1952: Boys who have haunted the railways stations to spot engines have found a new interest spotting the numbers of transports belonging to the British Road Services. Each day the boys went to the Swindon depot in Drove Road, where the competition to spot a group number was as keen as spotting a Carlisle or Manor on the iron road of the railways.

1962: Mike Wun, a tiny room measuring 14ft by 8ft, was sunk in the countryside about seven miles from Swindon as an observation post for the Royal Observer Corps. It was one of three around Swindon which, during the war, spotted and plotted enemy aircraft. Mike Wun’s four staff, all Swindon men and all volunteers, trained once a week to operate the bunker’s equipment that went on to report on nuclear fall out and the size of nuclear explosions like ground zero and bomb power indicators.

1972: The Mayor of Swindon Coun Peter Furkin and his fellow councillors completed a week of doing the rounds of local pubs and clubs in the town in an attempt to raise £1,000 for the mayor’s helping hand fund. The cash raised was for a new minibus for the Swindon Old People’s Welfare Committee.