Monday Sept 26

1950: The film studio, which a go-ahead unit in Swindon is constructing on the Lawn High Street, will have a stage, buffet, projection room and facilities for film making. There will be seats for members to view rushes, previews and specially selected films.

1960; One of the largest crowds in the history of Swindon turned out for the grand finale of the town's carnival procession, which attracted more than 100 floats. Thousands lined the route which started in Emlyn Square. At various points the procession was halted by revellers surging forward. After dusk again many thousands gathered to watch the firework display.

1970: The annual concert by massed Silver Threads Choirs, organised by the Swindon Old People's Welfare Council, was held at the Methodist Central Hall in Swindon. It was the highlight of the year for many of the elderly and more than 500 attended. Twelve choirs performed and the guests of honour were Mayor and Mayoress of Swindon Ald J W Pass and Mrs Pass.

Tuesday September 27

1950: The bogus 'Captain J of the Secret Service', who is being sought by Scotland Yard, is reported to have been in Swindon. During his stay the hoaxer is said to have adopted two identities but given no name. At first he said he was from the Military College of Science and later stated he was from MI5. He was wanted by police for tricking young women out of money by persuading them he wants a secretary to join him in doing secret work. In Swindon he tried to engage a 20-year-old who was already working for the Military College of Science. She refused his offer.

1960: Swindon bell ringers rang two peals in Swindon churches to celebrate the borough's Diamond Jubilee. The first peal at St Mark's consisted of 5.024 changes of London Surprise Major and was rung in two hours and 56 minutes. The second peal was at Christ Church and consisted of 5.040 changes of Cambridge Surprise Royal rung in three hours and 15 minutes.

1970: Concorde took off from Fairford to fly supersonic over the West Coast of Scotland and North West Wales on her ninth flight in the current series, the first since she had an engine replaced. Going supersonic Concord was making extensive tests over the North Sea. She broke off the boom around the South of Anglesey before returning to Fairford.

Wednesday September 28

1950: Train spotters will soon have to start ruling some more pages in their note books in preparation for the new standard locomotives being built at Swindon, by British Rail. By next year 159 of the new engines, representing six types of locomotive, will be in use.

1950: Showing in Swindon cinemas were feature films: Annie Get Your Gun, starring Anne Doonan and Shamus Locke at The Empire, Tony Draws A Horse starring Cecil Parker and Ann Crawford at the Gaumont Theatre and The Man In Grey starring Margaret Lockwood, James Mason and Stewart Granger was at the Palace, Gorse Hill. The Savoy was showing My Daughter Joy starring Edward G Robinson, Peggy Cummins and Richard Greene, while the Palladium at Rodbourne presented A Run For Your Money with Donald Houston and Moira Lister.

1960: Yokels served sausage and mash and apple pie by hurricane lamp light at Queen's Drive, Park South, Methodist Church when the church held its harvest supper. The supper was prepared by churchmen and it was followed by a concert presented by Mr T Collins and members and friends of the church. Produce was sold to raise funds for the World Refugee Fund.

1960: With £100,000 worth of the most up to date equipment, TWW turned Gorse Hill Community Centre, Swindon into a miniature TV and recording studio to record four programmes in the Life Begins At Eighty series. A fleet of five vehicles brought the equipment to Swindon in time to record the carnival procession. There was a crew of more than 20 at the Tiverton Road centre.

1970: A group of about 40 workers at Stratton St Margaret meat firm, Thomas Borthwick and Sons Ltd, walked out for about an hour over a dispute believed to be caused by a foreman swearing at one of them.

1970: More than £14 was made for the RSPCA funds at a jumble sale in Wootton Bassett Memorial Hall. The event was organised by a local committee with members and helpers. The next event will be a sherry evening to boost funds. Mr M Milne won the raffle.

Thursday September 29

1950: Mrs Susanna Suddnik, a prim little lady of 84-years-old, believes in doing one good deed every day. Mrs Suddnik from Union Street, Swindon, spent the war years knitting cot covers for the British Red Cross Society. Her latest good deed was a crochet work for a friend, resembling Joseph's coat of many colours. The bedspread worked in wool measured 72" by 62" and contained 255 crochet squares.

1950: Men from 504 Company RASC (TA) of Swindon formed a guard of honour at Cheltenham when the RASC Association flag was dedicated. After the dedication the troop was inspected by Brigadier L Field Deputy Director of Supplies and Transport Southern Command.

1960: Work has began on an £180,000 training school for railway workers apprentices in Swindon. The school is the first of its type to be built in the Western Region. The scheme will provide pre-apprentice training for about 150 in Swindon. The school is to be built on the South side of the works in Newburn Crescent.

