Archive
-
Date
Farewell to the heart of the Italian community
MORE than 700 people turned out to say goodbye to family man Francesco Mazzotta who was at the heart of the Italian community in Swindon. For many Italians arriving in this country he became a true friend and father figure by helping them overcome the
-
Date
We need a new drive to buy British
SWINDON Pressings is counting the cost of contracts coming to an end in human terms with the loss of about 330 jobs. In September it was feared that the termination of deals with MG Rover and Land Rover would mean some redundancies but nothing on a mass
-
Date
Super Furry Animals add City Hall to list
WELSH band, Super Furry Animals, has just announced the addition of Salisbury's City Hall as an extra date on its forthcoming national tour. Fans should book Monday April 5 at 7.30 pm as a date not to be missed. The tour is in support of the band's latest
-
Date
New venue for writers
WOMEN'S creative writing workshops have started up again at Elizabeth House social centre, 131 Exeter Street in Salisbury. The workshops have previously been held at Salisbury Arts Centre, but as that has now closed for a major refurbishment, a new venue
-
Date
Out In The Cold
ANDY GURNEY will be out in the cold for Colchester's visit to the County Ground on Saturday and the skipper knows his collection of cautions could potentially damage his hopes of leading Town to play-off glory. Ten bookings means the 28-year-old will
-
Date
Motocross enthusiast welcomes partner
A MOTOCROSS enthusiast who set up a business last year selling parts, clothing and accessories, has a new partner. Des Smith, who established Fairway Motocross and Enduro on the outskirts of Coombe Bissett, has welcomed Lee Westbrook from Salisbury into
-
Date
Young entrepreneurs: last chance to enter competition
TIME is running out for young Dorset entrepreneurs to win £10,000 by entering the Shell LiveWIRE Young Entrepreneur Awards 2004. The competition helps young people develop new businesses by offering cash prizes, free advertising and selling opportunities
-
Date
Top award for bookkeeper
SANDRA Silk from Winterslow has been presented with a top award from the International Association of Bookkeepers. She received the award for top student in manual payroll, having studied the IAB's manual and computerised payroll course by distance learning
-
Date
Speakers share expertise with Rural Business Club members
THE next meeting of the Wiltshire Rural Business Club is on January 20, when the guest speaker will be Stephen Archer, a business adviser with the Inland Revenue. The meeting, which takes place at the Black Dog in Chilmark, starts at 6pm and the title
-
Date
More firms turn to Link for help
HALF-YEAR results for Business Link Berkshire and Wiltshire show a 58 per cent increase in demand for business support services compared to the same six-month period last year. From April to September this year, 5,587 small and medium-sized businesses
-
Date
Stock market stays on recovery track
STOCK market prospects for 2004 are looking more encouraging in all of the world's major share-trading centres, according to Salisbury financial industry specialist Bob Collom. Mr Collom, from the Milford Street office of independent financial advisers
-
Date
Pleasant lunch
I AM sorry Joanne McCloy had a problem at the Sunflowers Tea and Luncheon rooms with her buggy. I went there for lunch last month I am disabled and use a walker to help me get around; on leaving the cafe one member of staff held the door open and asked
-
Date
Billie's a hit with the heart-throbs
SWINDON actress Billie Piper is set to star in a TV drama which culminates in a steamy bedroom scene. The former Bradon Forest School, Purton, pupil, 21, plays Bella, a bright young thing in a south London children's home. The one-off drama, called Bella
-
Date
Laws may be changed
The Government is set to review prostitution laws and legalised brothels could get the go-ahead. The creation of tolerance zones, where soliciting would be decriminalised providing no public nuisance was caused, will be considered. Prostitution is not
-
Date
Praise from the police
Swindon Police has saluted the work of Street Watch. Acting chief inspector David McMullin said: "Prostitution has markedly fallen in the area and Street Watch has been fundamental in achieving this. I commend their aims and methods and am pleased we
-
Date
A family's vice crusade
Ref. 28517-05VICTORIA TAGG goes on patrol with a group of ordinary people who are determined to drive out prostitution. I think we're the most hated people in Swin-don," Matt McCue's mother, Jo, said. She is sitting in the back of a clapped out Ford Orion
-
Date
Farewell to man at heart of town
Ref. 28604-63MOURNERS turned out in their hundreds for the funeral of Francesco Antonio Mazzotta hailed as the heart of Swindon's Italian community. Some of the mourners had travelled from Italy for the service and Holy Rood Church, in Groundwell Road
-
Date
Gas leak forces pupils to stay home for second day
YEAR 11 pupils at Kingsdown School are to sit exams in rooms kept warm with temporary electric heaters as engineers struggle to locate a gas leak. The school, in Stratton St Margaret, has told the rest of its 1,200 pupils to stay at home for a second
-
Date
Gary off to a new year flyer with winter league win
THE Kennet and Avon canal turned up the goods again on Sunday when the first of the North Wessex Winter League semi-finals was held on Marlborough's AC waters, four sections at Wolfhall and two sections along the roadside at Little Bedwyn. It was Wolfhall
-
Date
Jobs set to go at car firm
