Archive
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Ooh, I'm Mental
My original plan for this blog was to treat it like a chat with my barber and grin about the weather. But just as I began swooning about the delights of being awoken by the sweet serenade of bird song, a smouldering smooch of sunshine and a
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Dealer told to repay £1,000
A man caught with hundreds of pounds worth of amphetamines has been ordered to do 240 hours of community service. Duncan Pike had the drugs, many set out in individual wraps, at his home when the police raided in August last year. But after hearing
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Sky’s the limit for pub landlady Kathy
DESPITE only being behind the bar for four months, landlady Kathy Bond has encouraged her punters to raise almost £6,000 for local charities. Since taking over behind the bar at Arkell’s Moonrakers in January, she has already helped raise thousands
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Life saver simon is simply first class
SWINDON postman Simon Goodall has been named as the top postie in the south west after saving the life of a pensioner whose house was on fire. Simon, who works at Royal Mail’s Hawksworth Delivery Office, scooped the prestigious award during
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Collier quits as Marine boss
MARK Collier has resigned as manager of Swindon Supermarine. The 51-year-old guided Supermarine to Southern League Premier Division safety in 2009/10 following a difficult season. He was one of the candidates recently interviewed to
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A charity windfall
A CHARITY that runs gardening and craft therapies for rural people with mental health problems has received a cash windfall. Watchfield-based charity Root & Branch has received a £20,000 grant from the Lloyds TSB Foundation for England and Wales. The
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Motor industry’s recovery on a roll
The car industry is showing a robust recovery, according to the latest figures. Car production rose by 44 per cent in April compared to this time last year and was up 65 per cent over the year-to-date. Meanwhile commercial vehicle production was up
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‘Grandfather should have been watched’
A GRANDDAD who hanged himself in his prison cell while on remand for a string of sex offences was ‘supposed to be on supervised watch’. Edwin O’Toole, 54, who was charged with rape of a child, was in custody for less than a week when he was found hanged
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IT firm marks its birthday by supporting hospice
IMEX Technical Services, a Malmesbury-based IT support consultancy, has committed technical know-how and fundraising backing for Wroughton’s Prospect Hospice. The company, which celebrates its tenth anniversary this year, will be providing free back-up
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Gerry Taylor
BEFORE I start this letter I will declare my colours - I am a smoker and thoroughly agree with the principles of the current smoking ban in public buildings and places of employment. Having read you article last week about the soldier who was unfortunately
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Letter from Steve Thompson
LARRY Wright uses very unnecessary language objecting to Bishops in Parliament and an offensive red herring in denigrating their vestments. I agree with him about the need for an assisted dying for the terminally ill act, but it was not only Anglican
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Letter from James Wright
AS a longstanding member of the Stroud & Swindon Building Society, I am very disappointed that its poor performance in recent years may lead to it being swallowd up by the Coventry Building Society. Why is it that our society has faltered while so many
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Letter from Bill Williams
MAY we all, as letter readers or letter writers of the Adver bury all our differences of opinion on politics? Or various other topics of dispute - the proposed canal, the water fountain etc to name but a few. Can we once again all stand together, shoulder
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Letter from Carol Hindley and Maria Baxter
Re: Closing the subway under Queens Drive WE would like to respond to Charley Morgan’s article from Tuesday, May 18 about the sisters’ plea to keep their lifeline open. While we sympathise with the sisters’ phobia about busy roads, as residents of
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Letter from J Adams
WHAT a horrid mess is Swindon town shopping centre! There seems to be more helmeted workmen visible than shoppers themselves. Bottlenecks designed to herd confused shoppers through gauntlets of noise and dust. Are shoppers not welcome anymore
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Fundraise to help sufferers live with polio
People in Swindon are being encouraged to get their thinking caps on and start planning fundraising activities for a series of fun-packed events and activities in aid of British Polio Week, from July 3–11. The British Polio Fellowship – a charity dedicated
