Monday, July 18

1950: Quantock Motors of Devizes Road, Swindon, gave an informal dinner party at the Goddard Arms Hotel, Swindon, to celebrate the conclusion of the successful Standard-Triumph service week. Mr F J Simpson presided and the guest of honour was Howard Godfrey of Swindon, the new president of the Motor Agents Association.

1960: David Murray John, son of Swindon's Town Clerk, will be one of the 30 Oxford University under-graduates who will journey through the south of England giving performances of Henry 1V part one, to school children. The students all from St Edmund Hall College have called their venture a novel dramatic undertaking.

1970: A children's fashion show was held in the Whirligig Shop in The Parade, Swindon. There was more children than mums in the audience and some came by themselves in groups of threes and fours. They watched intently and approved a show with famous names in children's wear, including some made in Swindon. They went home with balloons and badges.

Tuesday, July 19

1950: Each with a map of the area, a compass and two pence for a telephone call in case of emergency, cadets of the No 1244 Swindon and District ATC set out through 'enemy country' for given points, choosing routes to avoid capture by patrols. This was the highlight of the summer camp at RAF Station Chivenor near Barnstaple, which during the last fortnight was attended by six officers and 16 cadets from Swindon.

1960: A representative contingent of the Army Cadet Force and the Combined Cadet Force, making 1,500, will parade at Buckingham Palace to honour the centenary of the nationwide youth organisation. Among the Wiltshire cadets, who have been selected to parade before the Queen, patron of the Army Cadet Force, and the Duke of Edinburgh who is Colonel in Chief, is Cpl D Smart of Bristol Street, Swindon.

1970: The women's section of the Wroughton British Legion held a garden party in the grounds adjoining the Ellendune Hall instead of their usual monthly meeting. Residents of Langston House and Markham Place attended.

Wednesday, July 20

1950: Out for an afternoon stroll in Groundwell Road, Swindon, were two swans and their family of six cygnets, unconcerned with the passing buses, cars or occasional pedestrians who stepped off the pavement to le them pass by. Their stroll was interspersed by a few social calls in obliging gardens, including afternoon tea from the homeowners of no 41. The birds had wandered up from the lake between Drove Road and Groundwell Road.

1950: Mr A C Culley, 63, of High Trees, Savernake, the Marlborough Town Crier and Beadle, has resigned. He is going to Teddington where he intends to combine work as a garden designer and an artist model. During his colourful career he has worn many costumes for famous painters including when a portrait of the present king, then the Duke of York, was painted by Simon Elwes.

1960: The Wounded Surgeon Plies the Steel, is the unusual title of a new anthem by the Swindon composer Graham Whettan. It has been broadcast, and a setting of words by T S Elliott was sung by the BBC Midland Singers, in the Midland Regional programme. It was commissioned from Graham Whetham by Coventry Cathedral.

1960: An 11-month-old Boxer bitch puppy, Wardrobes Side-saddle of Arnogar, bred by Mrs A M Garraway of Purton Manor, Purton was successful at Cardiff Championship Show. She won the open bitch class and the best of breed. She had third challenge certificate which makes the dog a full champion.

1970: A fete at Burderop Hospital, Wroughton, served a dual purpose. It made it possible for patients to enjoy the show and the public to inspect the hospital. Hundreds of people flocked into the grounds and wandered around the 150-bed hospital. The patients enjoyed the stalls and sideshows.

1970: The non-stop pop in the open air at The Town Gardens was a bit of a wash out as far as the weather was concerned. Five hundred people turned up in the end, with pop being played on the Swindon Bowl Hollywood-style stage, set in the amphi theatre of the gardens. The idea behind the pop day came from the band Persian Wood, who wanted to raise funds for the Peru Earthquake Appeal.

Thursday, July 21

1950: A feature of the 4th and 5th Battalion of the Wiltshire Regiment's camp at Okehampton, Devon, was the reformation of the band. It made its first appearance since the war. Hard work and enthusiasm did much to counter-balance their small numbers, but these will grow and for their next performance they will be dressed in red uniforms. Nearly every member of the battalion managed to attend the camp for at least one week.

1950: Divisional officer George Briancourt of the Wiltshire Fire Service received the silver medal and certificate of the Royal Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals for his courage and humanity in rescuing a dog from down a well at Poulton Farm, Marlborough. The ceremony took place at the annual general meeting of the RSPCA in Marlborough.

1960: Colin Maxfield, 15, has built his own 12ft canoe during his spare time. It took him 100 hours to complete. The craft was on view at Burderop Park during Wroughton Secondary Modern School's open evening.

