Monday, April 18 

1949: In true Scottish style, Angus Wyse piped a bridal pair from the Parish Church, Swindon after the wedding of Thomas Wallace from Glasgow and Pamela Gertrude Rice of Shrivenham Road, Swindon. The sound of the bagpipes rang out across the guests as the couple emerged from the church.

1959: The darts team of The Plough Inn, near Great Coxwell, Faringdon, is making a return visit to Holland. Members will play against the Promenade Hotel darts team in The Hague. The party of eight who leave Faringdon in a Dormobile which will transport them throughout their five-day trip which includes watching the famous Royal Nurseries flower procession in The Hague.

1979: The train standing at platform one was the Maggie Special but where was her knight errant? The first lady of Tory politics was on a whistle-stop tour of the West Country but when the high speed train pulled into Swindon station, local Conservative candidate Nigel Hammond was not there to meet her. Mr Hammond said no one had told him she was coming. He said he would never stand up such a lovely lady as Mrs Thatcher.

Tuesday April 19

1949: Jill Frabizzio of Bridgeport, Connecticut, USA, arrived in Swindon to spend Easter with his parents in Avenue Road. She was Jill Clarke before her marriage to Private Frabizzio in 1946. She came back to England on the Queen Mary with Winston Churchill as a fellow passenger. She is enjoying her stay but says she is missing her American washing machine.

1959: A programme of ballet and music was enjoyed by a large audience at the Central Hall, Swindon. Presented by the Swindon branch of the United Nations Association. Proceeds were in aid of the UNA's National Appeal. Graceful dancing by Audrey Selman's pupils combined admirably with songs by Dora Spackman and Jack Winter with Gertrude Reason at the piano.

1979: A champion shire horse became a proud mum only hours after she was saved from a slimy death.The £2,000 pregnant grey got trapped in a sludge pit and a small army of helpers struggled to release the frantic horse, weighing one ton. At midnight they finally got her out and at 6.30am New Era Nonsense was safely delivered of a bouncing filly foal.

Wednesday, April 20 

1949: Basil Marchant, an enthusiastic member of the Purton Football team, was so overjoyed at Purton winning the Wiltshire Cup that to make sure the villagers would know of their victory he seated himself on the roof of the bus, conveying members of the team and supporters, and went through Purton proudly displaying the trophy.

1949: Accompanied by his wife, Harry Smith, a butcher from High Street, Swindon has left for a visit to the United States, sailing on the Queen Elizabeth. They are going at the invitation of John Kennedy, a banker of Oklahoma whom they met when he was stationed as an officer in the American Army in Shrivenham during the war.

1959: Swindon will have two performers in the national School's Orchestra which will give a concert at the Royal Albert Hall in London. They are Ruth Lauren on viola from Commonweal Grammar School and Berkley Hill on double bass from Headlands.

1959: At the Swindon and District Caledonian Society annual meeting, in the Co-operative Hall, Swindon, the Secretary Mr A W McIntosh reported a useful balance on the year's working and a substantial donation had been made to the Robert Burns Bi-Centenary Fund.

1979: Swindon soldier Kevin Wills has been testing a new laser gun that can bring extra realism into Army exercises.The laser which clips easily on to an army rifle, sets off a bleeper on the enemy target if a hit is scored. Kevin's unit The Duke of Edinburgh's Royal Regiment have been supplied with them for testing. Kevin, 18, of Bratten Hill, Penhill, was favourably impressed by the laser.

1979: Former Olympic swimmer Brian Jenkins, now a successful Swindon businessman with his own plumbing and heating company, is keeping abreast of an ever increasing demand for Do It Yourself by opening a new showroom and offices in Country Road, Swindon.

Thursday, April 21

1949: Cynthia Butler, daughter of Mr and Mrs W Butler of Downs View Road, Swindon is one of London's top 20 mannequins who have been chosen to appear at the dress show, which is given by the Apparel and Fashion Industry Association, at the London Coliseum. Cynthia beat off more than 100 girls.

1949: A cheque for £40, part of the proceeds of the Bath Road Methodist Church Youth Club Dramatic Society's production of J M Barrie's Quality Street, was handed to the Rev F Clarke (minister) at a meeting of the club. The morality play will be repeated for the church anniversary when it is hoped to stage it in the church itself.

1959: The Wiltshire Regiment is to be granted the Freedom of the Borough of Swindon at a parade in Faringdon Road Park. The Colonel of the Regiment, Major General B A Coed, will receive the Freedom scroll from the Mayor of Swindon. This is just one of the ceremonial parades marking the long and distinguished history of the regiment, and the formation of the new Duke of Edinburgh's Royal Regiment (Berkshire and Wiltshire) 1959: Members of Commonweal School's Rambling Club went on their 50th ramble over the weekend and a special Jubilee dinner was held in the village hall of Duntisbourne Abbots to mark the occasion. About 50 took part, both present members and those from the past, in the ramble and about 80 attended the dinner. The Rambling Club was founded in 1951.

