Monday, January 16

1951: Two Swindon choirs performed on air for the first time. They sang on the BBC West Home Service programme called Choir Night. The choirs were the Sanford House Evening Institute Choir and the Sanford Youth Centre Choir conducted by Mr D Parsons.

1961: A surprise visit from Bob Arnold - Tom Forrest in The Archers - helped to make the Swindon and District Blind Working Club's second annual New Year party at Craven House, Swindon a grand success.

1971: Two women on the staff of the Swindon Corporation's Transport Department, Pamela Smallman and Sonia Simpkins, have been behind the wheel of a bus for about a week. Before that they were conductresses. The department and the busmen's union, The Transport and General Workers, have a local agreement that conductresses may be trained as drivers. The ex-clippies say they like driving the buses. Their teacher, George Mobey, said they were better than the men.

Tuesday January 17

1951: Members of Hastings Girls Choir were up before dawn to travel to Swindon to take part in the RAFA concert at the Empire Theatre. Also on the programme was Arthur Carron, tenor, Ethel Barrett, the accompanist and Reginald Hipperson the baritone. The RAF Yatesbury Band rounded off the afternoon.

1961: The grass verges on roads between Swindon and Wroughton were always trimmed and tidy. The credit for this goes to Blackie and Taffy, two co-operative and friendly horses who were responsible for milk rounds each morning. The two hard working horses chewed the grass outside each house as the milkman delivered the milk.

1971: A revolutionary form of plastic corrugated material is being used exclusively in an advertisement by Anthony P Jeffreys in the Green Bridge Industrial Estate, Swindon. The firm says that it is as important to them as the advent of plastic to the ordinary household. Jeffreys are the only company in the country with the rights to exploit the translucent material made in Japan, for use in their designs.

Wednesday January 18

1951: Richard Bright of the BBC Publicity Dept told members of the Swindon Rotary Club that a good voice does not entirely make a good BBC announcer. He must be able to interview a dustman, a bishop and then introduce a programme about dance bands, in other words he must be a good mixer, said Mr Bright. When hostilities broke out during the war it became necessary for the BBC to stop having gaps between programmes, as fears of a ghost voice giving false news had to be considered, was another topic covered by Mr Bright.

1951: Manor House Wootton Bassett was to be acquired for offices by the Wootton Bassett and Cricklade Rural Council. Permission has been granted by the Ministry of Local Government and Planning, it was reported.

1961: Electronic computing was the subject of a talk given to members of the Swindon branch of the Institute of Cost and Working Accountants by Mr G J Pierce of Bristol Aircraft Company. Thirty members and students joined in the discussion following the talk.

1961: Sailing for New York in the SS United States will be career girl Mary Morrissey, 19, of Cheltenham Street, Swindon. Irish born Miss Morrissey, a former secretarial student at the Swindon Technical College, will become secretary to a New York doctor. Her visit has been sponsored by her aunt and uncle who live in New York and she will stay with them for the duration of her visit to USA.

1971: Instead of making a donation towards old people's Christmas collection the Ridgeway Transport Cafe on the A4 between Marlborough and Avebury treaded 70 old people to a free Christmas dinner. Members of the Kennett Valley Over 60s Club and the Avebury Gay 60s were given a slap up turkey dinner, given by the cafe partners Don Ramsey and Alec Pearson.

1971: Sgt John Green of Moredon Road, Swindon, became a real life television hero when he discovered a bomb under an Ulster TV transmitter with just three minutes to zero. During those three dramatic minutes Sgt Green, untrained in bomb disposal, finally made it harmless with three seconds to go, saving his own life, his four-man patrol, the TV transmitter and television programmes for viewers in South East Ulster.

Thursday January 19

1951: Men and women with artificial limbs, some without an arm or leg, formed one of the strangest yet most stirring gatherings Swindon has seen for a long time, when the Swindon and District branch of BLESMA held their inaugural meeting, in the Town Hall. They heard the chairman read three telegrams from the King, the Duchess of Gloucester, patron of BLESMA, and the Duke of Somerset.

1951: Motorcoach trips from Wroughton to the seaside on Sundays was only to be made possible as the result of a decision given in Swindon. Mr C R Hughes of Eldersfield, Common Platt, Purton, a bus proprietor, applied to the Licensing Authority for Western Traffic Area, for a licence to take bus tours from the village. It was opposed by the Railway Executive but the application, amended with consultation with Bristol Tramways, was granted for Sundays.

