IT was a cold night and we sought sanctuary in The Whole Hog in Malmesbury. It proved a good choice. Despite the sub-zero temperatures the cold evening had not put people off and the pub was busy with all the tables taken. The pub serves a selection
The launch of Neo Casa Delicatessen at Basepoint in Swindon last week was attended by more than 100 guests, including the mayor. Following on from the opening of the shop, the delicatessen has now launched a takeaway service, available Monday to Friday
UCB Home Loans, the specialist lender of Nationwide, has reduced interest rates on its self-certification two-year tracker mortgages by 0.10 per cent. The move, which affects both flexible and non-flexible products, is designed to price the product
The Honda Civic 1.4 IMA Executive is the greenest car on Britain's roads for the second year running, according to the Environmental Transport Association's Car Buyers' Guide 2006. The guide, which highlights the best and the worst cars in terms of
The management team of the UK's largest independently owned express parcel carriers, ANC Group, has completed a £37.3m funding arrangement with the backing of mid-market private equity firm Lloyds TSB Development Capital. The firm, which employs 45
After pitting their wits against more than 60 budding young footballers in a beat the keeper competition, Swindon Town FC players have helped Bryant Homes score for Barnardo's. The event, held at Bryant's Steeple Chase development, saw children stepping
Dozens of Wiltshire organisations are benefiting from a new way of helping them develop their leadership and management capabilities thanks to extra Government cash. To date, more than 40 Wiltshire small businesses have qualified for the scheme, which
I HOPE the plans for a Rodbourne Cheney/Moredon are better than the traffic-calming in Beech Avenue. I drove my grandchildren along there yesterday. After all the humps my granddaughter complained of feeling sick. I hate to think what it will do to
CONGRATULATIONS to our local councillors for keeping this year's council tax down to five per cent. This is indeed an area where our leaders truly excel, milking the local population as far as they dare. Naturally the price hike won't affect these
THE British Retail Consortium wants to save the pinta. I wish them well but they have an uphill struggle because John Major signed the Maastricht Agreement that agreed to the removal of all imperial weights and measures by 2000. Knowing the pints
WHERE is this Conservative administration leading us to? It seems hell-bent on changing the council into an enabling authority and not a providing one. There are now plans to outsource the janitors, the print room, the admin department, the information
JURIES will be out for decades on the contentious issue of legalising drugs (SA Should drugs be legalised? Jan 25). Can anyone really envisage a government radical enough to introduce decriminalisation? Future generations of drug-takers might be saved
I READ an interesting article in the January 28 edition of the Swindon Advertiser on the subject of councillors' allowances. I noted that the increase in allowances was proposed by the Swindon Independent Remuneration Panel. Who is this group of people
THERE is no reason why Billie Piper, Diana Dors and the other Swindonians mentioned by W Duggan (Letters, Jan 30) might not be remembered in their own right but he is missing the point about Richard Jefferies. If he hasn't read Jefferies works he cannot
BRADON Forest School has received a national award for its computer work. The Purton school is one of the first in England to be awarded the new National ICT Mark from the Government. And the pupils there are thrilled their school has attracted
SWINDON Council has been handed more than £36,000 as a Government reward for being business friendly. The cash has been handed to the council as part of a scheme designed to boost the local economy. It will now be up to the authority to decide how
THERE are too many clubs and pubs in Swindon town centre. That is the view of Swindon Advertiser readers. We asked whether the town centre has too many drinking establishments and 76 per cent of readers said yes. It came after the homeless hostel
MOST brides have a picture of the dress they want to wear on their big day and our Bride Of The Year winner Lindsay Crowe is no different. Creating Lindsay's dream dress is the job of Gill Robinson, who runs her own bridal gown service, Silks. Silks
A SWINDON nurse is ready to race her way to raising a huge sum for charity. Eleanor Wilkins, of Old Town, is taking part in this year's London Marathon to raise money for Diabetes UK. Her fundraising has already been given a £400 boost from a diabetic
TIME is running out for young people in Swindon to enrol on a new course at New College designed to give them a second chance to get back into education. Ready Steady Job has been specially designed for 16 to 18-year olds who are currently not in a
TWO more talks are being held this month as part of the General University Lecture Programme at the University in Bath in Swindon. On Wednesday, Sarah Finch-Crisp will present The Lydiard Park project an illustrated talk showing the exciting developments
THEY are a couple who are fed up of living in fear on the drugs frontline. For months Claire Carter and Joe Goodenough have felt too scared to leave their flat in West Swindon because of drug dealing going on nearby. But now they have had enough
AN auction of celebrity items has raised £2,000 for the proposed arts centre in Wootton Bassett. Saturday's auction at the Wiltshire Golf and Country Club was hailed as a great success by the organisers. Bridget Tubb, a spokeswoman for the Beaufort
RECORD producer Hilary Budgen described a teenage singer he is accused of molesting as having "a body like Jordan" when he met her as a 12-year-old. The 63-year-old, pictured, who denies touching her improperly, told police the schoolgirl's physique
JAGINDER Bassi, the director of the Racial Equality Council in Swindon, has called for calm after a Swindon mosque was vandalised. As reported in yesterday's late edition of the Advertiser, Idris Nawab, the Imam at the Broad Street mosque, believes
TIME is running out for proud owners who want to show off their guinea pigs. The Wiltshire Cavy Club is holding its first show of the year on March 4 at Lydiard Millicent parish hall. Classes cost £1 per guinea pig and judging starts at 10.30am.
