BISHOPS are generally calm and peaceful people, which makes annoying one quite an achievement.

Train company First Great Western managed it 15 years ago, however.

The then Bishop of Swindon, Michael Doe, included some thoughts about station announcements and other matters in one of his regular newsletters to parish magazines.

It came to the Adver’s attention this week in 2002.

The bishop wrote: “Those of us who go to London once or twice a week for meetings can only imagine what it’s like for those who travel by train every day.

“Delays, cancellations, the mobile phone user who wants to inform the whole carriage what he did last night.

“But worst of all is the recorded station announcement which ends, ‘I am very sorry for the inconvenience which this will cause.’ “I could accept such an apology if the chairman of First Great Western came on to the platform to say it personally. I could cope, through gritted teeth, with a public announcement that the train company took some responsibility.

“But even a sweet-natured bishop begins to lose his patience when some out of work actor, sitting in a recording studio many months ago, tells me, ‘I am sorry…’”

First Great Western, these days known as Great Western Railway, claimed that when there were major delays its chief executive could regularly be found on trains and platforms, talking to passengers.

Also that week, Swindon celebrity Melinda Messenger – or “Swindon superbabe Melinda Messenger,” as we called her in those days, announced the birth of her second child.

We said: “Flynn Jefferson, who weighed in at 5lbs12oz, came into the world two weeks early.

“He is now back home in Wanborough with Melinda, 30, her husband Wayne Roberts and their first child, Morgan.”

Wayne told us: “We had a far easier time of it than we had with Morgan. This time she had a relatively good birth.

“She’s tucked up in bed at the moment, resting and getting cups of tea brought to her.

“We are very happy and Melinda’s doing very well.”

In Abbey Meads the Northern Orbital Road was being built, Thamesdown Drive was being widened – and residents were being told the roadworks might be their own personal goldmine.

“Hundreds of householders are in line for thousands of pounds in compensation that they haven’t even asked for,” we said.

“Legal firms have sent speculative letters to around 500 households in Abbey Meads affected by roadworks.

“The letters say residents can sue Swindon Council and developers because of the effect the new Northern Orbital Road and widening work on nearby Thamesdown Drive could have on house prices.”

One firm, County Property Consultants of Cirencester, reported having already signed up nearly 150 clients.

Director Sally Davies said: “We only get a fee if the claim is successful, so it is not worth us mailing the area if we don’t think there’s a good chance of success.”

Also in receipt of a letter was a three-year-old Lechlade boy called Dylan Wade. The communication was from his local MP, Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, and invited him to fill in a questionnaire about his political beliefs and his voting intentions for the next General Election.

It was the sort of light-hearted cute child/innocent mix-up story local newspapers have always thrived on, and we duly contacted the MP for a comment.

If we were hoping for something jolly and humorous, perhaps along the lines of catching voters early, we were disappointed.

Mr Clifton-Brown, who is still the MP for The Cotswold, said: “Nobody would deliberately send out a survey to a three-year-old.

“It sounds like these people are making a mountain out of a molehill. It’s just a case of mistaken identity.

“It’s a non-story.”

Back in Swindon, wind gusting at up to 65mph damaged electricity cables and left hundreds of households without power.

We said: “In Swindon the area around Ridgeway Road, Stratton, lost power and the same thing happened at Haydon Wick on the exposed northern side of the town.

“Southern electricity also received reports of power cuts at Malmesbury, Wootton Bassett, Chippenham and Wroughton.”

More open areas also felt the weather’s fury, and the wind blew down a piece of the town’s history.

“A beech tree at Coate Water,” we said, “near the entrance to the park, is believed to be one of the first planted there when it was a canal reservoir more than 200 years ago.

“It narrowly avoided landing on the park’s café. Swindon Council was called out to 17 other cases of damage to trees as a result of yesterday’s storms.”

The tree brought down at Coate Water ended up with its trunk across the footpath and its branches in the water.

Council parks and amenities manager Martin Hambidge said crews could only be brought to clearly away after they finished clearing roads.