IN a closely contested Glos/Wilts game at Bredon, Bassett went down to a three-wicket defeat with an over to go. Batting first, Bassett started brightly before Jug Chahal was caught behind for eight. The wicket was of variable bounce, with several deliveries
Purton travelled to Trowbridge on Saturday and lost a Glos/Wilts game by 106 runs. Batting first Trowbridge started slowly against some good Purton bowling, reaching 60-3 after 22 overs. However Purton dropped two vital catches, allowing the home side
CIRENCESTER received a significant boost in their battle to avoid relegation from Readers Gloucestershire County League Division One when they secured a convincing six-wicket victory over fourth-placed Newent in the Park on Saturday It was only their
THERE were exciting finishes in three matches in Division Two. Shock of the day was the home defeat of Collingbourne by lowly Highworth. Graham Chandler (69) top scored for Collingbourne as they totalled 196-8, Geoff Jeckells taking 5-33 in seven overs
WE might have been critical of Swindon Council in the past but its foresight in buying Lydiard House and park 60 years ago ranks among the best deals ever done in this country. The house and 260 acres of land were sold for just £4,600. That sort of money
WHEN some schools in Swindon are bursting at the seams it is quite ironic that there are plans which might see others close. Those which face the axe are in West Swindon where there are falling rolls among young people so it is the primary schools which
DARREN DYKES once chanted Neil Ruddock's name from the terraces and Town's newest recruit, admits the prospect of playing alongside the Razor will take some time to sink in. The 21-year-old midfielder, rejected by both Spurs and Leyton Orient as a teenager
AIRPORTS group Wiggins pledged to put its Kent-based cargo operation in the frame to win a share of the spiralling UK passenger market. The London-based group said it was in talks with low-cost carriers about developing Manston and its other continental
THE Centre for Professional Development is on the move. Due to increasing levels of demand for their skills development programmes, the CPD has announced that it is relocating to larger offices in the Rodbourne area of Swindon. CPD director Charlotte
STRUGGLING fibre-optics company Bookham Technology says its cost-cutting drive is paying off, despite cutting 25 jobs in Swindon. The group laid off nine per cent of its workforce earlier this month following a wave of job cuts last year as it battled
BIG Brother winner Kate Lawler has been upstaged in her quest to seduce house stud Spencer Smith by a blonde glamour model from Wootton Bassett. Jodi Oram has been linked with Spencer after meeting him at a Playboy TV party just a week after he was evicted
READING Mr Heaton Jones comments in the Evening Advertiser I can only come to one conclusion: BBC Wiltshire Sound suffers fools gladly. M E CHESTERMAN Hyde Road Kingsdown Swindon
WITH regard to Peter Heaton-Jones views on public monies being wasted on STFC. But before he waffles on again on something he knows or cares little about he should get to the County Ground. We would not be in the pickle we are if more of Swindon's population
The Mechanics Institute was not built by Swindon town, but by the Great Western Railway largely for the use of their employees. Subsequently the Institute passed to British Rail Western Region. BR did nothing with it for many years, neither was it offered
My family and I decided to go to RIAT at Fairford, after an absence of two years due to runway resurfacing work. Having been regular attendees up until two years ago, we were very disappointed with the organisation of the event. The traffic queues were
THE much-missed sound of church bells is set to be heard in a small community for the first time in 30 years. The restoration of bellringing Liddington's All Saints Church has moved a step closer thanks to a new committee. Headed by All Saints vicar,
LOCK up your property and defeat summer thieves. That is the latest message from Swindon police, as the hot weather tempts householders to carelessly leave doors and windows open. Swindon Crime Prevention division is warning that this could mean a bonanza
ONE of Swindon's most famous sons has been spotted out and about at Coate Water. Acclaimed writer Richard Jefferies will be celebrated in a Victorian family day out at Coate Water on Sunday, August 11. John Price of the Richard Jefferies Society yesterday
JO WARNER, owner of Ivy House Lakes at Wootton Bassett, was agonisingly close to a top three finish in the Embassy Ladies National Championship. Jo, 54, fished superbly to finish fourth in the individual event at Hallcroft Fisheries, East Retford with
Swindon Supermarine slumped to a surprise home defeat at the hands of Screwfix League Corsham last night. A 23rd-minute Matt Pratley strike gave the visitors a 1-0 victory against a largely experimental Marine line-up. Manager John Murphy made a host
A WASTE management company is helping to fund community projects in North and South Wiltshire. Viridor Waste Management, based at landfill sites in Calne and Westbury, has invested more than £500,000 in projects with Community First, which supports community
CRICKLADE mums are fighting to save a green space near St Sampson's Church from being turned into a housing development. They fear the play area has been earmarked for building after discovering that an offer to Cricklade Pre-school playgroup to lease
A VITAL service which serves the people of Swindon and Wiltshire continues to seek the public's support. Wiltshire Air Ambulance gets no statutory funding yet last year it extended its operating hours from nine to 19 hours a day running from 8am to 3am
