place on Saturday June 15 at the Saltford Hall, The Broadway
STAFF at a Swindon recruitment company are being treated to an all expenses paid knees-up in New York. Managers at Mainline Employment are so pleased with the efforts of workers that they are flying them off for a holiday across the Atlantic at the end
ANOTHER mobile fast food van could soon be selling burgers and kebabs, in spite of opposition from a Swindon school. Swindon Council has received an application from Yasin Ozkasap, 22, to use the layby in front of St Joseph's Lower School in Queens Drive
THERE was no way that pupils at Greendown School were going to miss out on England's adventures in the World Cup. So teachers at the West Swindon school agreed to install a big screen and turn the school's drama studio into a theatre of dreams. The youngsters
WILTSHIRE portrait painter, David Cobley, whose art includes studies of Princess Anne and the National Ballet, is exhibiting work at the Beaux Arts gallery, in Bath, in his first one-man show. Mr Cobley, from Westwood, near Bradford-on-Avon, who is based
DANNY INVINCIBLE has missed out on the chance to stake a claim for the start of Australia's 2006 World Cup qualifying campaign due to cash woes Down Under. After two seasons of financial worries at club level, the 23-year-old is now feeling the effects
A PENSIONER is warning people about a mysterious gift offer from Vienna. Fred Watson, 76, has so far received three flyers in the post from Friedrich Mueller Gift Distribution, registered to a PO box number in the Austrian capital, asking him to send
CRICKLADE residents asserted themselves to ensure that a toast to the Queen could be heard over the sound of passing traffic. The toast was proposed by the Court Leet of the Hundred and Borough of Cricklade, a organisation that dates from medieval times
THE youngest visitors to Swindon town centre have been left with nowhere safe to play after the owners of the Brunel Centre, Westfield, decided to close its under-fives soft play area. In its place on the first floor, Bournemouth-based summer and surf
FIVE youngsters are devastated after the theft of their prized off-road motorcycle. The set of cousins have been left in the lurch after what appears to be the professional theft of their bike a specialist Yamaha 50cc machine worth £1,000 from the garage
ST JOHN Ambulance is running a first aid course at Swindon's Tesco Extra store next week, as part of its Mother and Baby Save a Life Campaign. The three-hour course will take place next Tuesday from 6-9pm. It costs £5 and is aimed at parents. The campaign
BORN and bred Swindonians Don and Joan Blankley, are celebrating their golden wedding. They live in Milton's Way, Wootton Bassett, and Joan (nee Dent) is a former nurse. Don, 76, was born at Stratton and completed an apprenticeship as a fitter and turner
CRICKLADE: Firemen were called to the High Street after a report of a burning car. A fire engine arrived at the scene shortly before 8am yesterday to find the vehicle smouldering but the fire nearly out. A brigade spokesman said the vehicle was abandoned
SCIENTISTS funded by a Swindon-based research council are recreating the hostile environment found on Mars with a device known as the Martian Environment Simulator. The machine reproduces the temperatures, air pressure and unbreathable atmosphere known
POLICE have appealed for witnesses into an assault in the High Street on Sunday night which left a man with head injuries. The alleged attack happened shortly after 11pm. Police appealed for witnesses and information about a man he said may be able to
IT was love at first sight when young airman, Stan Smith met Elizabeth Duncan, at a wartime dance over 62 years ago. Now enjoying retirement at Wootton Bassett, they are thrilled to be celebrating their diamond wedding today. Stan recalls his first glimpse
A SWINDON school is celebrating another golden jubilee later this month its own. And Moredon Infants' School plans to mark its first 50 years with a series of festivities. On Saturday, June 29, there will be a summer fair with all the traditional stalls
It seems that our Government is considering giving Gibraltar to Spain. I saw Gibraltar from a troop ship after being on board for weeks and expecting a torpedo to come through the side at any time. What a welcome sight the rock was. As we hadn't seen
UNTIL recently I had spent all my life in Swindon. I have now moved to London to work, but I am so happy to come home, as people really take for granted how polite and courteous Swindon people are. You rarely see people in London hold doors open for others
YOUR article on the subject of the monarchy (EA, May 30) only emphasises the fact that the younger generation has no idea of the reason so many fought and died in the last war. It was to save them from having to "Sieg heil" or bow to a Japanese Emperor
BATH look to have lost out to Premiership champions Leicester on the signature of French prop Franck Tournaire. Toulouse have confirmed that the 29-year-old front-row has opted to join the Tigers on a two-year contract, barely a month after suggesting
