“No matter what problems we have in life, they can all be dissolved in a beautiful piece of music.” For popular pianist Ian James it is this positive outlook on life that has spurred him on to raise thousands of pounds for Prospect Hospice despite fighting
THE best amateur performers in the town only have a day to wait before Swindon’s most talented is crowned. Seventeen acts will battle it out in the final of this year’s Swindon Talent competition at the Wyvern Theatre tomorrow. The competition, organised
A CREATIVE man who designed an iPhone app in memory of his friend who died of cancer has already been told he has saved a life. Andy Jack, 45, of Upper Stratton, was inspired to invest £25,000 to create The Healthy Living Tracker, which was launched
THERE was singing – and dancing – in the rain as the town’s Cultural Festival got under way in Wharf Green. Yesterday was the first of four festival days being put on by inSwindon and the weather didn’t dampen the spirits of the performers or the shoppers
A FREE online picture gallery set up by the library service has celebrated its two-year anniversary by hitting a landmark milestone. The gallery includes photographs, drawings, postcards, old documents, maps and plans, and stores a significant amount
SKY SPORTS ELITE LEAGUE, ABBEY STADIUM SWINDON ROBINS 47: Scott Nicholls (1-2-3-2-2)10, Jesper B. Monberg (0-1*-3-2*)6+2, Maciej Janowski (2*-0-2-3-1*)8+2, Simon Stead (3-2-1*-1)7+1, Nicolai Klindt (1*-3-R-0)4+1, Sergey Darkin (2*-1-1-3)7+1
DAVE Brotheridge is a moth recorder. For 46 years he has been gathering data and – where necessary – specimens of the creatures, charting the ebb and flow of populations. Dave, 67, has recorded more than 1,300 species of moth and their fellow members
“IN AN ideal world, we would have radiotherapy in Swindon, but this is not an ideal world.” Breast cancer patient Lesley Hemmett believes that although a radiotherapy unit in the town would be hugely beneficial, it should not be at the expense of another
AUDITIONS are being held on Friday for musicians to perform in a music video in honour of fallen soldiers. Tracey Rogers, 46, is hoping to record a charity single and music video in Wootton Bassett to enable the people of the town to pay their respects
Highworth Recreation Centre have been busy lately with their promotions - Tweeting is still a little bit of a mystery to most but they have found it an ideal way to remind people about what is on offer in their local leisure centre as well as a way to
It's time to realise that you cannot PAY to lose POUNDS ...well you can, and it will be money wasted for sure. Diets don't work! they may do to start off with and soon the weight creeps back on. Let the staff at Highworth Recreation Centre help you
A FOUR-YEAR-OLD boy is facing a five-mile trek to school after the council gave him a place on the other side of Swindon. James Stagg, who lives in Rodbourne, has been denied a place at his first choice of school, Even Swindon, meaning he will be split
Now this is clever - Splashpath is an easy to use little widget set on the front page of The Rec's homepage and also on the homepage of Highworth Link Magazine and What's On Highworth website too! The session running at present is highlighted and you
Highworth Recreation Centre is the place to be this Summer - Students can make use of the facilities there with unlimited use of the gym*, pool* and fitness classes* and they can also use the pass at other facilities across Swindon including ice skating
SYNC Launch XXXY WHERE: Suju, Old Town WHEN: This Saturday INFO: Kicking off this weekend is Swindon’s brand new forward-thinking house night. Making his debut in Swindon, Manchester producer XXXY is set to get everyone
It’s the start of a busy couple of weeks on the local music roster. Next week is the Swindon Shuffle, the annual, long weekend dedicated to local music but, to get you in the mood, this Saturday and Sunday is SOLAM Festival, now in it’s third year.
WHEN a low-flying vulture swoops over your head so close you can feel the downdraught of its wings, trust me – you’re going to duck. It’s not every day that a giant bird of prey threatens to get tangled in your hair, but that’s just one of the exciting
It’s been 13 Saturdays without any Swindon Town action and at last the big kick-off has arrived. After the disaster of last season we all expected changes with the team and management, but as the final whistle went at Prenton Park on May 7th I don’
From mud baths to saunas to gold leaf facials, Natalie Bowen learns Turkey has centuries of experience in pampering visitors Being covered in thick, green mud reeking of eggs was not on my original itinerary for a week in Turkey, but
EAT AT: Beefeater Grill, Lydiard Fields, Great Western Way, Swindon, SN5 8UY. Tel: 01793 881490. www.beefeatergrill.co.uk YOU don’t have to be a beef eater to eat at one – veggie-lovers get a pretty good deal too. On a hot
Nobody is addressing the threat to the High Street from the internet. Whilst we would all agree that the internet is convenient, it also has lower overheads, which naturally means you can sell cheaper and put shops out of business. Swindon has recently
OMID Djalili has teamed up with Tickets for Troops to give service personnel free tickets to his forthcoming tour. The comic’s nationwide tour brings him to Swindon’s Wyvern Theatre on Wednesday, November 16. Tickets for Troops, whose website is at www.ticketsfortroops.org.uk
ASPIRING actors and actresses are invited to attend a drama workshop at the Arts Centre, in Devizes Road next week. Drama Zone presents Play In A Day – a four hour workshop on August 10 for 11 to 15 year olds. During the workshop the youngsters will
Riff’s Bar in Greatfield near Hook, is putting on a weekend of live music with Swindon Skuffle, the UK's smallest unsigned festival. The festival is raising money for REACH inclusive ARTS and it takes place on August 12,13 and 14, running over the weekend
BOOTY Luv and Diva Fever headline Swindon and Wiltshire Pride 2011 on Saturday. Held at the Town Gardens, Pride has established itself as one of the most important lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender events of its kind in the region, and this year