PUPILS in Highworth have running water again. As reported in late editions of yesterday's Advertiser, a burst water pipe forced two of the town's schools to close yesterday. But a team from Thames Water managed to re-route the supply and water was
TWO tonnes. That's the amount of dog excrement collected from the 330 dog litter bins across the town every week enough to fill a small skip, if you can bear to imagine it. And while the amount may seem surprising, it doesn't include the dog mess
Need council's support I read with interest the various letters regarding the re-development of the County Ground. I was born and brought up in Swindon and first visited the County Ground as a five year old and used to sit on my dad's shoulders
MARK Devlin insists Town fans can provide a twin boost to the club's future by filling the County Ground in ever greater numbers. The club's deputy chairman is more than encouraged by the way numerous groups and individuals have embraced the fight
SWINDON LIONS enjoyed mixed fortunes in their back-to-back Southern Under 14 League 2 matches, writes DAVE EATON. They won 7-2 away to Bristol Beagles but failed repeat the success 24 hours later when losing 7-5 at home to Solent and Gosport Hunters
SKELETON BOB: Andy Cryer meets Shelley Rudman, the Pewsey ice queen competing in the Winter Olympics just four years after taking up skeleton bob. NOT since Bill Amor ran down the wing for England's football team in the summer of 1948 have the villagers
WATER POLO: AS Commonwealth Games fever begins to kick in, water polo player Tim Marshall can sit back and relax having already returned from the championships in Australia. As a warm-up to the main event, Water Polo, which is not represented in Melbourne
HOCKEY: AS England's hockey players look to take centre stage in Melbourne next month, a Wiltshire doctor will be busy behind the scenes trying to help their medal hopes become reality. Mike Rossiter, who lives in Collingbourne Ducis nr Marlborough
SWIMMING: ACCOUNTANT Chris Jones insists he is not travelling to Melbourne just to make up the numbers as he sets his sights on a Commonwealth Games final next month. The 24-year-old Marlborough swimmer entered the sport late, having favoured tennis
KARTING: CASTLE Eaton's Richard Hughes opened his Winter Series Championship bid finishing in second place in Shennington. His 16-year-old Arrow kart teammate Peter Blakeney from Devizes was also in form, finishing fifth. The meeting attracted a
HIGHWORTH Town boss John Fisher slammed his side's performance as "absolutely awful" after their 4-1 defeat at Bishops Cleeve last night. Going into the Hellenic Premier Division clash on the back of a good run of results, Highworth were left comprehensively
IFFY Onuora says it is no coincidence that all the fresh faces he has brought in have been absorbed quickly and positively into the County Ground dressing room. The manager not only wants good footballers, he wants characters who won't upset the apple
AARON Brown's search for the missing' part of his game is over according to Iffy Onuora. That can only be good news for the remainder of the campaign and beyond in the manager's view. He feels it is an example of a club showing faith in a player
STEVE Jenkins has thrown down the gauntlet to Town's relegation rivals and challenged can you cope with the pressure after life in the comfort zone?' The current table suggests that the side as high as 10th are far from safe' with just five points
CAN you help this loving couple celebrate their ruby wedding anniversary by finding the man who helped them tie the knot when they eloped 40 years ago? Jeanette and Billy Petrie, of Walcot, ran away to Scotland to marry in 1966 when they were 17 after
OUTSIDE inspectors think Swindon Council is getting better. Cabinet members were last night shown a detailed progress report written by external auditors. It showed that in 2004/05 the council made "good progress." An extract from the annual
