JAZZ Carlin claimed her second gold in 48 hours at the British Swimming Championships – and admitted the effort took its toll. Swindon's Carlin booked her place on the World Championship team with her impressive win in the 400m freestyle on Wednesday
HE MAY not have got on the ice yet but Swindon Wildcats player/coach Stevie Lyle has been happy with his contribution for Great Britain following their strong start to the World Championships. Netminder Lyle has so far had to watch from the bench
WROUGHTON’S leisure centre will return to control of Ridgeway School after a short-lived management contract with Nuffield Health was terminated early by mutual agreement. The partnership, which saw the not-for-profit organisation take over management
Market manager Kardien Gerbrands talks about Swindon’s farmers’ markets DID you know that tomatoes are the most popular of all the fruit and veg grown in the world? They are hardy summer plants that give a high yield when taken care of properly
TALENTED young skaters, bikers and scooter riders had the skills to pay the bills when they competed in the Urban Riders’ Games. The extreme sports event, which took place at the Hawksworth Trading Estate, on Friday, was organised by ATB Shop Skateware-house
ASIDE from the hum of cicadas, punctuated by the odd dog barking and cockerel crowing, it is completely silent. It’s the same on the empty roads, where all the signs are all in a foreign language, with very few of the customary English translations
SWINDON Town have announced that PUMA will replace Adidas as the club’s kit supplier, in a move which will rankle with half the residents of German town Herzogenaurach. Town’s new deal, which will see PUMA supply kits for the next three seasons
SWINDON Town supporters united in fighting the fat through their football fandom are celebrating after their combined losses reached 40 stone in three months. The group of 30 fans, aged between 35 to 65, took part in an innovative programme called
ADAPTED from Peter James’s bestselling thriller, Dead Simple promises to leave audience on the edge of their seats at the Wyvern Theatre next week.As the gritty play opens, Michael Harrison a man who has it all – a great career, good friends and a beautiful
THE UK’s wildflower meadows are vanishing and with them our native flowers and the wildlife that rely on them. Only three per cent of the meadows that existed in the 1930s remain today. Nearly 7.5m acres of wildflower meadow have been lost — and they
ONCE upon a time youth theatre troupes were few and far between in Swindon and Dorcan was no exception. That is until 14 years ago when community stalwart Nigel Sharp and a dedicated team remedied this oversight and formed Dorcan Performing Arts
LEE Nelson is back with a brand new show, Suited and Booted.You may have seen him host Live at The Apollo or barging on stage and bursting into song on The X Factor recently.Now Simon Brodkin, aka Lee Nelson, is returning to the Wyvern with a gag-packed
WHEN it comes to performing his new show Pun Gent, there’s one faculty that Stewart Francis will rely on more than any other: his memory. Firing gag after gag is not for the scatterbrained. “Remembering them all and in the right order is the tricky part
THE Wiltshire County Championships at Sarum Academy, Salisbury saw Swindon Fencing Club clinch the U14, U12 and U10 titles for both boys and girls. An all-Swindon boys under 14 final saw Ewan Young edge out clubmate Lewis Simpson 10-3. The
SOME bands are quite difficult to pin an easy label on, others less so. On the surface Mr Love and Justice seem to fall into the latter category. The problem is you can find yourself pinning so many “easy” labels on them that you still end up with a long
Theo Altieri entertains as Red House Records celebrates Record Store Day with live music and hundreds of vinyl records. Also performing at the store, at 21 to 23 Faringdon Road, Swindon, on Saturday April 18, are A Way With Words, Lisa Doscher,
Cirencester-based Mitsubishi Motors (UK) has reached a significant milestone after selling its 10,000th Outlander PHEV in the UK in its first year. Available at Swindon Mitsubishi in Paddington Drive, Bridgemead, the award-winning Outlander PHEV
WAXAHATCHEEIvy TrippIvy Tripp is the third long-player from Katie Crutchfield, the native of Birmingham, Alabama, the closest city to the forest-lined waterway idyll of Waxahatchee Creek. After the bedroom-sketched confessionals of debut LP American Weekend
THEY say that variety is the spice of life and writing this week’s column has brought up a couple of thoughts relating to that. The first musing I will bring up straight away and is on the subject of gig line-ups. Question: Is it best, when putting
ANTON Rodgers is eyeing a contract extension beyond the expiry of his current deal this summer. For most of the season Rodgers has been at the bottom of the pile when it comes to options in his position. However a combination of injuries and suspensions
SWINDON Town have had their hand forced by the weather in the ongoing saga over their training base, making a temporary move to Beversbrook in Calne. Town’s current base at Liddington has long been a cause of concern, with the standard of the facilities
