Monday February 6

1951: Blue Horse, the son of an American Indian Chief, was one of several nationalities among guests at a wedding that took place in Swindon between a German girl and a Scot. The bride was Inseborg Maria Wulfhild Ernst of Schleswig-Holstein and the groom was Peter Robertson of Shrivenham Road in Swindon.

1961: Members of Swindon Caribbean Club, under the chairman Caleb Cooper, have collected £85 for relief in the Congo. It has now been sent to the Red Cross headquarters in London. Mr Cooper of Roseberry Street, has organised house to house collections and also sent out subscription sheets to clubs. He said that 50 people are starving each week in the Congo.

1971: Some Wootton Bassett traders are out to prove how ultra efficient they will be on D-Day. They have gone back to school to battle with the decimal point to be ready for decimalisation. About 20 members of Wootton Bassett Chamber of Trade attended the two and half hour teaching sessions at a local school.

Tuesday February 7

1951: A grant has been approved by Swindon Council for a pageant, for which material has been produced by a nephew of one of the town councillors, Mr M Beint. It will be one of the events in the Festival of Britain celebrations and will involve 500 people and the assistance of all local amateur dramatic societies in the town. A grant of £200 has been given to create the two-week event at the Swindon Arts Centre.

1961: Ireland and its troubles have fascinated Swindon author John Comley. He has written two books about the country and its people that are emerged in political differences. The first novel was called A Light In The Sky, which was highly praised, and his second book The Border Men is now on the bookshelves. Mr Comley, 32, of Dudmore Road, Swindon is studying philosophy at Nottingham University.

1971: Air cadets from West Wiltshire united at Marlborough for a massed parade to celebrate Air Training Corps Sunday - the 30th anniversary of the movement. The flights of cadets comprising boys from ATC squadrons from Marlborough to Warminster assembled at the college.

Wednesday February 8

1951: In conformity with the majority of other branches it was decided, at the annual meeting of the Wootton Bassett Conservative Association, to dissolve the men's branch and amalgamate it with the women's branch. It was also decided to form a joint sub committee of branch officers which includes the chairman of the Young Conservatives.

1951: Members of the Swindon Economics Society welcomed the speaker, Mr R J B Kenderdine from the J Arthur Rank Organisation, who gave an address entitled Some Aspects of the British Film Industry. Mr H Diment presided at the meeting. There was also time for questions and discussion after the talk.

1961: The shares of B Lansdown and Sons Ltd of Trowbridge, proprietors of the Wiltshire Times weekly newspaper, have been bought by Westminster Press Provincial Newspapers Ltd, which owns the Evening Advertiser in Swindon. Mr L G Lansdown, general manager and Mrs M J Lansdown, editor, will continue as directors of B Lansdown Sons Ltd.

1961: A collection of photographs, paintings and manuscripts by the composer Dr Ralph Vaughan Williams, who was born at Down Ampney and died in 1958, has been presented to the village primary school, by his widow. The gift included the manuscript of his famous folk song John Barley Corn.

1971: New freedom of movement was given to people with a handicap, belonging to the Swindon Seal Club, when they got swimming tuition by a new method. They first saw a Swedish-made film and heard a talk on the method, by the inventor Mr James MacMillan a consultant hydraulic engineer. Members of the Seal Club, who meet at the Milton Road Baths, then went swimming with demonstrators to learn the method.

1971: Already 15 motorbike enthusiasts have joined a successful course on motorcycle maintenance being run at the Commonweal Evening Centre. The aim is to teach them how to detect and rectify faults in any part of the machine.

Thursday, February 9

1951: The most successful since the war, was the verdict from more than 300 guests who attended the Swindon Police Ball at the Town Hall. Dancing was to the Johnnie Stiles Orchestra. Among those present were the Chief Constable of the County Lt Col H A Golder, the Mayor and Mayoress of Swindon Ald and Mrs J Bond. Proceeds from the event were for the Police Widows and Orphans fund.

1951: Swindon, in common with many other parts of the country, remembers the work of the Women's Voluntary Services. Grey-haired Claire Evans made a beautiful and touching piece of work of the WVS Roll of Honour, 241 war dead, which has toured the country. Claire was a member of the Society of Scribes.

