Your article on the Stonehenge rip-off reminded me of a personal experience some 60 years ago. I was a newly commissioned officer on the young officers’ course at Larkhill Camp, a couple of miles north of Stonehenge. The captains’ course was
If you read the coverage in last week’s Gazette & Herald, you could be forgiven for thinking the Chippenham splash pad project had been scrapped. This is not the case. All Chippenham councillors are fully aware there has been no agreement to
Following on from some of the comments in last week’s edition regarding my amendment to Chippenham Town Council, reallocating £40,000 from the 2014/2015 budget for the provision of a splash pad to help with improvements to infrastructure, community
Is it really necessary for the work on the dual carriageway on the A350 around Chippenham to be done? What is the wonderful formula that produces all the fictitious money, the ‘hopes’ and ‘estimated savings’? I would sooner see the £2.7 spent on
Calne Daycentre meets every Monday to offer a meeting place for elderly residents of Calne and local villages. We offer our members a healthy two-course dinner cooked on site, an opportunity to socialise, listen to talks, play games and do some
I read with great interest your two-page article in last week’s Gazette & Herald regarding the visit to Chippenham of Mr Pickles, Communities Secretary, and local councillors’ expenses. I smiled at the reaction of Jane Scott when, in response
I was sad to see that Chippenham’s Lib Dem MP, Duncan Hames, voted in Parliament on January 21 against a proposal from the Labour Party that a statutory code should be introduced to ensure pub landlords are no longer exploited in their relationship
I am looking for colour slides of the M4 construction works between Wootton Bassett and Baydon. I have been asked to present an illustrated talk to my local Probus club on the construction of the M4. Although I spent three years during my early
It is with disbelief that I read about the increasing ineptitude of our local authority and the latest farce relates to the failings of the new Clarence app. If it was working properly and everyone used it, it doesn’t take much to figure out that
Unemployment across the country is moving in the right direction which is positive, however, the trend is not yet replicated in the south west, where we saw a rise. More needs to be done. I welcome the excellent news that Dyson is looking to expand
Like everyone I am delighted with the news that Dyson is to create 3,000 jobs in Malmesbury. This is a massive vote of confidence in North Wiltshire. I hope therefore that Wiltshire Council will make the necessary improvements in infrastructure
I was upset to read in last week’s Gazette & Herald that our parish council had supported the plans for solar panels covering 67 hectares of land around neighbouring villages, thinking that no one from the village objected to it. I, for one
The decision taken by Wiltshire Council planning committee at last Wednesday’s meeting not to defend their original refusal of the application to develop the Marden Farm site at the public inquiry next month is nothing short of outrageous. The committee
Wiltshire farmers will be able to learn how to bring their businesses into the digital age with advice from the Rural Payments Agency at Bath and West Agricultural Machinery and Equipment Show on February 12. The agency will be promoting its increasingly
Library users across Wiltshire were asked to sum up what they love about their libraries using words and images as part of a national celebration this week. Chippenham Library was among the six Wiltshire libraries taking part in the scheme, which
Hip hop dancer Banxy visited pupils from Hardenhuish School in Chippenham to teach them some new moves. He was brought in to give the school’s Xtreme boys dance company a master class in street dance as they prepared for the Great Big Dance Off
What a dark, damp, dismal week! Once again we have had over an inch of rain, to add to the already saturated ground. At Christmas we were given a family barograph. This instrument draws an air pressure reading on a length of graph paper wrapped
Author Ken Follett is visiting Salisbury Cathedral on Sunday, March 2, at the start of a tour of five cathedrals to mark the 25th anniversary of the publication of his global bestselling book The Pillars of the Earth. Mr Follett was inspired to
I have been vastly unimpressed by the weather in January. What a nightmare. Fortunately I do not live in an area prone to flooding but I pity the poor people who do. I have been musing on the unstoppable penchant for building on flood plains
More than 20 fundraisers braved the cold to sleep under the stars in Chippenham in aid of homeless charity Doorway. The sponsored sleepout took place in St Andrew’s churchyard from 7pm to 7am last Friday, raising money and awareness for the Chippenham-based
Girls across the county have begun celebrating 100 years of the Brownies, including those from 1st Minety Brownies. About 600 seven to 10-year-olds from around north Wiltshire enjoyed a centenary party at The Hilton Hotel in Swindon on Sunday.
Author Jane Hardstaff’s debut novel, The Executioner’s Daughter, is going down a storm with young readers. The book, for over-tens, tells the story of Moss, the daughter of the executioner in the Tower of London, who runs away from a life she hates