Ref. 26917-32Swindon Pressings is set to axe 330 workers just three months after the company said there would be no redundancies. ABOUT 330 Swindon Pressings workers are to lose their jobs three months after the firm said there would be no mass redundancies
-
Date
Croft are spot-on
Croft Under 10s took part in the annual Vale League indoor tournament and came away with another trophy. The B team just missed out on qualifying for the quarter-finals, drawing three of their four games and losing one. The A team drew their first game
-
Date
Smaller bins will mean more litter, says councillor
A DRIVE to cut rubbish generated by Wootton Bassett residents could mean an increase in litter. That is the fear of town councillor John Allen who thinks a scheme to provide wheelie bins for each household has not been thought through. Each 180-litre
-
Date
Hard work and bright ideas help sick pets
Ref. 28598-12NEARLY two months of hard work by neighbours in Park South has netted £3,500 for the People's Dispensary for Sick Animals. Trevor and Janet Gibbs, along with Paul and Lorraine Walters, Aubrey Brown and his partner Michelle Reid, started putting
-
Date
University blasted over campus plan
ONE of Swindon's political groups is accusing the town's university of exploiting its "academic clout and influence" to bring about the "desecration of precious land". Coun Mike Evemy (Eastcott), leader of the Liberal Democrats on Swindon Council, is
-
Date
Schools to join forces
TWO Swindon schools have united as a federation to pave the way for a full merger within the next couple of years. Even Swindon Infant School and Even Swindon Junior School have joined forces to become the Even Swindon Schools Federation the first of
-
Date
Workers in bid to halt floods
GANGS of environment workers are out unblocking rivers to avert floods. With storm warnings common at this time of year it is important rivers run freely. The Met Office has predicted an unsettled period of weather with rain and wind. Larger rivers, such
-
Date
6,000 wait for a home
HUNDREDS of houses and flats are standing empty in Swindon while the council has more than 6,000 applications for accommodation. Many of the home-hunters have partners and families, including small children, so the real number of people who are desperate
-
Date
Not such a rosy outlook
Ref. 28521-17EVENING Advertiser photographer Siobhan Boyle captured this rose beginning to bloom in the Town Gardens, Old Town Swindon even though it's still only mid-January. But James Nuttall, assistant manager of Blooms of Bressingham in Hay Lane,
-
Date
Fears eased over phone scam
BT and Britain's telephone service regulators have moved to reassure people that a rumoured £260 telephone fraud is just that a rumour. The Evening Advertiser contacted BT and ICSTIS (the Independent Committee for the Supervision of Standards of Telephone
-
Date
Tesco is all set to grow
COUNCIL planners agreed that every little helps when they gave Tesco permission to expand its Ocotal Way store. The supermarket giant, which has twice seen applications to expand the store fail, was last night given the go-ahead to add an extra 15,000
-
Date
Got any old tack?
Ref. 28571-15A CHARITY set up to help Romanian horses is renewing an appeal for redundant tack and harness to expand its operation. Friends of Romania Horses was set up four years ago and has helped owners and horses in the former communist country. Co-founder
-
Date
Allotment plot fears
Ref. 28558-08ALLOTMENT holders in Swindon have been told there are no plans to level their plots for building land. But Swindon Council does admit that it may reduce the number of allotments. Only 40 per cent of several hundred across the borough are
-
Date
Appeal is disingenuous
I FOUND your recent article on homelessness somewhat disingenuous. Page one: "A homeless drug addict who shoplifts to fund his £100-a-day habit." He said that "he wants to break free from his addiction in 2004." He further said that not enough was being
-
Date
Council couldn't even run a sweet shop
Just when you imagine you have heard everything that could be said about Swindon council, yet another story of inept management is revealed. Only a few short weeks ago we were advised that the council's personnel records were so poor that officers were
-
Date
Coate assurances are pie in the sky
The University of Bath's Vice-Chancellor, Professor Glynis Breakwell, must be oblivious to or couldn't care about the strength of feeling about the Coate area (Adver, January 12). If the academic development envisaged by the University is viable only
-
Date
Local boy comes of age
Christopher BenjaminFORTY-two years ago, actor Christopher Benjamin appeared in Salisbury Playhouse's panto production of Jack and the Beanstalk as the dame and admits he was far too young for the part. "I spent two years with Reggie Salberg's company
-
Date
Credit unions fight consumer debt
CREDIT unions in the south west and Hampshire have launched a recruitment drive for volunteers to help in the fight against growing levels of consumer debt. There are about 50 of the not-for-profit credit unions in the region and they need community-minded
-
Date
Many thanks
I WOULD like to thank all those readers in the South West who have supported Oxfam's campaigns and appeals in 2003. This has enabled Oxfam to provide seeds and tools, provide clean water, fund education programmes, support local community democracy and
-
Date
Picture of an angel
WITH her winning smile and bright blue eyes, Kate Walsh was a young girl with everything going for her. She was a talented flautist who harboured an ambition to follow in her father's footsteps and become a professional folk musician. But the youngster's
-
Date
Learn from Iraq errors, says MP
