A MAN who took part in a distraction burglary was caught when the pensioner whose door he knocked on recognised him outside a local chemist shop. Matthew Horton, of Goldsworthy Close, looked to have got away with his part in the crime until he was spotted
A CHURCH which was hit by vandals and thieves last year has been handed a generous grant to help get it back into shape. The Heritage Lottery Fund and English Heritage have given St Mary’s Church in Lydiard Tregoze £50,000 for repairs to the
VOLUNTEERS at a charity shop have taken up the gauntlet of looking after their community. Staff at The Charity Shop, which is part of Walcot Library, in Walcot Square, work tirelessly every morning to raise cash to help others and these special people
A SURPRISE donation means an Old Town Scout group can benefit from a refurbished kitchen with work likely to begin later this month. The 18th Swindon Scout Group received the donation of £1,500 from Paul Nunnery, a director of the Berkshire-based
NEW College students will be taking the mic tonight to raise money for a trip to Kenya. Bands and artists from the college will be singing and playing their instruments at The Platform, in Faringdon Road, from 7.15pm. The money will help 20 students
LITTLE Rachel Howell has been given a special gift from a local community group to help improve her quality of life. The six-year-old, of Shaw, has cerebral palsy and brittle bones and is unable to walk and talk. But when mayor Rex Barnett heard Rachel
A NEW area of woodland has been created thanks to a home furnishing store and an environmental charity. The 5.4 acre wood has been planted at the Woodland Trust’s Stratton Wood, off Hyde Road, thanks to money raised by Ikea customers. The money has been
CAMPAIGNERS have started a petition against plans to reduce funding to Penhill Sure Start to help cope with the public spending cuts. Residents claim the well-used children’s centre, in Everleigh Road, will face larger cuts than other local centres and
I WAS astonished by Councillor Mallinson’s admission that the council’s carers, although only paid £8.01 per hour, are costed out at £45 per hour. This can only be accounted for by grossly top-heavy ‘back office costs’ or ineffective management of the
A COUPLE celebrated 40 years of marriage by planting tree saplings at Mouldon Hill Country Park last weekend. Sheila and Brian Cracknell, of Freshbrook, decided on the romantic gesture to mark Valentine’s Day. The couple were among a steady stream of
THE Royal National Institute of Blind People is the main UK charity providing help and support to people with serious sight loss. We rely on voluntary contributions to keep our services running and many blind and partially sighted people in this area
LOCAL band Recode have rocked their way to the top of the pops in a battle of the bands competition. The Late Gig Battle of the Bands took place at the 12 Bar in Westcott Place and was organised by Terry Yau, Fran May and Malcolm Wood, of 105.5 community
DOG owners in the town are being warned to be extra vigilant following a number of reports of missing or stolen dogs. Earlier this week, the Adver reported the story of six-month-old Staffordshire bull terrier Lucky who went missing from her home in
DOLE queues across the town have increased by more than 250 in the past month as job losses from government cuts begin to take effect. Official monthly figures from the Office of National Statistics show there are 4,456 people claiming Job Seekers Allowance
A FURTHER 80 police jobs have been earmarked to be scrapped in the latest Wiltshire Police budget. The policing budget for 2011-12 was set at a meeting of the Wiltshire Police Authority (WPA) and outlined a £4.6m target for efficiency savings and also
LITTLE Yorkshire terrier Katie who was missing for three weeks and living in the wild, is back home and tucking into her favourite chicken dish. Pensioners Dorothy and Charles David of Westminster Road, Toothill, were devastated when Katie was chased
SHAW Forest Park got an early spring clean when volunteers teamed up with park ranger Stuart Searl. The Swindon Council ranger who looks after the parkland was joined by a small band of volunteers keen to learn about woodland crafts. Stuart said: “
MEMBERS of a historic working men’s club will not be Lonesome Tonight when Elvis lends his support for a special gig. Ashford Road Club, in Old Town, has been struggling in recent years, dropping from a healthy 800 membership to 270 at its lowest point
STUDENTS have been shown what to do if they are first on the scene of a road traffic accident through a demonstration at New College. Driving instructor Alan Bishop runs a pre-driving class for pupils at the college and invited a emergency medical technician
THE Catholic diocese is threatening a legal challenge over the decision to cut buses for hundreds of school children. The representative of Bishop Declan Lang has told the Adver that Swindon Council “failed in its duty” to consult over the
THE bodies of five UK soldiers are to be repatriated through RAF Lyneham today. The families of Private Lewis Hendry, of the third Battalion the Parachute Regiment and Private Conrad Lewis of the fourth Battalion the Parachute Regiment are among those
WHEN a hawk perches on a human’s gauntleted hand and the two gaze into one another’s eyes, thoughts pass wordlessly between them. The human says: “I am overwhelmed by your magnificence, a magnificence toward which each atom and molecule of you strives
POLICE are appealing for information after a man was found in Purton with head injuries on Saturday morning. Paul Brown, 41, had been out in pubs in the village on Friday evening and left the George Inn, in Pavenhill, at around 2am the following morning
I WOULD like to comment on the letter from G Mason (SA, February 7) who appears to think that the county’s financial problems can in some way be cured by removing the winter fuel allowance from sheltered housing residents. Mr Mason implies that somehow