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Letter from Jim Bond
NEARLY 20 years ago I made the decision to become a foster carer, leaving behind a career in teaching and youth work. It is the best decision I could have made. There is now a shortage of 600 foster carers in the South West at a time when more children
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Letter from George Casey
IS there anyone out there, I wonder, who can tell me how it is that the local authority, the Swindon Borough Council, can get away with 'commercial', for want of a better word, discrimination? I've been a Private Hire driver in Swindon for over ten years
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Letter from Miss B M Packer
I UNDERSTAND Sarah, Duchess of York received £3m on her divorce, riches beyond most people’s wildest dreams, just after that she was begging for more money. Now she claims she has money problems . I have a brilliant idea, she should spend a week as
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Get ready for the beer race
IF you’re thirsty for adventure you still have time to enter the gruelling Wanborough Beer Race. The annual event, which takes place on Bank Holiday Monday, has been running for 53 years and normally around eight people can enter from each of the six
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Letter from Coun Derique Montaut
LAST week I discovered that Dial-a-Ride, one of Swindon’s most cherished organisations and an establishment that provides a quality, personalised service to the most vulnerable people of our town, is set to lose all council funding and will inevitably
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Letter from Jane Asher
AS a long time supporter of Marie Curie Cancer Care and a passionate cake baker, may I ask your readers in Swindon to join the charity’s Blooming Great Tea Party celebrations this summer? We’re inviting people to hold their own tea parties any time between
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Letter from Alan Fletcher
SWINDON Guide Dogs would like to thank all those very generous people who donated to our collection at the Co-op Foodstore in the High Street, Old Town, Swindon. We took a terrific £671. We would also like to thank the manager and his staff for their
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Letter from Greg Heathcliffe
DAVID Cameron has dropped the Home Information Pack, the so called HIPS, as a part of selling a home but when they were introduced, under Tony Blair's administration, he (Mr Blair) admitted that they were an EU requirement. UKIP have always claimed that
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Letter from Martin Webb
CAN I point out to Frank Avenell’s letter ‘Brainwashing bid’ (SA, May 22) that the reason this country finds itself in its current economical mess has nothing to do with the previous government’s uncontrolled immigration policy that he says has allowed
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Letter from J Hill
SORRY Mr Les Fox, but I'm not among your greatest fans. I quite often don't find your letters as amusing as other readers may. I usually keep quiet about my response to some of your offerings, but on this occasion felt I wanted to respond. You perhaps
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Letter from Steve Thompson
YOUR article on gypsies and the astonishingly racist comments in your online comment was absolutely sickening. With attitudes like these Hitler would have felt at home in Britain today. Let’s not forget that gypsies were the second largest group
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Letter from Mrs Jennifer Dinning
WHILE out shopping in Regent Street yesterday I passed what Swindon council would call ‘the new water feature’. A monstrosity feature I would prefer to call it. As I stood in sheer disbelief, staring at these pieces of tin (which would look more at home
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Can you spare time to help drug charity
VOLUNTEERS are being sought to help out at the Swindon Wiltshire Alcohol and Drug Service (Swads) . Swads is a registered charity providing a wide range of services at Bradford House, Milton Road and has been supporting people with problems and concerns
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More trouble on trains but robberies cut
PUBLIC disorder, violent crime and drug offences all increased on trains and railway stations in Wales and the Western Area during 2009-10, figures released by British Transport Police (BTP) today show. Public disorder was up 23.7 per cent from 814 offences
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Kath's textile artwork appears in American book
WHEN textile artist Kath Danswan received an email from an American publishing company asking for pictures of some of her work she was only too happy to obliged. And now two of the photographs she emailed over to the States have appeared in a new book
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Mini-tornado hits Highworth