RESIDENTS in Abbey Meads were left reeling after a controversial application to build a drive-through McDonalds and Domino's pizza parlour got the thumbs up. Last night Swindon planners thought the revised application from Henry Davidson Developments
BIG Brother winner Kate Lawler has been upstaged in her quest to seduce house stud Spencer Smith by a blonde glamour model from Wootton Bassett. Jodi Oram has been linked with Spencer after meeting him at a Playboy TV party just a week after he was evicted
AT just three years old, Bethany Robinson has shouldered more responsibility than most adults ever have to. Not only has the little fighter beaten cancer, she also acts as the ears for her parents Tracy and Steve who have been deaf since birth. Despite
A MAJOR advantage of being Bride of the Year is that you have help to sort out all those little hitches that could spoil the big day. There are always problems organising a wedding, but when Mountstevens, the company providing the cake for our Bride of
ON the Saturday of Fairford air show a whole page was given to a letter from Bruce Kent, described as veteran CND campaigner. There can be none who would dispute his view that peace and plenty are much to be preferred to war and famine. Few would argue
I HAVE attended many airshows over the past 30 years but none quite so appalling and poorly organised as RIAT 2002. Delays and disruptions on the scale experienced by many local residents and visitors alike last weekend are quite unacceptable. After spending
SO Vinnie Jones is supporting the Retired Greyhound Trust (Evening Advertiser July 26). As you rightly state, he is a lover of dog racing and I am sure that helping this charity will make him feel better about the cruelty connected to this activity. You
COUNCILLOR Bawden's disingenuous attack on the mayor, councillor Stan Pajak, at Thursday's council meeting was typical of the malice which so disfigures Swindon politics, and is perhaps one of the reasons why so few vote at elections. It was quite obvious
In MORE than 100 years of the mayoralty there can have been no more self-opinionated and arrogant occupant of the chair than councillor Stan Pajak. His predecessors have been proud and honoured to have been elected to the office of mayor and have, without
MISS B M Packer surely has the most vivid estimation of speed, if she really thinks that a car travelling along Devizes Road and turning left into Newport Street can turn that corner at about 60mph (EA July 29). If that speed was achieved on that corner
Bath's bid to sign Australian international forward Mark Connors has collapsed. The move has been dashed because of existing contractual commitments with the Australian Rugby Union and his failure to negotiate an early release. "Due to unresolved contractual
Division One: Bath CS 149ao 6, Box 150-6 20; Buscot Park 187-6 6 (H Miller 57), Biddestone 188-3 21 (N Mason 106no); Potterne 129ao 6 (G Gaiger 53), Beanacre 208-71 22 (G Laptham 52); Burbage & ER 96ao 5, Westinghouse 176-9 23 (P Bailey 60). Division
Swindon were beaten by 19 runs in a close- fought encounter against Gloucestershire side Colwall at the County Ground, with some dubious umpiring decisions ultimately deciding the fate of the game. The visitors won the toss and elected to bat and began
THE value of major fraud in the South-west in the first half of 2002 has quadrupled compared with the previous six months, according to the findings of KPMG Forensic's Fraud Barometer. Despite a fall in the number of convictions from eight to five, the
Thur Aug 1: The new look North Wessex Winter League entry £36 per team must be paid by this date. Fri Aug 2: Ivy House Lakes Veterans Open during the day and the normal Friday evening Open Veterans are on the canal. Sat Aug 3: Wootton Bassett AC Ladies
Being on the Swindon Access Group and profoundly deaf myself, I am appalled by the degrading services provided by both the social services and borough council team. The social services needs reformation in regard to all disabilities, especially the deaf
ORGANISERS of the Royal International Air Tattoo have apologised to disabled aviation fans for the inadequate facilities at this year's show. And they have promised to work together with wheelchair-users to ensure matters improve next year at the Fairford
IN 1943, Britain was far from sure whether or not it would win the war. So it is all the more impressive that the Swindon Corporation had the foresight then to buy a derelict stately home and its overgrown park for the benefit of future generations in
Kendal Barry got the verdict in the latest open at Tockenham Lake with a fine 50-15-0 of skimmers and bream taken on the pole and the feeder. Alan Scully came close with a similar catch taken on the pole but came short by just 3lb with his 47-10-0 bag
SWINDON Council could struggle to replace outgoing chief executive Paul Doherty, MP Michael Wills has claimed. The MP for North Swindon says those who revealed publicly that Swindon Council's chief officer is resigning from his post had shown "disgraceful
A FILM making course is being used to teach young people who have been in trouble with the law that crime does not pay. Guided by the Swindon Youth Offending Team, the youngsters are working together to make a film deterring others from offending. Using
SWINDON Council's education and social services provision may have been slated in official reports but it has one of the best crime prevention strategies in the country. That is the verdict of the Government's Audit Commission, which has awarded the authority
THE private firm put in charge of Swindon's education system today pledged to do all it could to avoid closing primary schools in the town but would make no guarantees. Several schools are suffering from a fall in pupil numbers and are under scrutiny.
