COUNCILLORS often open them-selves to criticism. But on the whole they go into the job because they care about our town, not for personal gain. So it is with our mayor David Cox, who has proved himself a wonderful custodian of the ceremonial post. He
German lorry driver Erich Kurt Lange, 47, was due to appear before North Wiltshire magistrates in Chippenham today (Monday) charged with aiding the illegal entry of 46 Tamils into the UK on Friday. The Tamils were seen getting out of a Ford Iveco lorry
Calne secured a crucial 4-2 win in their relegation battle at Warminster. Tim Jefferies gave Paul Rankin's struggling side a 1-0 half-time lead, before Lee Chalk and Mark Strickland made it three with goals just after the restart. Player-boss Rankin grabbed
Chippenham Town treated fellow promotion hopefuls Evesham to six of the best on Saturday. Tommy Saunders' troops produced possibly their best display of the season to run out 6-0 winners in Worcestershire. The hosts started quite brightly, but once Steve
Highworth Town kept up their recent run of victories with a 3-2 success over neighbours Wootton Bassett. It was the town's sixth successive league victory and has taken them from bottom but one to mid table safety. In an exciting local derby Highworth
TOWN avoided a serious dose of the Hereford horrors as they battled back from potential FA Cup oblivion to claim victory in a cracking second-round encounter at the County Ground. New chairman Willie Carson was delighted to see his new club surge past
RELIEVED Jon Callard took aim at the critics and Bath's performance as "heroic'' after they claimed their fourth league victory of the season. The head coach saw his side bounce back from their Wasps horror show and then blasted the snipers who had questioned
BATH'S unheralded pack stepped out of the shadows of their star-studded back line for the second home game in succession to ensure Gloucester's Rec misery continued for another season. Three Matt Perry penalties and an Iain Balshaw drop goal secured the
German lorry driver Erich Kurt Lange, 47, was due to appear before North Wiltshire magistrates in Chippenham today (Monday) charged with aiding the illegal entry of 46 Tamils into the UK on Friday. The Tamils were seen getting out of a Ford Iveco lorry
HERE is game for a laugh mayor David Cox in his latest role as ugly sister for a production of Cinderella. The Labour councillor and town's ceremonial leader is swapping his chain of office for a feather boa, full make-up, frilly dress and tights to take
A DELIVERY of 43 laptop computers for councillors, costing £125,000, has arrived at Swindon Council at a time when budget cuts are being proposed for some of our most vulnerable services. The laptops come complete with state-of-the-art colour printers
Potential flooding problems at a site earmarked for housing in Lechlade have put the plans on hold. Westbury Homes wants to build 31 homes, including six houses with garages, a public open space and access road on land at Butler's Court. But members heard
A LONG distance lorry driver who made a video of himself having sex with a 14-year-old babysitter has been sent to jail for two years. Martin Digweed, 40, gave the girl money and gifts to encourage her to sleep with him while he taped it, Swindon Crown
OFFICE workers in Wiltshire have helped a team of Scottish and French astronomers discover a festive star that does the twist. Funding for the pioneering work has come from officials working at the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council, the
FAIRFORD residents will be partying in the street on Friday, December 14, at the town's annual Christmas bash. The town council's festive street party will give adults the chance to stock up on local produce from a farmer's market. There's also a host
Police have appealed for help in tracing a stolen white Ford Iveco van containing bikes and other high value goods that went missing from Kelvin Road, Walcot, on Thursday. Anyone who sees the van, registration R828 XTP, or the man thought to be driving
NORMALITY has returned to Eastbrook Farm, but farmer Helen Browning says the aftermath of foot and mouth has left a huge hole in profits. The organic farm in Bishopstone was closed for 12 days in March after a suspected outbreak. The farm was put on alert
SWINDON TOWN and Bath Rugby could find themselves sharing a new home. Club chief executive Pete Rowe has admitted that the prospect of the two sides coming together on a site near the M4 is more than just pie in the sky. The new Town board, led by chairman
CHRISTMAS may be coming but you feel every day is December 25 for Paul Edwards. The 21-year-old has been tremendous since bursting into the first team against Tranmere back in September. His pace down the left flank has given Town a new attacking dimension
FIRST Great Western has published a revised Christmas and New Year timetable. A number of services have been extended from Bristol into the West of England during the holiday period to take account of an increase in long distance leisure travel and fewer
David Duke felt Hereford had been fortunate to hold a 2-1 half- time lead. He said: "We got behind them, got crosses in and created chances. "There's no way we should have been trailing. "Maybe we could have done better for their second goal but you couldn't
SHOPPING now being an activity with its own momentum, it is not surprising the Great Western Designer Outlet Village attracts more visitors than Steam. In the early days the promoters of both sites seemed to have realised the need for a link between the