ALONG with blistering sunshine, one woman claims Highworth was also the scene of a mini-tornado yesterday. Mary Pignatelli was in the garden of her home in Turnpike Road, Highworth, when she says a mini-tornado ripped through the garden and swept her
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Man pocketed tax money
A TAX ADVISER who plundered more than £300,000 of clients’ money meant for the exchequer has been jailed for four years. Martin Buckland cheated two firms out of hundreds of thousands by pretending he was taking payments to look after their
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It ain't half hot, mum
SWINDON became a blistering sun trap over the weekend as the town enjoyed some of the hottest May temperatures on record. But forecasters are now warning that temperatures for the rest of the week could plummet by a staggering 10 degrees centigrade
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Oarsom charity kayak marathon
A DETERMINED hospital worker from Swindon aims to kayak solo across Britain to help support youngsters with terminal health conditions and their families. Jonathan Tolhurst, 31, plans to paddle about 1,400km from Land’s End to John O’Groats
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SWINDON LEISURE LEAGUES 6-A-SIDE FOOTBALL ROUND UP
Dale Grabble was in fine form for Swindon Abbey Meads 6-a-side Premier Division leaders Total 90 as they handed out an 8-1 mauling to Cement FC. John Hacker pulled the strings for Neil’s Tattoo Studio as they saw off the challenge of DW Sports by six
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Village offers up land for housing
‘NOT in my back yard’ is the usual response from many a picturesque village when a planning application for a large housing development lands on its doorstep. But a village near Swindon is taking its future into its own hands by offering up
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Memories of scoring a goal for Town at Wembley
IT MAY seem like a lifetime ago to Mark Lea, but the memories of Swindon’s last trip to Wembley are something he will never forget. The 37-year-old was one of six Swindon Town trainees that got on the hallowed turf prior to the play-off final
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Swindon fan Lee ready to cheer on Town all the way from Australia
A LIFELONG Swindon Town fan, whose hopes of flying thousands of miles to attend the Wembley game were dashed, has turned around the predicament – by throwing a big match party at his home in Australia. Lee Bizley, 31, originally from Gorse Hill, had
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Council to cut Dial A Ride funds
FUNDING for a charity that provides transport for the elderly and disabled in Swindon is to be cut, the council has revealed. Swindon Council says it can no longer pay the £331,000 a year it provides to Swindon Dial A Ride as the contract it
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Road safety scheme starts at blackspot
A £100,000 road safety project at the accident blackspot where schoolboy Tyrese Hannah was fatally injured started yesterday. Drove Road will be completely redesigned at its junction with Belle Vue Road and Cricklade Road. Both Cricklade Street and
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To Belle and back
SWINDON boss Ronnie Russell admitted a sluggish start and finish cost his side Elite League points at Belle Vue last night. The Robins were defeated 51- 39 at Kirkmanshulme Lane in a meeting where they more than matched their hosts for the
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Hotshot Martin scoops a second national title
WALCOT boxer Ryan Martin completed a national title double for the season when he won the Royal Navy Junior ABA title at the Barnsley Metrodome. With temperatures in the 80s the 16-year-old Greendown pupil beat Midlands champion Steed Woodhall
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Teen fights for life after crash
A TEENAGER from Swindon is lucky to be alive after colliding with another motorcyclist who died of his injuries. The 19-year-old remains in intensive care after the crash on the A4361 near Berwick Bassett, south of Wroughton, on Sunday afternoon. A
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Fans not all white about play-off final strip
THE decision by Swindon Town to wear their white away kit for the League One Play-off final against Millwall at Wembley on Saturday has not gone down well with the bulk of the travelling fans. Last week chief executive Nick Watkins revealed
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Going down Wembley Way
DANNY Wilson will give Town’s squad a sneak preview of Wembley on Friday in a bid to calm the nerves of his young stars. After training in the morning at the County Ground, they will then travel to the capital after lunch to take in the surroundings
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Luc who's back in training...
DAVID Lucas looks set to start in goal for Swindon at Wembley on Saturday after coming through his first training session unscathed. The keeper suffered what initially looked like a dislocated shoulder inside the first 38 seconds of the play-off