1979: A family are set for a day trip to the coast - by fire engine. Chris and Audrey Wannell of Noremarsh Road, Wootton Bassett in their 1943 Austin fire engine will take part in this year's London to Brighton Commercial Vehicle Run. Their children, Heather, nine, and Martin, seven will go too.

1979: Wiltshire's own ticket-wielding top car cop has done the impossible and booked an elephant. Poor old Jumbo had the misfortune to stop on Albert Smart's own trunk road, the A4, which runs through Marlborough. The elephant is one of the big attractions at Sir Robert Fossett's Circus in Marlborough, They were out on a Jumbo trek with a mighty herd of Indian and African elephants, parading through the town centre, but they were no match for traffic warden Smart.

Friday, April 22

1949: Members of the Swindon branch of the Royal Airforce Association held a social evening at the Oxford Hotel, Swindon. Entertainment was by the Cassino Trio and Mr R W Frost, chairman, presided.

1949: Fred King, Mayor of Lyme Regis and native of Swindon, who recently returned to his home town for a visit, has made himself famous. Fred, 51, owns a hotel in Lyme, but one day he donned a diving suit and made a descent in to harbour to inspect the gale damage. His dive was official but impromptu. He wanted to see the progress of the £7,000 plan to strengthen the harbour entrance and walked along the seabed. When he surfaced he said he would rather be a hotel keeper.

1959: A Swindon teacher, Mrs M Dainter, who is shortly going to India on a lecture tour, spoke on hypnotism at the Ridgeway Townswomen's Guild meeting in the Dowling Street Church Hall, Swindon. She emphasised it can ease muscular pain, but can not cure disease. The talk was followed by songs from the Guild Choir accompanied by Mrs K Jones.

1959: A town criers contest for Wiltshire and Berkshire will be held at Marlborough. The man behind the contest is Marlborough town crier and Borough Beadle, Mr H R B Lawrence, of Elcot Lane. He has taken part in nine national championships and it has been his ambition to form a local championship. The project has the blessing of the Mayor of Marlborough Ald Col C W Hughes.

1979: Apprentices at Swindon British Leyland body plant played a vital role in getting the space-age technology accepted in the press shop. They made a mock up model of the system and their bosses were so impressed with it they made a deal to plough £500,000 in to the project. the company designs communication and information systems.

1979: Two abandoned Easter bunnies, Topsy and Turvy, have been rescued by Stephen Ramsay while he was doing his paper round in Lower Wanborough on Easter Sunday. Topsy was dropped on a rubbish tip and Turvy ended up in a hedge half a mile away. Stephen put them in his paper bag and took them home to the delight of his sister and now they are cuddling in to their new home alongside a labrador, a cockrell, a hen, and a Shetland pony called Pixie.

Saturday, April 23

1949: For the second time in his 10 year career in the Services, Marine Norman George Warr of High Street, Swindon, has been seriously injured in action. This time he is aboard the HMS London in Yangtse, in which he is a Number One Gunner. Marine Warr, 27, landed with the Royal Marine Commandos on the beaches of Arromanches. Shortly after D Day he took part in the Walcheren Island Operation and sustained serious wounds. His mum says she just wants him home and sitting in the sun in her garden.

1949: Sgt William Pitt, of Stafford Street, Swindon, with his ten German civilians working at the barrack Store, Royal Army Service Corps, provide all the furnishings, from a serviette to a full bedroom suite, for the military establishments and married quarters in the Biedefeld area of Germany. Sgt Pitt first enlisted in the Royal Warwickshire Regiment in 1939.

1959: A fashion show given by Leonards of Swindon was staged at St Joseph's Roman Catholic Secondary Modern School in aid of the Swindon section of the Catholic Women's League. The dancing display was given by Tanwood Studio pupils. Some of the students also acted as models and Mrs N Munnings was compere.

1959: The Parish Church at Wilsford, Pewsey Vale, which is to be restored, has some ancient registers which date back to 1558. One interesting record of a burial reads: '1752: Mary Smith, alias Pudd, of Botwelsford was buried on May 27. She was said to be 105 years old and was cured from Struma, or King's Evil, in her youth by the touch of King Charles ll.

1979: More than 1000 children took part in the dance classes of the Swindon Festival. Both South West England Tap Dance Championships were won by Swindon competitors - the junior by Deborah Burton and the senior by Pollyann Tanner and a Swindon Dance School, Tanwood, took six trophies in the classical and stage ensemble classes.

1979: Small boys were in their element when they saw more than a dozen railway layouts at an exhibition at Swindon's Wyvern Theatre. It was organised by the Swindon Group of the Great Western Society. To mark the 75th anniversary this year of the first trams in Swindon in 1904, the exhibition has included wooden bench seats, tickets and posters from the 1904 trams.