Archive
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Roundabout may be silly but it works
MENTION to a stranger that you live in Swindon and you are likely to get the response: "Isn't that the place with the silly roundabout?" Driving through the Magic Roundabout for the first time can be a daunting prospect, and being right next to the County
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Financial backing for local firms
A COMMERCIAL property fund worth £250m and aimed at customers in the south west has been launched. The Royal Bank of Scotland Group's fund is being administered through Royal Bank branches and branches of its sister bank, NatWest. The group says the scheme
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Insurance fears over asbestosis
THE so-called Swindon Disease and other asbestos related illnesses are set to cost US and European business more than £200 billion. Mesothelioma, the lung desease widely known as the Swindon Disease because it has claimed so many lives among the town's
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White Horse is restored to its former glory
ONE OF Wiltshire's oldest white horses is looking the best it has done for nearly 200 years. Villagers at Cherhill have just completed the biggest restoration of the giant hillside chalk carving. It cost £18,000 and was paid for with the help of a £15,000
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Sports centre hopes are high
A NEW £1.5 million sports centre for New College is set to be given the go ahead by Swindon Council. Councillors at tonight's planning meeting are expected to give the project the green light. The hall will be built alongside the college's new £11 million
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Mothballed library may soon be open
NORTH Swindon is finally set to get a library and youth centre after the building earmarked for the project was mothballed for almost a year. Vandals have daubed the building outside Asda Wal-Mart in Haydon Wick with graffiti since it was completed in
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Mother's plea to catch girl's would-be abductor
THE mother of an 11-year-old girl who narrowly escaped abduction has appealed for help to find her attacker. The girl was grabbed from behind as she walked along an alleyway at the back of Cross Street in Old Town on Sunday. She managed to escape the
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This time just get things right, please
A BUSY Swindon road will tonight be closed for resurfacing work just two months after getting its first new surface. And the work cannot come soon enough for Lynda Nicholls, 43, who is among dozens of motorists who have fallen foul to a surface that has
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Magique!
DRIVERS either love it or loathe it but Swindon's infamous Magic Roundabout could soon make an appearance in France. A delegation of eight politicians and engineers from Brest City Council are making the special trip to Swindon to consider taking the
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Meeting time at Malmesbury
Malmesbury Rugby Club will hold their annual meeting at 8pm tomorrow night. The meeting will take place after training at the clubhouse, The Worthies, Old Station Road, in Malmesbury. All playing members and interested parties are invited to attend the
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Colts ease past Cleve
WOOTTON Bassett Colts opened their campaign with a solid four-try 24-0 home win. Strong running from outside centre Daniel Jones set up the first score as he linked well with second row Andy White. With good field position, Bassett took full advantage
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It's a family affair as College win derby clash
SWINDON College 2nds proved too strong for their Supermarine counterparts as they ran out 66-5 winners. College's pack was in rampant mood and the back row of Brant, Godspell and Honnie scored two tries apiece. Woody Briggs played his first senior game
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Chippenham begin with a points rush
Chippenham's 2nd team started their Merit Table campaign with a superb 82-0 hammering of Thornbury. Despite a slow start, Chippenham skipper Kenny Brown scored to nose the Wiltshire side in front. That paved the way for an onslaught and further tries
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Dance classes get under way
JUDITH Hockaday's School of Dance and Drama is holding children's dance classes at Taw Hill Worship Centre in Burghley Park on Fridays from September 13. Classes start at 4pm with a pre-school dancing class, followed by primary ballet at 4.30pm. At 5pm
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It's time to nominate your good neighbours
THE latest round of nominations for Swindon mayor Stan Pajak's Good Citizen Awards closes on Thursday. So far around a dozen entries have been received for the latest Good Neighbour category. Coun Pajak said: "It's all about encouraging and rewarding
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Car men in court
A GROUP of men are due before magistrates tomorrow on charges relating to car sales. Robert Peter Rogers, of Conisborough, Toothill, faces 11 offences of trying to sell cars through local small ads without declaring he was operating a business. Wootton
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Sue loses battle to save mauled swan