TOWN face a tough-looking trip to Manchester City in the third round of the FA Cup but the match could net the visitors a six-figure sum. Roy Evans' men will travel to Maine Road on January 5 for an afternoon of reunions. City boss and former Liverpool
ROY EVANS has warned his new chairman that he cannot hope to secure success without any 'spending money'. Town's director of football will sit down with Willie Carson today and seek assurances that his new chairman has both the ambition and the financial
WITH the winter chill starting to bite, it seems ridiculous to me there are hundreds, or even thousands, of people in the Swindon area who are missing out on free grants of up to £2,000 for improved central heating and home insulation. The Warm Front
We, as members, are interested in tracing the history of the Swindon Cage Bird Society. We know that in 1935, a Mr R C Hyde of 64 Oxford Road, Stratton St Margaret, was secretary of the society. However, we feel that the society would have been in existence
THE case of the plane spotters currently waiting trial in Greece raises concerns over the plans for a European-wide arrest warrant. It may have seemed at first, that reports that plane-spotters had been arrested in Greece on suspicion of spying to have
CIRENCESTER'S promotion challenge in the Gloucestershire Premier League suffered something of a jolt as they were held to a 16-16 draw by Gloucester outfit Chosen Hill on Saturday. Cirencester, level on points with Spartans going into the weekend, are
Chippenham carried on from where they left off against Marlow, producing some of their worst rugby before clinching a 27-24 victory in Saturday's South West Division 2 East encounter at Allington Field. After a bruising first half they eventually turned
Swindon survived a late second-half fightback by Buckingham to win 20-10 in Saturday's Southern Counties North match at Greenbridge Road. Swindon started the game strongly and within minutes the forward pressure had caused Buckingham to infringe in front
SWINDON Council has a wonderful sense of timing. The £125,000 spent on new computers for its councillors may have come from last year's budget, but at a time when it is campaigning for extra funds from central Government, the investment sends out all
ROY EVANS has warned his new chairman that he cannot hope to secure success without any 'spending money'. Town's director of football will sit down with Willie Carson today and seek assurances that his new chairman has both the ambition and the financial
Retired priest Reverend Chris Dobb is looking for contributions towards a biography of the former Archdeacon of Swindon, Reverend Freddy Temple. Mr Temple lived in Wootton Bassett and died last year aged 84. He was the former Archdeacon of Swindon as
OFFICE workers in Wiltshire have helped a team of Scottish and French astronomers discover a festive star that does the twist. Funding for the pioneering work has come from officials working at the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council, the
Melksham Town's FA Vase dream came to a heartbreaking end on Saturday, when a late goal from visiting St Neots condemned Robbie Lardner's men to a 3-2 defeat. Melksham began the game as favourites to progress to the last 32, and everything looked to be
Wootton Bassett United won the battle of the giants in the Junior Division when they defeated Swindon Eagles 1-0 despite playing with just nine men for 70 minutes. Disaster struck for United after 13 minutes when Mark Westlake was sent off for having
What has John Murphy done to Swindon Supermarine? A stunning 4-0 home win against fellow relegation battlers Racing Club Warwick on Saturday underlined the club's rejuvenation. Before the former Cheltenham boss took the Hunts Copse reins a month ago,
Cirencester continued their recent good form with a comprehensive 4-1 win over high-flying Solihull Borough. The game came to life on 25 minutes when Adam Mayo found David Godley in space and he jinked past three defenders to blast a powerful shot into
WORKERS from Swindon's emergency services are to be honoured with medals minted to mark the Queen's Golden Jubilee next year. In the wake of the September 11 terrorist attack on New York, the Government has decided to extend the recipients of the medal
MORE than 50 homes will be built on the site of the former R&K Wise bakery. Bellwinch Homes has bought the 2.4-acre site, lying off Headlands Grove, Stratton, for £2.4m. Its detailed plans for the site will be discussed by tonight's planning committee
PARENTS and children alike were thrilled when Barbie spent the day at the new Asda Wal-Mart in Haydon Wick. The famous blonde, whose plastic, full bodied silhouette burst onto the toy scene over 40 years ago, chatted to shoppers, handed out goodies and
SWINDON'S hospital chief is in dispute with council planners in a clash over nursing home provision in the town. Sonia Mills, who heads Swindon and Marlborough NHS Trust, has stood firm behind a plan to create a 79-bed nursing home adjacent to the existing
SWINDON TOWN and Bath Rugby could find themselves sharing a new home. Club chief executive Pete Rowe has admitted that the prospect of the two sides coming together on a site near the M4 is more than just pie in the sky. The new Town board, led by chairman
BABY Jack Adamson has been fighting for his life in hospital since Monday, 3 December, after being diagnosed with the less common bacterial meningitis. The 11-month-old has spent the week at the Royal United Hospital, Bath on drips and antibiotics and