1961: A Swindon-built locomotive was in the limelight at a special ceremony in London conducted by the Lord Mayor of London, Sir Bernard Waley-Cohen. The City of Truro was built in Swindon in 1903 and is believed to be the first locomotive ever to attain 100 miles an hour. The locomotive began a 1,000 mile tour of the West Country before it can then return to its Swindon base.

1961: Two Swindon girls, Valerie Potter and Elaine Peacey both 13, have received the Doris Goatley Cup for the highest number of marks in the Junior Vocal Class at the Reading and District Music Festival. Miss Peacey has previously won two medals but this is her first cup.

1971: Three giant Hercules aircraft flew at low level for a farewell fly-pass over RAF Fairford to mark the closure of the base as a transport base. The aircraft were among the last few of 30 and 47 Squadrons who finish transferring to RAF Lyneham. Fairford is now a relief landing ground for the RAF.

1971: More han 300 people in Swindon were job hunting by phone between 9am yesterday and 9am today. A spokeswoman for the Swindon Employment Exchange said the Dial-A-Job service, which started yesterday, received a total of 310 calls in the first 24 hours.

Friday, February 10

1951: Summing up at the end of the combined Civil Defence exercise, Exercise Swindon, held in the Town Hall, Mr C C Hutton, Home Office Civil Defence Principal Officer for the South West Region, said he was quite pleased with the adequacy of the civil defence plan but he said more civil defence volunteers would be needed.

1951: Mr Tom Reid, MP for Swindon, welcomed a party of boys from Sanford Street School, Swindon, to the Houses of Parliament in London where he showed them around The House.

1961: There was an afternoon out of the classroom for 200 Wiltshire children who took a coach trip to Larkhill Ranges on Salisbury Plain to see a rocket being fired. The children, all top formers at secondary modern schools, had been invited by the School of Artillery to watch the firing of an Honest John surface to surface missile.

1961: Most popular this year for Valentine's are the large boxed cards. There will be heavy postbags for Swindon postmen as the town's newsagents report an increase in the sale of Valentine's cards. Some shops say they have sold over £300 worth. Teenagers are choosing humourous cards with an American flavour.

1971: Pupils of Commonweal School set up shop not to raise money for out of hours activities but to help show people how their coins will work on D-Day. Even the school mini bus was on hand to fetch along young mums with babies or older folk who could not manage to walk.

1971: A firm-making unit may be set up at Wootton Bassett Youth Centre if enough film makers come forward. The North West Area Youth Officer Mr D P Abernethy wants to stimulate youngsters interest in this fascinating hobby, and he wants film makers to impart their knowledge. The youth centre is also hoping for sponsorship to set up a table tennis league.

Saturday, February 11

1951: Brian Pressey, 18, of Swindon Road, Baydon, has joined the Royal Horse Guards (The Blues) Band. Brian is following in the footsteps of his uncle Sgt W Braxton who is a trombonist with The Blues. Brian is a pianist but will learn to play clarinet with the regimental dance band. He has been deputy organist at Baydon Parish Church.

1951: Mr Arthur Rawlins of County Road, Swindon a shop foreman in the Carriage and Wagon Department of the Swindon Railway Works has retired after 50 years. He was presented with an easy chair and an electric fire by colleagues of the 21 Shop on his retirement.

1961: Two Swindon Scouts have received the Queen's Scout award. They are Roger Reeves, 17, of Upham Road, and Andrew Lewis, 17, of Rodbourne Road. They received their awards from the District Commissioner Mr F G Sheldon at the 18th Scout Troop's temporary clubroom in King William Street.

1961: Seeing Swindon again for the first time in 40 years was Mr and Mrs C L Bunting, who had left their home in St Catherine's, Ontario, Canada, to spend five weeks holiday with Mrs Bunting's sister and brother-in-law, in Groundwell Road, Swindon. They were most impressed by Swindon's double-decker buses as there are none in Canada.

1971: Counter staff at Lloyds Bank in High Street, Swindon, have been sorting through tons of decimal coins. The coins, about £12,000 worth of them, have been put in to small bags ready for D-Day. At the Midland Bank in Wood Street, the coin sorting was done before Christmas.

1971: Copies of letters written by Edward Thomas, poet, essayist and biographer have recently come to light. Extracts which contain items of interest to Swindon people have been sent by Thomas' daughter Myfanwy Thomas to Frances Gay, chairman of the Richard Jefferies Society in Swindon.