A SWAN left fighting for its life after being savaged by a group of dogs has died. The attack, witnessed by screaming children at Liden Lagoon, left one cygnet dead and the second with severe injuries to its leg and side. But the fledgling died a week
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Help charity every time you spend
BIG spenders can help fight world poverty thanks to the Comic Relief Credit Card launched by Nationwide Building Society. The Swindon-based company will donate £5.25 to the charity for every card opened and 50p for every £100 spent on the card. Customers
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On the spot for Charlie
SHOPPERS were keeping their eye on the ball in aid of the Charlie Jarvis Cancer Fund. A charity version of spot the ball was set to raise more cash for the little girl diagnosed last year with neuroblastoma, a rare children's cancer. Intel employee, Denise
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This year's pantomime is set to be a star attraction
SWINDON'S theatre community mixed with the stars as the Wyvern launched this year's pantomime Dick Whittington. With only three months until the curtain rises on the show, producer Charles Vance proudly introduced the production's stars, including former
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Dignity in death
Daphne Bampton ('A right to die with some dignity') is absolutely right; the law should be changed to permit voluntary euthanasia. The suffering endured by Mrs Diane Pretty, who died in pain in just the way she feared, should have been avoided and in
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Join our march
On Sunday, September 22, the Countryside Alliance is staging a march in central London as a protest against the rules and regulations that our Government are trying to enforce upon the countryside. Some of the most beautiful scenery in England is in Wiltshire
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It's grim for greyhounds
SO September 3 saw Abbey Stadium celebrate 50 years of greyhound racing. In that time, hundreds of thousands of greyhounds in Britain have been killed, simply because they reached the end of their racing life. Hardly something to celebrate! While the
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Library was long overdue
AT last people in Abbey Meads and Haydon Wick will be able to enjoy the facilities they need. We welcome Swindon Council's commitment to the plans for a library and youth centre. The building was ready months ago, but had been mothballed and was the subject
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Matt back to raise spirits
MATT HEWLETT cannot be accused of contributing to Town's current slump but the midfielder insists there is a collective responsibility to put matters right. The 26-year-old joined the rest of the squad to watch a video of Saturday's defeat by Port Vale
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Co-op chairs case
A FIRM that supplied the town's Co-op store with patio chairs is due to appear in court tomorrow. Representatives from Pro-Team Sports and Leisure Ltd, of Kent, will appear before Swindon Magistrates on two charges relating to Epsom wooden folding chairs
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Oxford biotech company confirms merger talks
DRUGS group British Biotech is in merger talks with a German rival. The Oxford-based firm confirmed weekend reports that it is in discussions with MorphoSys, one of Europe's leading biotechnology companies. The deal would create a combined business worth
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M4 blocked after caravan was in collision with tanker
THE M4 westbound at Swindon was blocked for just over an hour this morning after a caravan was involved in a collision with a chemical tanker. A Peugeot towing a caravan jack-knifed at 6.10am, ending up on the central reservation. According to police
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Hospice raises £3,000 by just having a laugh
THE Prospect Hospice staged a day of clowning around when it held a circus garden party. Once again the public turned out in droves to support the Hospice, and the grand total for the day topped £3,000. Among the attractions in the Hospice grounds were
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Fixing a decor disaster
FOR celebrity interior designer Linda Barker it was another day, another decor disaster. The Changing Rooms star was in Swindon to help remedy the ugliest room in town. But for Kim Harz it was the moment she had been waiting for since winning a £10,000
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Sex offender figures are released for the first time
THERE are 197 registered sex offenders in Wiltshire, with another 45 from the county in prison, according to figures released today. It is the first time the number of the county's sex offenders has been revealed and the release of the figures is part
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Marine ladies take comfort from Worcester effort
Supermarine Ladies rounded off their preparations for the new league season by travelling to Worcester on Sunday. And despite the 31-19 defeat, Marine showed some good touches before their big kick-off against Whitchurch this weekend. Despite competing
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Transfer chaos hits non-league
