Ref. 289976A PANTOMIME dame has joined the debate about the future of Swindon's town centre.

Canon Roger Royle, who is currently playing Dame Dolly in Goldilocks and the Three Bears at the Wyvern Theatre, says his first impressions of Swindon were not favourable.

He has joined the growing list of people to speak out about the drab nature of the town's centre.

But, unlike North Swindon MP Michael Wills, he did not advocate that bulldozers flatten the place. It just needs an injection of soul, he said.

"I would just like to see more soul in the town centre. When I first arrived here I walked around the town centre and thought 'what have I got here I'm here for six weeks' but I have seen life and vitality.

"Certainly the area around the Wyvern Theatre needs something doing to it somewhere people can gather.

"Swindon is a wealthy town with high employment and I know it has got some superb out-of-town facilities, but the centre needs to attract people it needs to be a bit sparklier so I would say put the soul back into the town centre."

Canon Royle, 64, who appears in his pantomime debut until Saturday, said he had noticed used syringes in car parks and boy racers on the roads at night nothing unique to Swindon but was delighted when he discovered there was a Marks and Spencer in the town centre.

Last month Mr Wills said he wanted to see the town centre flattened and rebuilt from scratch to ensure it had a vibrant future.

He warned that the tide of economic and social change would leave Swindon washed up, stranded and decaying if progress was not made with plans to overhaul the centre soon.

The New Swindon Company, the organisation charged with rejuvenating Swindon, unveiled plans to improve the cultural and leisure facilities of the town in four quarters a retail core, which would include better quality shops and a cinema, a commercial quarter to include a new library, a station gateway to improve Swindon rail station and a heritage quarter to develop vacant and run-down land.

"If the NSC wants to continue to develop plans that go for the most ambitious options they will have my 100 per cent support," said Mr Wills. "The time for talking is over we've got to start building for our future now."

Canon's having a ball

Canon Roger Royle, 64, is revelling in his acting debut.

He said: "I felt extremely nervous stepping on the stage for the first time, and getting into the costume every night is absolute murder, but I'll be very sad to say goodbye to Swindon."

Goldilocks has been running at the Wyvern since December 12 and finishes on Saturday. Appearing alongside Canon Royle are Liam Dolan, Ross Davidson, Vicky Binns and Swindon's Pollyann Tanner.

Born in Cardiff, Roger was educated at St Edmund's School in Canterbury before reading theology at King's College. In 1962 he was ordained in the Church of England and took up his first curacy at St Mary in Portsea, Portsmouth.

Canon Royle, 64, has a regular on television and radio, working on Songs of Praise and as a regular on Pause for Thought on Terry Wogan's BBC Radio Two show.

He is an after dinner speaker and writer for Woman's Weekly.

In 1990 he was honoured by the Archbishop of Canterbury with a Lambeth Degree in recognition of his work in the media, and in January 1993 took up the post of chaplain of Southwark Cathedral a post from which he is now retired.

Giles Sheldrick