IN reply to the 'spin' letter from Mr Moffatt, it is lovely what you can do with figures. He says that the rise in council tax since 2002 is all down to the Tory council. Can he publish figures showing the D Band rate for any Labour council for that
THE government has decided to get rid of the May Day Bank Holiday, the reason that they give is it is that May Day comes within a cluster of bank holidays, but I suspect it is also for ideological reasons, because it is international labour day and was
I WAS dismayed to read that Swindon council has decided to phase out school buses to Catholic schools but at a reported annual cost of £227,000 to local taxpayers, I'm not entirely surprised. However I'm still intrigued to learn why the cost of providing
CIVILIAN patrols will soon be pounding the beat as part of a new initiative set to be rolled out in Park South. The Street Watch pilot scheme will be the first of five in the Swindon area and has been mooted by Swindon Community Safety Partnership following
AS a former senior NCO in the regular RAF I was saddened to read of the fall from grace of three airmen from RAF Lyneham (SA, February 5). Not only are their careers in tatters they have also brought shame on a proud and much loved branch of the armed
I READ Deborah Williams’ letter (SA, February 18) about the town centre artwork with great glee. She is so right. It is a blot-ugly and dysfunctional thing. Many of us wrote in to say so, I cannot believe that it cost so much money - £240,000? My God
The weather might be a little unpredictable at the moment, but yesterday I took advantage of the glorious sunshine to walk up to a meeting at Lydiard House, where Collections Manager Sophie Cummings told us some of the exciting events planned for
A TAXI driver has confronted the Prime Minister face-to-face – for the second time in 10 months. John Doyle, 46, a Hackney carriage driver and publican, approached David Cameron following his visit to the Honda factory on Thursday. The
Westlecot Men kept their Wessex League end-of-season play-off hopes alive with a fine win over Carterton. Anything less than victory would have been curtains but Westlecot triumphed after a 35-shot win. They thumped their Oxfordshire rivals 94-59, collected
WITH 15 games left of the season, Town are locked in six-way battle for survival – but what has caused the promotion-chasing Swindon of 2009/10 to degenerate into relegation scrappers less than 12 months later? Carlisle United come to
MARK Collier has quit as manager of Swindon Supermarine, while assistant boss Tom Jones has also left the club. It is understood that Collier thought a proposed 30 per cent budget cut put to him by the fans’ consortium that runs the club at
A PERVERT caught with more than one million indecent computer images of children has been jailed for six years. Christopher Roche, of Percheron Close, Shaw, who also admitted making and distributing such images, was found with sexually abusive photographs
A FRIEND and myself visited the Wyvern Theatre last Wednesday for the concert by Fairport Convention. We were very disappointed with the Advertiser review by Pauline Leighton on Friday in which she failed to mention the talented support act of
IN December 2001 when 2,272 Honda associates voted for union recognition for the purpose of collective bargaining on their behalf, they did so because the Associate Representative Committee (ARC) at the time did not consult workers on the agreements that
FROM January 19, 2011 all 500 million EU citizens will be able to choose to have NHS treatment because of new legislation passed by the European Parliament. David Cameron has agreed that all 500 million EU citizens should have the legal right
TODAY we have another tirade from the Labour supporters who seem to have big ideas and very small memories. Or could it be a very bad case of denial hype? Has Mr Dempsey forgotten why we are in this mess? As in the case of 1979, you can’t live
I THINK Swindon and North Wiltshire could be well on the way to winning a prize as one of the most anti-green areas in the whole of the British Isles. The anti-greens stopped the proposed biofuel plant between Swindon and Cricklade even though
JODIE Symes’ bid to win the Southern Classic at Jesters on Saturday was halted by six-time world champion Reanne Evans. Sixteen-year-old Symes, playing on her home tables, took a fine 3-2 win against Tina Owen-Sevilton to secure her place in the quarter-finals
THE sickening vandalism of the ice house (SA, February 11) triggered for me very happy memories. In 1936/7/8 this was the headquarters of the Swindon 7th Rover Scout group of which I was, and probably am its only surviving member. Splendid
COMEDIAN James Corden has shown again that he still holds the town close to his heart after a shout out on live TV. The star of hit TV sitcom Gavin and Stacey, hosted the Brit awards at the O2 Arena on Tuesday night and referred to Swindon, where his
DAVID Howell was this morning due to tee off at one of the younger tournaments in world golf. The Broome Manor pro was set to take on the DLF Golf and Country Club course in New Delhi, which is hosting the Avantha Masters. The tournament only began
ANDREW Fitton has denied Town have made a bid for Harrow Borough starlet Troy Hewitt, as Championship leaders QPR get set for talks with the 20-goal hotshot. Sources close to the non-league club have told the Advertiser that out of around 15 interested
ONE of the men behind a new multi-million pound renewable energy plan on the outskirts of town has played down the impact it will have on local people. Plans for a five megawatt capacity solar farm with more than 20,000 panels in a field to the north
Shrivenham went down to a late goal at home to Slimbridge last night. John Fisher’s men looked to have snatched a draw after Steve Robertson fired home a 75th-minute penalty to cancel out Rob Hine’s 61st-minute opener. However, Marvyn Roberts denied