The controversial international transfer deadline is already causing problems at non-league level. Former Highworth player Gerry Packham was set to sign for Hellenic League Bishops Cleeve, until the long arm of FIFA put a block on the deal . He will now
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Ciren pushing for top half
Cirencester Town can begin to scale the heights with victory over Cinderford tonight. The Forest of Dean side visit the Corinium Stadium (kick off 7.30pm) and a home win will push Brian Hughes' Centurians in to the top half of the Dr Martens Western Division
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Keeping an eye on your spectacles
KEEP an eye on your specs that's the message from Swindon's Specsavers opticians who say glasses regularly end up lost. The shop, in Havelock Street, says about 60 holidaymakers a month come to buy replacement specs, most of which went missing during
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Mechanics' Trust
THE New Mechanics' Institution Preservation Trust, the body set up to protect the former GWR workers' welfare, is holding its annual meeting at Central Community Centre in Emlyn Square on Thursday, September 26, from 6.30pm. Members will hear a progress
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In step for good causes
FUNDRAISERS at the Swindon Lions are on the march again after a year's absence due to the foot and mouth crisis. The Lions' autumn charity walk takes place on Sunday, September 22, and two routes will be provided offering a challenging eight-mile walk
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Recycle mobiles
SHOPPERS at Tesco in Ocotal Way can recycle their mobile phones and help charity. Customers can simply drop off their old phones at a recycling point. For every handset recycled they can choose for £5 to be donated to children's charity NCH, Cystic Fibrosis
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They know their onions!
MORE than 100 people put the fruits of their labour on show at the annual Swindon Allotments and Leisure Gardens Society. An impressive array of enormous vegetables and well turned out flowers, grown by members, were on show as well as a well stocked
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Saturday may never be the same again
THE University of Bath in Swindon wants to turn Saturday into learning day. And studying doesn't mean sitting in rows in a classroom lessons include wine tasting, gospel singing or how to be an expert in the stock market. Starting in October, the university
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Things that go bump . . .
IN the 1970s cartoon film Scooby Doo, ghostly goings on were usually a ruse to scare people away from old hotels. But the paranormal reputation of the Red Lion at Avebury has proved to be a veritable gold mine. Since the pub featured on satellite TV show
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Town will fall silent for 9/11 anniversary
FIREFIGHTERS and US airmen will be among the people in the Swindon area organising events to commemorate tomorrow's first anniversary of Septem-ber 11. For Swindon's firefighters the event day will be particularly poignant. Not only did more than 300
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Conman alert
A MAN conned his way into the town centre home of an elderly woman yesterday by claiming to be a water board official. At around 4pm he said he needed to check the pipes and proceeded to fill several saucepans with water. He left saying he was going to
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My bicycle beef
I WAS pleased to see that Councillor Mike Bawden is against the provision of further cycle tracks in certain parts of Swindon. As I have said before in these pages, cyclists already extensively use the pavements on both sides of every street. This is
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To rid the world of terrorism we must abolish capitalism
IN order to achieve the end of terrorism across the globe, what is needed is a strategy that will render it worthless, unattractive and unnecessary. Capitalist colonisation is its root cause and the inexorable route to warfare. Capitalism can only exist
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Hey, another winning idea from those civic offices
MAYBE it's me being naive, but if you have a problem with kerbcrawlers 'window-shopping', as it were, then the last thing you want to do is make their life easier by dropping the speed limit to 10mph! How do they propose to tell who is kerbcrawling and
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Spending £1.25m on cycle paths is value for money
THE Adver's latest expose of our Park and Ride network comes little more than a week after the council was criticised for the use of a transport plan budget surplus for building cycle paths. This surplus of £1.25m resulted from the postponement of a park
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Listen to what we need, Tony
SO Tony Blair is to take us into a war against Iraq. How many billions of pounds is it going to cost us tax payers? I can remember when he and his wife Cherie were marching with the CND to ban the bomb and campaign for no war with Russia; now it is a
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The good, the bad, the ugly
The September 5 edition of the Evening Advertiser was of special interest to me because of the stories and letters regarding Uffington, Barbury and the Mechanics' Institute. I have to agree that the act of vandalism at Uffington is an absolute disgrace
