THE first week of December in 1980 is sometimes referred to as the ‘last week of the 1960s’.

According to some pundits of the period, any vestiges of peace, love and flower power were snuffed out along with the life of John Lennon on December 8.

With the Baby Boomers’ JFK moment and its attendant global headlines still in the future, the Adver’s biggest stories were firmly local. Some had themes which are still familiar – depressingly so in certain instances.

Firmly in this category was the story of Angela Balfour from Penhill, a 22-year-old transgender person who had made her transition eight months earlier.

Like many transgender people today, Angela faced abuse from ignorant people – but back in 1980 the ignorant people seem to have been more numerous and confident.

We said: “She lives in a dark room, curtains tightly drawn against prying eyes and cruel tongues.”

Angela herself told us: “If I go out I get called a queer or a pervert,” she told us. “I can’t go on much longer like this. I must move away.”

Angela and her partner, Andy, had applied to the council for accommodation elsewhere in the borough, but while they waited, Andy planned to buy a large guard dog.

The Adver’s report had a very positive tone by the standards of the era, in spite of the story being headlined: “Torment of Sex Swap Man”.

Another story which resonates today was that of a Lyneham farmer called Nelson Crook, whose land was host to an extensive badger sett.

Like many landowners in 2015, Mr Crook was informed by Government officials in the midst of a TB scare that they were coming to kill the badgers.

When the Ministry of Agriculture sent in crews armed with gas, the animal lover was outraged. Lashing out with his stick, he managed to hit one of the officials across the back before being restrained by police officers.

That didn’t stop him from telling the men from the Ministry exactly what he thought of them, though.

“You bastards, I’ll murder you,” he shouted. “I’ll find out where you live and I’ll get you.”

He was so angry that he ignored pleas by his wife, Phyllis, to calm down.

We said: “Mrs Crook collapsed screaming and crying as her husband was led away and more police arrived on the scene. ‘He shouldn’t have gone for them, it was so stupid,’ she said.

“She continued to cry as the Ministry men filled the entrance and exit holes to the sett and started to pump in the killer gas.”

A Ministry spokesman said: “We don’t like doing it but TB has been traced to this sett.”

Stories about young people getting into trouble at school for uniform violations are quite common in 2015 and the situation was no different in 1980.

Gary Wright, 15, who lived in Nythe, had been barred with two friends from Dorcan School.

Gary’s offence was to have thin lines shaved into his short hair, apparently to mimic partings.

According to headmaster Edward Walls, such lines were part of skinhead fashion and therefore forbidden. He ordered that Gary remain at home until the lines grew back in.

Gary’s dad, Geoffrey, thought the headmaster was being heavy handed, and the Adver seems to have agreed.

In an opinion piece we said of Mr Walls: “How he came to rule that Gary Wright’s really rather sensible haircut is unsuitable for school is somewhat of a mystery.

“If it does nothing else, the row illustrates the need to take these instant decisions as carefully as possible.”

Still in the field of education, a shortage of school nurses was good news for headlice – and rather less so for tormented children and their parents.

As if this were not enough to have readers feeling oddly itchy, it seemed another, even nastier, insect might also be on the loose.

“At last night’s meeting of the borough council’s housing and health committee,” we said, “councillors demanded action on the spread of the lice – and on a claim that a case of scabies has been discovered in the town.

“District community physician Dr John Parsons blamed a shortage of nurses and cash.”

Committee chairman Les Gowing, mentioned the irony of such a matter coming before the committee in the week when young Gary Wright had been suspended from Dorcan School.

“They are chucking out skinheads when we all know that short hair is the answer to headlice,” he added.

In happier animal news, Cricklade Town Hall was the venue chosen by the National English Rabbit Club for its annual show.

The English Rabbit, characterised by being white with a pattern of darker spots, dates back to the 1830s. The club is still going strong.

Nearly 140 of the animals, including some owned by members of the recently reformed Swindon Fur and Feather club, were displayed.

The venue, we added, was also due to be used for the upcoming South West and Welsh Dwarf Rabbit Show.