NORTH Wiltshire Conservative MP James Gray has said that it is right and proper to identify failures that meant some troops serving in Iraq were not issued with essential kit. He said that while, by and large, troops had got to the right place with the
-
Date
Picture of an angel
WITH her winning smile and bright blue eyes, Kate Walsh was a young girl with everything going for her. She was a talented flautist who harboured an ambition to follow in her father's footsteps and become a professional folk musician. But the youngster's
-
Date
O'Brien injury mars victory for College Old Boys
SWINDON College Old Boys suffered a blow when they lost skipper Greig O'Brien with a broken ankle during a 26-12 win over Painswick 2nd. The centre was replaced in the first half and what was originally thought to be a twisted ankle was diagnosed as a
-
Date
Bassett earn crucial point
WOOTTON BASSETT failed to rectify their goalscoring problems last night but still managed to pick up a valuable Hellenic Premier Division point at Abingdon. Pete Yeardley's men failed to hit the target for the 13th time in 25 games this season, but the
-
Date
Drink-drive dad banned
A PORTUGUESE man has been banned from the road for two years and fined £150 after admitting drink driving. Father-of-two Joaquim Peixoto, 34, who lives in Cavendish Square, Park North, was arrested after police spotted him driving erratically in Queens
-
Date
Brides can plan big day
PEOPLE planning a wedding can do their bit for charity by attending a wedding fair. Stratton Community Leisure Centre in Grange Drive is hosting its third event on March 7 from 11am. Among the stalls will be one from the Prospect Hospice's bridal shop
-
Date
Your cash made Christmas merry
SWINDON Women's Refuge has thanked Evening Advertiser readers for supporting them over Christmas in verse. Jenni Manners, 51, who runs the refuge, wrote a poem expressing gratitude on behalf of all the residents who were helped over the festive period
-
Date
A knockout for panto fans oh, yes it is!
Ref. 28584-72NOTORIOUS skinflint Scrooge makes an appearance at the Wyvern Theatre on Friday in a bid to raise thousands of pounds for charity. The show, written, performed and directed by Thames Water staff, is the ninth annual panto staged by the Kembrey
-
Date
Pitch battle to continue
A DISPUTE has erupted over plans to turn a football pitch around to accommodate a car showroom. Secondsite Property wants to build the showroom and workshop on land at Swindon Gas Sports and Social Club, off Gipsy Lane, but needs to turn the club's football
-
Date
Hotel must wait for decision
SWINDON planners have deferred controversial plans to expand the listed Chiseldon House Hotel. The application, which sought to build 18 new bedrooms, a pavilion-style restaurant two function rooms and a bar below ground, has been put on ice while planning
-
Date
Day care price hike
PEOPLE depending on day care help in Swindon are going to have to pay more for services. Swindon Council's ruling cabinet will review current charges and vote on proposed increases at tonight's meeting. Social Services will have spent £56 million by the
-
Date
Hooked on the whiter side of still life
Ref. 28563-23A SIMPLE black coathook set against a white wooden background is one of two works currently displayed by a young Swindon artist at an Old Town pub. It has been created by fashion graduate Jess Dyminska, 23, from Green Road in Stratton. The
-
Date
Tour will put wildlife in the spotlight
NATURE lovers are invited to explore the rich habitat of Whelford Pools near Fairford on Sunday. Between 10am and 1pm, Sarah Mason of Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust, will be helping visitors to examine the abundance of wildlife to be found at the pools
-
Date
The show will not go on for Tina C
Theatre-goers in Swindon have given the thumbs-down to country singer and agony aunt Tina C. Ticket sales have been so poor that the management company, Komedia Entertainment, has scrapped the show. The show Tina C as Lifestyle Guru was due to come to
-
Date
It beats a bank!
COULD I please urge the people of Swindon thinking of investing their money forget banks, buy shares in Thamesdown Transport or Stagecoach. They must be making a mint out of the fares they are charging. A £1.20 fare from the Duke of Edinburgh stop to
-
Date
Naval reunion
THE HMS Newfoundland Association is seeking old shipmates who served in the ship in any capacity from 1942 to 1959. Time, of course isn't on our side and the reunions we hold are of increasing worth, sentiment and significance. While we have not approached
-
Date
What we need is a balance between work and family
I am sure many readers would agree with me when I say that life seems to be increasingly hectic of late. It is difficult to balance the demands of work and still have time for our families. That's why I would like to recommend 'Life in the Fast Lane:
-
Date
No one seems to be in charge at new hospital
I concur with Tony Collins sentiments in his December 18 letter about the issues arising from treatment received previously from the Great Western Hospital . My wife, recently out of hospital after a second stay of six weeks in the last year, along with
-
Date
MEPs must start to listen to the people
WELL said Peter Bates. Sadly it is taking a long time for the message to reach everyone but, bit by bit, at last people seem to be learning that the only ones to benefit from the EU are those with first class seats on the gravy train. Something we "Eurosceptic
-
Date
The questions that must be answered
THE front page report, January 2, Right Under our Noses, raises serious questions about Swindon Borough Council's management, maintenance and monitoring of public facilities. Drug needles and about 30 used syringes were found, along with broken wine bottles