Devizes caretaker Mark Surman boss claimed victory in his first game in charge. A second-half James Griffin goal gave Surman a temporary replacement for Brian Newlands a 1-0 win over Purton. Hellenic League Fairford enjoyed a 2-1 victory over Wroughton
NATURE reserves in Swindon are the subject of a £19,500 National Lottery bid. Swindon Council's cabinet committee was tonight set to approve a bid for cash to improve public access to its two nature reserves at Coate Water and Seven-fields. Council parks
THE ARTISTS of the future have been given a head start thanks to a sponsorship deal with a printing firm. Pupils at Ridgeway School will get the best equipment available after Bristol-based printing firm Coates Screens agreed to sponsor its A-level print-making
MOTORISTS are being warned to avoid buying documents claiming to be International Driving Licences. The documents proclaim themselves as official but are valueless. An inquiry by the Department of Trade and Industry's companies Investigations Branch revealed
PUPILS of a Swindon school are to meet a hypermarket's artists in residence as part of what is being proclaimed as a unique project. The Hreod Parkway students have already been working with Asda Wal-Mart's Simon Grennan and Christopher Sperandio to produce
THREE members of the Women's Institute in Wiltshire had the honour of holding the Queen's Golden Jubilee Baton on its way to the Commonwealth Games. Taking on part of the Swindon leg was Jane Catchpole, a member of the Ellendune branch, who has suffered
SWINDON could stage a huge open-air pop concert as part of the BBC's annual Children in Need appeal. The concert would attract a crowd of up to 12,000 people and feature some of the top music acts in the country. Swindon Council has been contacted by
COUNCILLORS slammed the victimisation of Penhill residents when approving a play area in Abbey Meads. Some residents who opposed the principle of play provision on the estate felt the area, to be built on open space sandwiched between Bergman Close and
PLAQUES similar to those found on London's tourist attractions may be placed on Cricklade's historic build-ings. The Cricklade Historical Society hopes that the plaques will attract more visitors as well as inform locals about the town's past. The society
POLICE officers Ian and Maria Miller may have been partners in marriage for 25 years but they have also been partners in crime for the last 27 years. That is because, by coincidence, they both joined Wiltshire Constabulary on exactly the same day July
THE group who took its Front Garden anti-building battle to the High Court is planning a fundraising sponsored bicycle ride. The Front Garden Action Group (FRAG) lost last year's bid to prevent Swindon Council from allowing around 4,000 houses to be built
ORGANISERS of the Royal International Air Tattoo have apologised to disabled aviation fans for the inadequate facilities at this year's show. And they have promised to work together with wheelchair-users to ensure matters improve next year at the Fairford
TEENAGER Gary Gunning robbed a man of his £1.20 bus fare as he waited at a town centre stop, it was claimed in court. Swindon Crown Court was told yesterday that 18-year-old Gunning walked up to John Kane and demanded the cash from him on a Thursday night
I REFER to the viewpoint article by Bruce Kent about RIAT at Fairford. I am ex-RAF World War II but I am against the RAF Benevolent Fund using the Tattoo to raise funds. The Benevolent Fund appears to have become a huge commercial venture and providing
I SEE that Swindon Council is continuing with its policy of relentless urban expansion in pursuit of city status. An extra 7,500 houses must be built in the green buffer between West Swindon and Wootton Bassett at the behest of central government, we
THE response of the community in Haydon Wick to the closure of the Post Office in Safeway raises deeper issues of ethical consumerism. Many people clearly feel that Safeway has a responsibility of care to its customers rather than simply to its shareholders