1961: Mrs F J Gay, secretary and chairwoman of the Richard Jefferies Society, for Swindon, has received a photograph of four-year-old Richard Jefferies of California, USA who is the great great nephew of the Swindon-born writer and nature lover. Young Richard is one of the youngest members of the Richard Jefferies Society in America.

1961: Sidney Titcombe, comedian was presented with the Titanic Concert Party trophy by Mr D May, organiser, and Mr N Poynter the magician at the Swindon Titanic Concert Party annual social which was held at the Rodbourne Arms.

1971: Hello girls from Swindon's telephone exchange were rebelling against their union over the Post Office strike and some of them rant he picket line gauntlet to get into work. A trouble-shooter was send by the Union of Post Office workers to quell the telephonists' revolt, to no avail.

1971: The Swindon staff of Manpower are proud of their work providing temporary help to expanding firms in the town. They were congratulated by Lance Secretan, UK managing director for the highest percentage growth among the company's 50 offices - 171 per cent over the past year.

Friday January 20

1951: More than 1,400 people had seen the Royal Airforce exhibition in the foyer of the Regent Cinema, Swindon when it closed. Staged by 15 RAF Maintenance Unit, Wroughton, for the Battle of Britain week, it included, among other exhibits, radar equipment for navigation, blind bombs and night fighter interceptors. One of the big attractions was a magic ray which when broken illuminated a RAF crest.

1951: An 11-year-old boy from Swindon, Trevor Stimpson, of Bright Street won first prize at Bristol Eisteddfod with 92 marks in the vocal class. He was congratulated by the adjudicator, Mr K Long, on his voice and excellent phrasing.

1961: The gallantry displayed by a Swindon magistrate and headmaster of Walcot East Junior School in rescuing a five-month-old baby from a fire in a house at Bothwell Road, Walcot, was officially recognised at Swindon Borough Magistrates Court. Jack Oliver of Cricklade Road, Swindon was presented with a framed certificate awarded by the society for the protection of life from fire.

1961: A series of weekly classes in rescue training were started at the Savernake Street training headquarters of the Swindon and North East Wiltshire Civil Defence Corp. Taking part were about 150 members of the British Railways Industrial Civil Defence group.

1971: Wroughton RAF hospital was handed over to a new commanding officer. The new man is Air Commodore Edgar Bright, 67, a surgeon who has been in the RAF for 32 years. He came from Aberdeen University and Royal Infirmary.

1971: The biggest piped television relay system in Europe was operated from Swindon. 16,000 homes were served by Thorn Rentals which runs the better known Radio Rentals and DER. The administration headquarters of Thorn Hotels in Shrivenham Road, Swindon has recently explained its computer Department and there are 400 people keeping the wheels turning at Television House.

Saturday, January 21

1951: An unusual feature of the Duke of Edinburgh Show, Swindon, was that there was no prize money. All the exhibits were sold and the proceeds given, at Christmas, to the old age pension customers of the Cricklade Road public house. The show was held in Arkells Hall.

1951: The inauguration of the Rodbourne Darby and Joan Club took place at Morris Street Hall. They meet every Monday for entertainment and light refreshments. Mr W Manning was elected as chairman and a committee was appointed. Entertainment on the night came from the Rodbourne Community Centre Choir conducted by Mr B Brooks with Mrs Carter at the piano.

1961: The first man to drive a service bus from Swindon to Chippenham, in 1921, has retired from the Bristol Omnibus Company. Russell James Moore, 68, who lives with his sister and brother-in-law in Evelyn Street, Swindon, served during the war 1914-1918 in France and Belgium with the Royal Wiltshire Yeomanry and the Mechanical Transport branch of the Royal Flying Corps.

1961: Wiltshire Young Farmers clubs held a regional quiz and dance at the Memorial Hall, Wootton Bassett. The five round quiz of mainly general knowledge questions was won by Cricklade YFC with 30 points. Dancing was to George Tate and his music.

1971: A Faringdon man who left this country four years ago is now studying the life of native tribes in New Guinea. John Lucas, 26, of the Duke of Wellington, Faringdon, is now senior tutor in the Department of Anthropology and Sociology to the University of Queensland. For the past five months he has been living in a settlement at Lae, New Guinea doing research of this thesis.

1971: Ricky Porter, Swindon welter weight boxer who now ranks number six in Britain has had his fight at Lyons with Roger Menetrey, the French champion, postponed by one day. Ricky has not spared himself in training as he is the challenger for the Charles' British, Empire and European titles.