THE nursing of an injured king back to health in Swindon was a major Adver story this week in 1979.

The monarch was George V - not the man, who had died in 1936, but his mechanical namesake, Swindon-built King Class locomotive 6000.

Retired in 1962, the 140-ton machine had been kept in a Railway Works shed until 1968, when it was transferred to the Bulmer’s Railway Centre in Hereford.

In 1979 King George V was earmarked for a run from Paddington to Didcot as part of the London station’s 125th birthday celebrations, but had been immobilised by an axle box bearing failure some years before.

The only solution was a two-day journey by truck from Hereford to Swindon, followed by expert repairs.

The locomotive was then driven from the Works through Swindon Station on its way to Didcot, ready for the trip to Paddington in readiness for the celebration. Rapturous rail fans lined as much of the route as they could get near, and we spoke to the two-man crew.

“Handling a king – it’s nothing to get steamed up about,” we said.

“That’s what Jack Laws and Don Witts reckon, anyway.

“They’re the cool couple who kept a royal visitor on the rails yesterday.

“More than 10,000 people crammed the lines as the super steam engine passed through – but driver Jack and fireman Don took it all in their stride.”

Jack said: “It’s just as good now as it always was. It went like a dream.”

Children’s TV show Blue Peter filmed the engine as it was readied at the Works, and presenter Lesley Judd helped to polish the name plate.

Today King George V is one of the Steam museum’s favourite exhibits.

February of 1979 was part of what would come to be known as the Winter of Discontent, the period of industrial strife credited by some historians with ushering in the Thatcher Government and condemning Labour to 18 years in opposition.

In Swindon, a refuse collectors’ strike meant Thamesdown District Council, like many other local authorities, had to set up temporary urban dumps.

Not all the sites were well chosen, as complaints to our newsroom proved.

“Children in Swindon,” we said, “are down in the dumps because they are being forced to play next to a rubbish tip.

“And now mums are on the warpath over the rubbish.

“They are angry that Thamesdown Council is using land in Turner Street for a temporary rubbish dump – because it’s right next to the Westcott Place Recreation Ground.

“They claim the dump is a health hazard - and would attract stray dogs and rats.”

The council said it tried to choose sites as far as possible from homes but convenient for people to reach.

Elsewhere in Swindon, there was a winter-related rescue drama.

We said: “Two Swindon children marooned on an island owe their lives to a heroic fire crew.

“The five men risked an icy death to rescue the children, both aged seven, from an island on Shaftesbury Avenue lake.

“Cousins Salima Sumar and Rehim Nanchi had walked on melting ice to reach the island but couldn’t get back.

“The hair-raising operation led to the men edging out over a bending ladder-bridge spanning the 50ft gap from the bank.

“And beneath the heroes was ice-covered water 10ft deep – one false move could have dragged them under.”

Fortunately the rescue operation went perfectly, and the two young adventurers and their rescuers soon reached dry land safely.

In the town centre, shoppers were invited to visit Abba and get some fashion tips.

That the Abba in question were not Agnetha, Bjorn, Benny and Anni-Frid, then at the height of their fame and perhaps the biggest band in the world, probably surprised precisely nobody.

The Swindon Abba was a shop in the Brunel Centre and the letters stood for A Better Buy Always.

These days such a move involving the name of a world famous act would have international copyright lawyers swooping like vampire bats, but things were evidently more laid back in 1979.

Abba – the shop, not the band – also had branches in Cheltenham and Stratford-on-Avon.

The Brunel Centre had yet to gain its second floor of shops, and a vaulted glass roof soared far above visitors. That and central heating made it an ideal environment for tropical birds, as Swindon discovered.

At the end of the week we wrote: “Cocky, the fly-away cockatoo, was still very much up the pole today.

“The perky parrot ruffled everyone’s feathers when she got flighty and hopped out of her cage yesterday. The white and yellow-crested bird flew to freedom from the Brunel Plaza, where she was on display to promote the Cotswold Wildlife Park.

“She landed on a woman’s head and then fluttered about Swindon’s prestige shopping centre.”

As there were no subsequent updates, we can only assume Cocky returned to her keepers once she became hungry.