1960: Two employees of United Dairies at Wootton Bassett went to London to receive special recognition for their 40 years service with the firm. Mr W J Field, 65 of Old Court, Wootton Bassett and Mr AMJ Goodheart of High Street, Wootton Bassett received gold watches from the managing director Mr H W Clements, at the annual long service company dinner.

1970: Mike Hofman from Swindon, has competed twice in the tough Portuguese T.A.P Car Rally, and this year he enters again setting off from Crystal Palace before converging with the other drivers at San Sebastian, near the French border. His co-driver is Dennis Greenslade.

1970: Uproar broke out in Swindon Town Hall when furious Gorse Hill residents grilled council officers over the Cricklade Road Relief Road scheme. Anxieties about the scheme were expressed by those whose homes would be demolished and by traders in Cricklade Road. The crowd angrily heckled Coun Michael Bawden, chairman of the public works and services committee. More than 400 over-flowed the hall and gallery

Friday September 30

1950: Children attending the Swindon Philatelic Society exhibition, which opened in the town hall, each received a Jubilee souvenir packet of stamps, the President of the Society, Mr F J Dance told the Regent Circus Junior Club, at their meeting in the cinema.

1950: Members of the Inner Wheel, including guests from many parts of the country and the Mayor and Mayoress of Swindon, Ald and Mrs J Bond, were present at a diner at the Swindon Hotel when Swindon Inner Wheel (Women's branch of the Rotary Club) was presented with its charter, a certificate of memberships of the Association of Inner Wheel Clubs.

1960: A former pupil of Pinehurst Secondary School, Swindon, Signalman Robert East, 21, serving with the 4th Signal Regiment, Royal Signals, is based in Germany. Before his call up he was a postal worker. During his army service he has been to Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Holland and even saw the Olympic Games in Rome.

1960: David Hounsell of Swindon has been cruising around in the frozen wastes of Antarctica. Kenneth Brookes, who lives 16 miles from Swindon in Stratton near Cirencester, has also sailed from Plymouth on a survey ship, the HMS Protector, bound for Antarctic. His job is to survey ice and tide movements.

1970: Michael Watson and Yvonne Jones helped to model some of the latest gear at the Swindon Samaritans' Fashion Show at the Town Hall in Swindon. The mini was seen fighting a losing battle against the midi at the show, sponsored by McIlroys Ltd. The compere was Madame Hoteko of McIlroys who put the mannequins through their paces.

1970: Hills of Swindon Ltd a family firm of builders merchants has gone into the computer business. Robert Hill, the company managing director, said one order had been placed for a Scottish built Honeywell 115 computer worth £40,000. A new subsidiary company has been set up to operate the machine, called Kingshill Computer Services Ltd.

Saturday, October 1

1950: A moth rarely seen in Swindon, the Death's Head Moth, has been found in Tismead Crescent by Edward Hopkins, 14-year-old son of Mr and Mrs T A Hopkins, Devizes Road, Old Town, He presented it to the Swindon Museum.

1950: Seeing the blue and silver S6B seaplane in Regent Circus revived memories for Walter J Hood of Commercial Road, Swindon, who was one of a team of 50 who built the seaplane at Vickers Works, Woolston, Southampton. He watched the seaplane fly to victory in Schneider Trophy race in 1931 from a barge on which he and other Vickers employees had a grandstand view. Later Mr Hood became a coach builder at Swindon Railway Works and a member of the Swindon Society of Model and Experimental Engineers. He had an accurate scale model of the 26B, he built himself, over his mantlepiece.

1960: Wiltshire County Council's new £25,000 ambulance station in Queens Drive, Swindon was opened by Sir George Shuster, chairman of Oxford Regional Hospital Board a month after it came into use. The station, that took a year being built, replaces the old station at Gorse Hill.

1960: The mayor of Swindon Miss E C M Millin joined members of the Southern Department of the Institution of Municipal Engineers, for tea at Walcot Common Room, after their tour of Swindon's new developments. The engineers, including president Mr Arthur S Hamilton, had lunch at the Goddard Arms before setting out on corporate buses to see the town's residential and trading estates.

1970: Anne Clarke, 12, of Okus Road, Swindon is the first girl to attend the High School for Boys in Bath Road, Swindon in more than 100 years. Both her uncles Donald and Frank Williams were educated at the school. The principals the Rev P Walker and Mr D Smith are delighted at the way Anne has settled down amidst 70 boys. Anne says she is treated better than she would be at a girls school.

1970: About 60 students from The College, Swindon, including 30 Arabs, marched through the streets of the town mourning the death of President Nasser. A colour portrait of the late president was carried at the head of the procession.