SWIMMERS and users of Dial A Ride will find out later this month if they will be at the sharp end of Swindon Council's cost-cutting axe. At the meeting last night, cabinet members viewed a nine-page document detailing the outcome of a month-long public
PLANS to shut two Swindon schools have moved a step closer. Swindon Council last night voted unanimously to push ahead with proposals to axe Windmill Hill and Freshbrook primary schools. It came despite pleas from worried parents to reconsider its
THE controversial merger of three ambulance trusts later this year will see paramedics diverted to Swindon leaving large rural areas without cover. That is the stark warning of Swindon-born Tory MP Mark Harper. The former Headlands School pupil
A MAN accused of bigamy has appeared before Swindon magistrates. Russell Rivett, of Nythe, is charged with marrying another woman within the lifetime of his wife and knowingly making a false statement. He is also alleged to have produced fake divorce
THREE youths suspected of taking part in an assault on a police officer have been released from police custody. PC Paul Matthews was on patrol in Freshbrook, when he was allegedly threatened with a knife and surrounded by a gang taunting him. The
THE family of Paul Campbell, the 21-year-old who died after an 18th birthday party, have spoken of the support they have received from his friends. They say the shrine created to Paul outside McDonald's, a spot where he used to hang out with friends
COACHLOADS of theatregoers visiting the Wales Millennium Centre were forced to stay overnight in Swindon because there were not enough hotel rooms in South Wales. The visit by 300 trippers, who travelled from North Wales to see Bryn Terfel, clashed
PLANS to build wind turbines at Honda's South Marston plant have been given the thumbs up by Advertiser readers. As revealed in the Advertiser on Tuesday, the car giant is applying for planning permission to erect a test mast, which will be up to 250ft
CELEBRITY Big Brother contestant George Galloway is to visit Swindon. The Respect party MP for Bethnal Green and Bow will appear at the Wyvern Theatre on Saturday, March 4. During his time in the Big Brother house as part of the TV reality show,
A GANG of vandals smashed up a skate park only hours after workers put the finishing touches to it. The construction company involved spent Tuesday completing the skate park by using concrete blocks to seal up the tunnels underneath it. But within
A CURRYHOUSE owner who has admitted three charges relating to having a dirty kitchen but denied two others, has had his trial delayed. Malik Bukhsh, 53, the proprietor of the Swindon Balti in Cricklade Road, Gorse Hill has pleaded guilty to three charges
PLANS have been unveiled for what is destined to be the best leisure complex in the area. That the belief of former media baron Eddy Shah, who is looking to build a 100-home leisure village at his Wiltshire Golf and Country Club near Wootton Bassett
A MAN was slashed in the face with a blade in his own back garden. The attack happened at about 6pm on Sunday in the back garden of a house in Faringdon Road. Prior to the assault, three men who live in the house were stopped from leaving the property
THERE may be 54 further education colleges in London but Ysanne Harding chooses to commute to The Ridgeway School, in Wroughton. The 17-year-old makes the 96-mile journey from her home in Wanstead, east London to the school every Sunday evening and
THERE may be 54 further education colleges in London but Ysanne Harding chooses to commute to The Ridgeway School, in Wroughton. The 17-year-old makes the 96-mile journey from her home in Wanstead, east London to the school every Sunday evening and
AN alleged murderer who was said to have left a trail of bloody footprints in his bedroom after stabbing his parents to death suggested the blood found had been from a cut on his foot. Michael Clarke told a jury at Bristol Crown Court how he had cut
FURIOUS health experts have warned that rape victims may not seek medical help if a state-of-the-art clinic closes. The Swindon Sanctuary, at Taw Hill Medical Practice, only opened in July 2003. But cash-flow problems could mean the sexual assault