MORE Swindon parents who applied for primary school places for September were given their first choice compared to last year. This morning, parents across the town were notified where their youngsters have been allocated to go to primary school
DAVID Howell recovered from a disappointing start at the Shenzhen International to finish his opening round one-under-par. Starting on the 10th at the Genzon Golf Club, Howell birdied the opening hole before a triple bogey eight on 13 followed
TOM Stade is an expert at making wrong choices.But a succession of bad decisions has led the Canadian-born stand-up to where he is now, a “big a** star” living in Edinburgh, ”the best city in the world” — so all things considered it all turned out pretty
STEP away from the mobile phone. Put away the tablet. Rich Hall is about to take to the Wyvern Theatre stage, and he wants your undivided attention. “What I love about stand-up is the immediacy of it,” says the American-born comedian ahead of his
“WHOEVER had the most Weetabix that day was in charge.” Eddie Furey never believed in hierarchy or invoked his birthright to take the lead as the eldest child, which was just as well for his younger siblings when the brothers formed internationally-acclaimed
COME on everybody, be honest. The sun is out, the sky is blue, the winter is hopefully behind us. You can never tell on our little island what will happen next, weather wise. However, you have to admit the general change in everyone’s attitudes
ON BEHALF of Swindon Cats Protection, I would like to thank Sainsbury’s Stratton for allowing us to have a food drop last week. Barrie Matthews, of Sainsbury’s was extremely helpful. Thanks to the kindness of their customers we collected 98 tins
LIKE Peter Smith, I thought Jhavinda Kazim’s letter was a hoax, especially when you consider it was written close to April Fools’ Day. If it was written tongue-in-cheek or as a wind-up then the author is more integrated than most people thought
MR J ADAMS’ letters demonstrate his lack of knowledge about Islam and logic. For example, in his last letters he wrote Muslims were superior to non-Muslims and did not support his position in his first letter; the second letter he wrote about the Sharia
Great Britain netminder Ben Bowns has hailed the influence of Swindon Wildcats ace Stevie Lyle in aiding their strong start to the World Championships. Veteran Lyle, who will take over as the Cats’ player/coach next season, is only in the GB squad
AXMED Bahjad makes me laugh! He’ll be saying next that the royal family are secret Muslims! Mind, Charles might be. (Adver, Praise for Mohammed, April 10). All these so-called “scholars” he quotes - he does try. He quotes (as one example) the British
ANYONE who has had the misfortune to spend time in GWH will know what I mean when I mention the toilet tissue. It is as wide as bus tickets and requires Miss Marple to find the perforations. It has this habit of breaking off inside the dispenser, and
ON MY trip to the recycling tip in Darby Close I was surprised to find out that there was a one-hour wait at 10am on a Friday. The staff were very kind and helpful. They were stacking the cars into rows so that everyone got seen in turn. A
THE clearing of antisocial people from Sussex Square in Walcot has done the entire community a favour. Most importantly, it has helped law-abiding people by making the hub of their community safe once more. No longer must they run a gauntlet
A CHARITY quiz which was set to see Swindon Town supporters pit their wits against some of their idols has been called off. Half a dozen first-team Swindon Town players were set to show off their book skills as opposed to their ball skills at the
A NEW all-women big band will be having their first show at the Wyvern Theatre on Sunday. The Swing Birds will be sharing the bill with the Nathan Jones Allstars at the event beginning at 7.30pm. Mo Squires has always wanted to play in a female
A MAN with a cunning plan came to town on Tuesday night to help launch the North Swindon Labour election campaign. Sir Tony Robinson, famous for being the face of TV's Time Team and for his role as Baldrick in the Blackadder series, joined candidate
SWINDON Town players have missed out in the shortlist for the Sky Bet League One Player of the Year award. The nominees for this year's award, as voted for by Sky Bet League 1 managers, are Dele Alli (Milton Keynes Dons), Luke Freeman (Bristol
JAZZ Carlin returned to the scene of her lowest sporting moment last night - and ended up wearing a gold medal and a broad smile of redemption. Three years ago, the Swindon swimmer left the Olympic team trials at the London Aquatic Centre in tears
INTERIM anti-social behaviour orders have ‘transformed’ Sussex Square after residents and shopkeepers were subjected to constant problems from a group of teenagers last year. Since February, eight teens from Walcot have been subject to the orders
SEVERE congestion around Slough hampered some commuters into London on the M4 this morning. At around 7.20am the latest traffic updates reported an accient on the M4 in Berkshire before the M25 for Basingstoke. Two lanes were blocked on the
THIS summer will mark 10 years since what many Englishmen under the age of the 40 would describe as the zenith of cricket. The 2005 Ashes series when, after numerous embarrassing defeats, English cricket finally re-asserted itself at Test level.