1960: American railway delegates, who have spent the last two months visiting European countries, had one of their shortest train journeys when they visited Swindon. Their trip took them to Wootton Bassett and back in the latest diesel locomotive. The engine was so new that the painting had not been completed. The seven-man party visited Swindon Rail Works to see diesel locomotives being built and serviced.

1970: The future of village schools at Clyffe Pypard and Rodbourne are to be considered by Wiltshire Educational Committee. The committee is to receive recommendations from the Primary and Secondary Education Sub Committee, which have been made in the light of the committee review of small primary schools in rural areas in the county.

1970: Women of Wroughton Floral Art Society are to create scenes of the village in flowers, and raise money for the Guide Dogs for the Blind. The show is called Reflections on Wroughton and is held in the Parish Hall. Scenes will be of the Downs, the churches, the racing stables and the forge.

Friday, July 22

1950: The first Battalion the Wiltshire Regiment with its regimental band will leave Southampton for Singapore in the Empire Trooper for service in the Far East. The battalion will be commanded by Major C Wort. The battalion returned to Britain in April after five years service in BAOR.

1950: Bowls of clay pipes nearly 300-years-old have been discovered by workmen digging under kitchens of the Goddard Arms Hotel in Swindon. They are of a tapering shape and about as large as the end of a man's finger. Mr C H Gore, curator of the Swindon Museum recognised them immediately as Cutty pipes. One of the pipes has the name Thos Hunt marked on it. Mr Gore said Thos Hunt was based in Bristol in the 1660s.

1960: Tired and shocked after their hasty retreat to safety from the Belgian Congo, 34 refugees, mainly British and Canadian women and children, landed at RAF Lyneham. Captain of the Transport Command Comet aircraft, was Flt Lt C E Ellis of Longleaze, Wootton Bassett. He had been flying United Nations troops in to the trouble spot. Members of the Wootton Bassett Red Cross were at the airfield to help the WAAF with the children.

1960: Pearl Caitlin who presents the TWW programme, Talking Shop, will act as chairman of the panel of four judges who will choose Miss Stratton, in the over all search for Miss Swindon 1960, at a function in the Goddard Arms Hotel, Swindon.

1970: Fifteen school boys from St Joseph's Comprehensive School, Nythe Road, Swindon, are the unofficial holders of the 50-hour record for non-stop football. An official from the Guinness Book of Records said: "But although we have recorded it, we will not be publishing it.'' The new University of Ulster will go in the book instead with their 30 hours of non stop football.

1970: The launch of an appeal for a kidney machine came to a close with Swindon Trades Council handing over a cheque to the Princess Margaret Hospital. In Wanborough Ward, near the intensive care unit, where the machine will be used, a cheque for £2,134 was handed over by Alfred Stainer Vice President of the Trades Council.

Saturday, July 23

1950: The Scroll of Friendship from the British Guides to the Guides of Italy has been travelling all over the country and now it is journeying to Swindon. The scroll was escorted by a Colour Party to Wootton Bassett Town Hall where it was handed over with all formal ceremony to the Divisional Commissioner for North Wiltshire, Mrs Ramsey. It was then passed to the Guides Cadet Corps. A party of cyclists from the 4th and 11th Guide Rangers then carried it to Lydiard Tregoze for a church service at St Mary's.

1950: Swindon now has a pig club. Domestic pig keeping and its popularity in Swindon was emphasised at a meeting held in Sandford School Congregational Room when Swindon members of the Stratton St Margaret Pig Club decided to break away from the parent organisation to form their own independent Swindon Pig Club.

1960: The Evening Advertiser is introducing Prosperity Walk the as yet unmade street that within a few months will become Swindon's finest. Today it is known as the old canal site but tomorrow it will become a matter of civic pride. A London firm has already promised that it will erect a supermarket, a two-storey car park and 12 small shops within 18 months. The entire Swindon town centre should be completed in three years.

1960: The number of bathers at Coate Water swimming pool, for June and July, to date 14,11, looks set to top the figures from the same two months last year, despite the fact it was exceptionally good weather then and cool and wet this year. Last year's figure in total was 16,241. The nearness of the new Walcot and park estates is thought to account for the rise in bathers.

1970: Swindon's claim to control the North Wiltshire Unitary Authority, proposed in the reform of local government structure, was firmly refused by Wiltshire County Council. The report says proposals by Swindon Borough Council in the study entitled, The Reorganisation of Local Government in North Wiltshire, were totally unacceptable.

1970: One of Swindon's GI wartime brides, Joyce Evelyn Marr, has returned to visit her mother, Mrs King of Farnsby Street, Swindon, after 25 years in America. She and her husband run a Beer Garden near Jackson in Michigan. Mrs Marr, 44, has nine grandchildren, three of her own four children being married. She says she did not recognise Swindon it had changed so much.