THE town’s inaugural Culture Festival begins in Wharf Green today. Kicking off the festivities, which have been organised by inSwindon, are A Chocolate Theatre Society, who will be performing songs from their recent hit musical Buddy. The performance
CHANGE is the tone in Swindon’s town centre – and change is maybe what has saved it. Nationally, more than one in seven High Street shops are currently empty, with the recession driving shoppers to the internet and out-of-town centres in the hunt for
TWO teenagers are hoping to drum up support for local music and charities at the second B Festival on Saturday. Hundreds of music fans attended the Blunsdon festival at Sutton Park last year and raised more than £3,000 for CALM, which supports children
A WILD spring flower, a trip to the beach and the railway works are among the diverse topics which have inspired 95-year-old poet Joyce Murgatroyd. Joyce, a lifelong Moredon resident, wrote her first poem in her “scribbling book” while she was still
Tiggy York will be resurrecting her alter ego Janis Joplin when she takes to the stage at a recreation of the famous Woodstock Festival of 1969. Roves Farm at Sevenhampton is hosting the Solam (Summer of Love and Music) Festival, now in its third year
Butterflies by Lali Compton. Official release on August 14 but available on ITunes now www.lalicompton.com/ Butterflies has that feel good, summer vibe created by Lali with her warm-honey voice that always seems to have a smile in it. It is a
Addicted by White Knuckle Bride. Free to download visit www.whiteknucklebride.com/ for more details This single is so much more than a scary white knuckle ride or even a terrified white knuckle bride. It is a rock number with a catchy
DAVID Lucas has paid tribute to Town interim chairman Jeremy Wray after yesterday completing his switch to Rochdale. The veteran goalkeeper had one year left to run on his contract at the Robins but expressed a desire to move back north to
REMINISCING about his school days, the Rev Brian Ranford recalled that he used to see how far he could go on the bus for a shilling. Now the 81-year-old has travelled the length of the country for free using his senior citizen’s bus pass. The trip saw
HE IS too young for doctors to say whether the NHS will fund a life-changing operation to help him walk, so the family of little Jack Pike have started preparing to fund the surgery themselves. Two-and-a-half-year-old Jack, of Penhill, suffers from spastic
PRIMARY school children across the town have shown they are brainier than their predecessors by pushing Swindon up in the league tables. The majority of the town’s 11-year-olds reached the required target level in Key Stage Two English and Maths this
A CALL has been made for the council to finally give one well-known neighbourhood “an identity”. Residents of Broadgreen in the town centre say that the area has long been known by that name to locals, although it does not enjoy formal recognition on
GOLFER David Howell could depend on his mum Sally Pearce to be on the fairway cheering him on. The 36-year-old described Sally, who lost her battle with cancer this week, as ‘the perfect mother for a budding sportsman’. Paying tribute to the 64-year-old
UP TO 150 jobs are being axed by technology giant Nokia Siemens Networks. The mass redundancy will see around a third of the 450 staff put out of work at the company’s Kembrey Park offices. The cuts to the Swindon operation, where staff mainly carry
A MAN who lost his wife to ovarian cancer at the age of just 34 has raised more than £140,000 for a memorial fund established in her name. When Sophie Drury of Highworth, lost her decade-long battle with the illness in 2008 at Prospect Hospice
GARY O’Brien took double honours in the third and final race of the Back in a Flash 5k series hosted by Grass Roots Events at Coate Water. The Swindon Harrier completed the course in 16:38 to take top spot in both the vet 40 male and overall male categories
OLIVER Risser feels he is getting fitter every day as the Town skipper prepares to lead his side out against Crewe at the County Ground on Saturday. The Namibia international, 30, missed two friendlies during pre-season after picking up a slight knock
PAOLO Di Canio will run the rule over trialist Nicolas Raimondi after the Uruguayan striker yesterday arrived at Swindon, but there are unlikely to be any new signings before the opening game of the season against Crewe on Saturday. The
SWINDON Harriers remain in the mix for promotion out of Southern League Division Two, after gaining a valuable third place in their latest fixture at Eastbourne on Saturday. Fielding only 16 athletes, one of its smallest teams ever, Harriers took on
SERGEY Darkin might have made his Robins debut but it was Maciej Janowski that stole the limelight as Swindon took a superb point at play-off chasers King’s Lynn. Janowski hit the paid 17 mark, which included a vital six-point tactical win,
THERE was mixed success for our local throwers at the BDO British Teenage Finals, which were held in Kettering recently. PDC Youth Tour ace Chris Aubrey crashed out in the first round, losing 3-1 to Kent’s Sam Fuller. However, 16-year-old
FORMER Brentford boss Nicky Forster is working as part of a scouting team at Swindon Town, the Advertiser understands. The 37-year-old was most recently manager of Brentford but left the League One side in May, with the club’s board opting to look elsewhere
MOST people pick up a small souvenir while visiting foreign landmarks - but a crafty thief bagged the whole collection without leaving the country. Miniature gold versions of the Eiffel Tower, the Tower Bridge and the Colosseum were among a £600 haul
TRIBUTES have been paid to a builder who died while working on a roof in Trowbridge. Michael Walsh, 55, of Park South, was working on a third storey scaffolding rig when he suffered a heart attack. The father of one was sub-contracted as a roofer for
SIX champion jockeys will be swapping riding silks for golf shirts at the 21st annual Jim Old Racing Golf Day at Marlborough Golf Club on Monday, August 8. AP McCoy, Kieren Fallon, Josh Gifford, Wally Swinburn and John Francome return for the event,