TRAINING organisation Taurus has been given a boost with an unexpected gift of specialist equipment worth £500 from the Galactosaemia Support Group. The donation, which includes books and computer software, will help educate people with varying degrees
KEMBLE Airfield bade farewell to a larger than life visitor after a Boeing 747 took to the skies from the Cotswolds airstrip. The 870,000lb giant has been stored at the former military airbase, near Cirencester, since it first touched down there in October
More than £14,000 was raised for the homeless during a sponsored sleep out. A record 72 people took part in the sponsored event on Friday organised by the Threshold Housing Link. They slept in the grounds of Immanual Church in Upham Road to experience
Retired priest Reverend Chris Dobb is looking for contributions towards a biography of the former Archdeacon of Swindon, Reverend Freddy Temple. Mr Temple lived in Wootton Bassett and died last year aged 84. He was the former Archdeacon of Swindon as
GREENDOWN playgroup has found a new home, thanks to donations from two Swindon-based companies. The playgroup, which caters for 44 children, was based in the Len Hobbs suite at Greendown School for many years. Its future looked uncertain because an expansion
A number of First Great Western train services to London Paddington from South Wales, Bristol and the Cotswolds were delayed this morning due (Monday) to a signalling problem near Swindon. Some services were cancelled and customers were being asked to
CAMPAIGNERS calling for a by-pass around Blunsdon have handed over a petition to North Swindon MP Michael Wills. Following a parish council survey of 642 households in the village this month, 97 per cent signed the form in favour of the project. The £25m
FEATURE: FOOT and mouth has forced Rupert Burr to give up farming. Mr Burr has run Roves Farm in Sevenhampton for the past 30 years. In 1992, he opened it up as a petting farm and visitor centre. But the farm had to close for about three months as a result
FEATURE: Foot and mouth may be nothing more than a bad memory for some, but many are still counting the cost of a crisis that threatened the very existence of the farming industry in Wiltshire. SARAH HEATHCOTE reports. AFTER a devastating year for farmers
HEREFORD player-manager Phil Robinson was proud of his players and felt they had given everything during their narrow defeat at the hands of Town. He thought another cup shock was on the cards after the Bulls had led 2-1 at the break but a second league
TODAY we give a huge thanks to all our readers who took the Christmas appeal to their hearts yet again. The Evening Advertiser's Christmas Toy Appeal, run in conjunction with Swindon Rotary Club, came to a close on Saturday, December 8, and once again
ROY EVANS said a half-time roasting had been necessary to force his players out of their first-half daze against Hereford United. The director of football is not known as a man to rant and rave but the normally cool exterior disappeared as he told his
THE PROSPECT Hospice's Christmas tree was ablaze with light at the culmination of a record year for the annual Light a Life appeal. Members of the public were asked to sponsor a light on the tree to celebrate the life of a loved one, raising vital funds
Macmillan nurses provide invaluable care and support to people with life-limiting illnesses and their families. BEN FITZGERALD spoke to a nurse and explains how you can help the charity continue its good work in the Swindon area. THOSE whose lives have
Midfielder Steve Robinson felt Town had been caught slightly off-guard by their non-League visitors on Saturday. Turbo said: "We started a little bit slowly and they were clearly up for it. "They've scored a great goal and at half-time the gaffer said
TELEVISION historian Adam Hart-Davis has hit back at critics who say the unprofitable Steam museum is Swindon's white elephant. Mr Hart-Davis, presenter of the popular BBC series What The Victorians Did For Us, was at the museum to deliver the first Steam
DANNY INVINCIBLE netted his sixth goal of the campaign against the Bulls but confessed that Town had made life difficult for themselves. The 22-year-old gave the home side an early lead and that should have been the platform for a comfortable victory.
PAUL Edwards was delighted to open his Town account against Hereford United, but revealed the goal had not come as a surprise. The 21-year-old caused havoc down the left flank and his stunning 53rd-minute goal provided Town with a timely equaliser. He
HAVE you all been to visit the Father Christmas in the Brunel Plaza? This Father Christmas is the best I have seen for a long while. His suit is excellent and he spends time with the children and really takes an interest. Children can have a photo taken
I read that Julia Drown has now become involved in the current Ridgeway debate (Evening Advertiser, November 28). A few months ago she was not interested in having problems of the countryside raised at the meeting at New College which Mr Blair attended
WE WERE concerned to see that your article about drug-rape referred to our medicine Rohypnol (flunitrazepam) as "the most common drug used in date rape cases". We welcome measures to encourage people to be on their guard against criminals misusing medicines
SWINDON College Old Boys' improved form continued apace as they returned from Saturday's Southern Counties South encounter at Corsham with a 40-12 victory. The Old Boys, beset by early-season injury problems, have started to string some results together