BARRIE HUDSON chats to Damon Hooton, standing for the Liberal Democrat Party in South Swindon, in our series on all the local candidates in the General Election on May 7. DAMON Hooton, 56, is a Southport-born supermarket worker who joined the Army
BARRIE HUDSON chats to Janet Ellard, standing for the Liberal Democrat Party in North Swindon, in our series on all the local candidates in the General Election on May 7. “ONE of the big reasons why I am interested in politics is to obtain justice
BEN Gladwin insists that the Swindon Town players will be focusing on their own game as the race for automatic promotion hots up. The County Ground side helped pile the pressure on Preston on Tuesday night as they beat Rochdale 4-2, while the Lilywhites
DO you remember what happened to the last Town man to score a hat-trick? He plays for Tottenham and England now. While it seems unlikely that Ben Gladwin’s ascent will be quite so vertical, Tuesday was certainly a big step up for a lad who was
THIS year was my last year in the British Under-21 Final, so to finally get the win was awesome. I’ve had a really good time in the Under-21s in the past but not quite managed to win it, so I couldn’t be more pleased to get it done and seal the
THE recent Swindon Advertiser “Let’s Get The County Ground Rocking” campaign certainly seemed to have an impact, as the atmosphere and attendance at the MK Dons game was really good. We had more than 10,000 vocal fans packed into the ground for
ICE cream turf wars erupted at the height of last summer as a young rival vendor assaulted veteran Mario Bretti over control of the Ridgeway Farm building site. Mario, 64, who has been selling ice cream around Swindon since 1972, was accosted by 36
BLIND people in Swindon are being reminded to claim their 50 per cent reduction on TV licence fees. There are 39,700 blind concessionary licences in force throughout the UK, with only 116 in Swindon. TV Licensing has joined forces with the Royal
HAVING a flutter during a night at the dogs saw one group of gamblers net almost £3,000 - and they promptly gave the money away. CHILDREN in need will be helped after A CHEQUE for almost £3,000 was handed over to charity by the Swindon North Rotary
A HARDWORKING team is the secret behind the success of Lydiard Millicent Pre-School – which has been rated outstanding by Ofsted. Following an inspection in March, the centre in The Butts passed with flying colours and improved on their previous
EASTERN European truck drivers working in Swindon are being offered an incentive to call friends and family back home to fill a skilled recruitment shortage in the town. For the past few years Mainline Employment, in commercial Road, has struggled
‘FOR England and St George’ will be the cry at celebrations in Swindon this month. A series of events have been arranged for the week surrounding St George’s Day, which falls on Thursday, April 23, with traders across the town gearing up to showcase
WEST Swindon residents gathered this week to hear the latest update on the proposed link from Thamesdown Drive to Great Western Way. The meeting, held by Thamesdown Drive Extension Campaign group (TDEX), gave 50 West Swindon residents the chance
A TODDLER group which has operated in North Swindon for more than 25 years is under threat after being told it needed to find new premises. Busy Fingers has been based in a room at the Haydon Centre since it first opened but has now been told it
A SWINDON sausage maker butchered the competition to scoop a prestigious county-wide prize. Old Town-based Wilson’s Family Butchers took the top prize at the Wiltshire Butcher’s Sausage Competition, held in tandem with the Malmesbury Beer Festival
PARENTS’ nail-biting wait to find out whether their tots had made it into their primary school of choice ended today as places were allocated. Swindon Borough Council said that more parents – 93 per cent – who applied for their four and five year
A SWINDON College student was presented with prizes this week after he triumphed in a cross-county plumbing challenge. Aidan Brown, 17, from Lyneham, took part in a three-heat competition where students were given just 45 minutes to fully plumb
A MAN who stole nearly £1,000 in handbag contents from one woman and dragged another across a street in a failed attempt to take her bag will be sentenced next month. Jeremy Robb, 28, of Kemerton Walk in Park South, stood in the dock at Swindon
BOXING novice Dale Heenan can pack a punch when slugging it out in the political arena – but then he got a taste of his own medicine when a broken rib sent him flying out of a white collar boxing competition. The 35-year-old, who is standing for
