JUST one month after it came off the government's watchlist, October brought a sharp rise in new cases in Swindon, along with a spate of fresh outbreaks and the reappearance of Great Western Hospital on the government's lists of healthcare facilities which had seen new patients die in the weeks after testing positive for the virus.
The town teetered on the edge of another lockdown following reports of 85 Covid cases at Wilkes Academy on Westmead Industrial Estate which had been transmitted outside of classes and 500 children and teachers self-isolated after 36 cases were confirmed at 11 Swindon schools.
Plus, four employees at an Aldi distribution centre tested positive for the disease and 11 of their colleagues were sent home as a precaution.
On October 20, there were 16 beds occupied by Covid-19 patients at GWH – up from just one two weeks earlier, according to NHS England figures, and the town's rate kept on climbing but remained well below the national average.
The government introduced a three-tier system in mid-October, with Swindon in the lowest bracket at first, and announced a full lockdown on Halloween that came into effect shortly afterwards along with an extension of the furlough scheme.
The new lockdown was less strict than the first, with schools and colleges staying open and no requirement for people to shield.
South Swindon MP Robert Buckland said at the time: "The rising rate of hospital admissions in our region and the rising rate of Covid infections too meant that doing nothing further was not an option.”
Swindon's annual Christmas lights switch-on that normally attracts 10,000 visitors became an online-only affair for the first time ever on October 3, with Billy and Louie, and Phoebe Maddison, Britain’s Got Talent star Fayth Ifil, Wilkes Academy, Swindon Dance and PQA Swindon all performing.
A WHOPPING £200 million warehouse sale hit the headlines - and the buyer was all-but-confirmed to be Amazon.
The news broke on October 9 that the new Symmetry Park site would be snapped up by the "world's largest online retailer" for 20 years once it was finished in late 2021.
The largest single warehouse sale ever agreed in the UK came after developer Panattoni was given permission in June for a huge new warehouse to be built just off the A420 opposite the Gablecross police station in what was described as a £400m investment in Swindon.
The company is staying on the project as the developer but sold the warehouse to Legal and General Investment Management for £200m.
However, councillors, Panattoni and Amazon itself were tight-lipped at the time about admitting it was indeed Amazon behind the big buy.
Property Week said Amazon had taken a lease for 20 years at £10m a year. The deal was confirmed by the London branch of law firm Ashurst.
The enormous 60 hectare site will be 600,000 sq ft on the ground and have three mezzanine floors each bigger than 500,000 sq ft.
In other news, a burst water main flooded homes in Haydon Wick on Halloween and led to 12 flats being evacuated while firefighters and Thames Water tried to patch up the pipe and drain away the deluge.
The Haydon Court cul-de-sac was hit especially hard by the flood which saw up to a foot of water flow into people's homes.
Shane Johnson, 32, had got home from a night shift at Argos when the water main burst.
He said: “I heard a massive bang. I could hear neighbours shouting and talking. The next minute I opened the door and found out what was going on. There was water everywhere.”
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