HAZEL Stacey can remember the day that she told her parents she had started smoking. She was 11 years old and had been secretly spending money from her paper round on cigarettes. Although they were smokers themselves, they were none too pleased about
CRICKLADE Leisure Centre is open for business as usual. There had been fears the centre would close indefinitely from 10pm on Monday night after North Wiltshire Leisure Ltd (NWLL) announced it had gone in to liquidation on Friday. But on Monday
A WOMAN had to be cut free from her car after colliding with a lorry. The accident happened in Wootton Bassett Road, near Mannington roundabout, as both vehicles were heading towards Old Town, at 1.30pm on Monday. The Peugeot, driven by the woman, collided
DAVID Howell has retained 17th spot in the official world rankings after his top 30 finish at the Nissan Open in California. Howell, who has been as high as nine in the standings, has been leapfrogged by his namesake Charles Howell III, who clinched
A man stabbed on Manchester Road is fighting for his life, police say. Thirty police are now working on the case of the 45-year-old Turkish national, who is critically ill after being stabbed three times in a suspected case of attempted murder. Det
CRICKLADE Leisure Centre is open for business as usual. There had been fears the centre would close indefinitely from 10pm on Monday night after North Wiltshire Leisure Ltd (NWLL) announced it had gone in to liquidation on Friday. But on Monday afternoon
A WHITE knight came to the rescue after a pensioner's flat was flooded. Wyn Allen, 81, saw her ground floor flat flooded when a water main burst on the footpath outside. The property in Victoria Court, Luddesdown Road, is slightly lower than the footpath
OLD Town residents are being asked how they would spend thousands of pounds to put an end to traffic problems south of Bath Road. Swindon Council has printed 2,000 flyers to be delivered by volunteers asking residents south of Bath Road to the end of
KEVIN Coles believes cash-strapped Fairford have "turned the corner" as manager Ady Roper is presented with the rare luxury of a selection headache. After former chairman Ken Locke resigned and withdrew his funds, the Gloucestershire outfit pulled the
TRAVEL sickness tablets have not been necessary for the most part this season and Paul Sturrock is hoping Town do not go giddy on the Underhill slope tonight. Barnet welcome the Wiltshire outfit for the first time and the Bees have been in decent form
CHRISTIAN Roberts accepts Town are facing a test of nerve as he spouts striking responsibilities. The vice-skipper is one short of 20 goals in Town colours and would love to mark his side's first-ever visit to Barnet by hitting that milestone. Town
QUEENSLAND Roar are anxious to tempt Royce Brownlie back Down Under just as the striker welcomes a Pom into the family. His wife Stacy gave birth to a nine pound baby boy in the early hours of Sunday morning at the Great Western Hospital and the smile
LEISURE centres in north Wiltshire will stay open for business as usual tomorrow morning. The centres in Cricklade and Wootton Bassett, along with four others in Calne, Malmesbury, Chippenham and Corsham, will remain open until March 31. Over the weekend
THE Challenge Swindon - Festival Of Sport has launched its appeal for participants by getting on the buses. The community sports tournament on June 2 and 3 is organised by Swindon Council and it is being advertised on the back of Thamesdown Transport
A COCK and bull story landed a farmer and his wife with a hefty fine. Farmer John Manners, 80, of Common Farm, Highworth, was selling the white Simmental-Charolais cross bull at Cirencester cattle market in December 2005. His paperwork claimed it was
FORMER mayor and keen cyclist Stan Pajak has a new set of wheels after falling off his bike. Coun Pajak, who lives in Drove Road, was cycling home from work when he hit a patch of black ice following the heavy snow on February 8. "The snow was the stuff
Easy, lower calorie pancakes... Just use Splenda instead of sugar. This saves 14kcal a teaspoon. Belive me, this can soon add up.
WITH previous leaders Chalfont dropping points at home to Wootton Bassett, North Swindon Panthers stormed to the top of the North Wilts League Under 18 section. The Panthers made it 10 wins out of 10 for the season with a 5-1 stroll against Kingsdown
OLD Town residents are being asked how they would spend thousands of pounds to put and end to traffic problems south of Bath Road. Swindon Council has printed 2,000 flyers to be delivered by volunteers asking residents south of Bath Road to the end of
AN OLD Town film shop is trying to get people to face up to an inconvenient truth. James Garrett from The Little Film Shop in Eastcott Hill is offering free rental of the Al Gore documentary about climate change for one month. He said: "I saw An Inconvenient
WHEN I was studying English Literature at college the one thing I dreaded was having to trawl through Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. Don't get me wrong, they are great stories, written beautifullybut to discover that, you have to translate the original
I WAS pleased to help organise the well attended, Whose Identity Is It anyway? meeting at the Pilgrim Centre. Members of the public heard arguments both for and against the compulsory registration of British citizens, and enrolment on to the National
Are you aware that there is a plan afoot to price our usage of the roads? Of course you are, but the Government has also agreed to sanction the invisible speed camera. What's this, you say? How can this be? Surely they have to be highlighted in some
One hundred and thirty-five people were killed on February 3 in the worst single attack in the history of the war in Iraq. There is now a full-blown civil war and it is getting worse by the day. When the Iraq war started a million people marched
I WOULD like to thank the three nursing staff of the Day Surgery Unit, Great Western Hospital, who stayed behind for nearly an hour after the unit had closed to make sure my husband, Denis, had fully recovered from his operation on both knees. Their
Human trafficking is the fastest growing means by which people are forced into slavery and is the third largest source of income for organised crime, exceeded only by arms and drugs trafficking. Twenty-seven million people are in slavery around the
In response to Mr Small's letter, I'm sure everybody would support his claim that the MPs for this town are right to stand up for the people of the town. What surprises me is the way they do it. Did you read any comment from our MPs when this council
WOOTTON Bassett tightened their grip on second spot in Southern Counties South and closed the gap on inactive leaders Walcot with a 23-10 win at Trowbridge. Having won their home fixture with their Wiltshire rivals 17-12 earlier in the season, Bassett
SWINDON College's Berks, Bucks & Oxon Premier Division future looks increasingly in doubt after they had two men sin-binned and Steve Offord sent off in a 17-12 home defeat to Stow-on-the-Wold. College will reflect on what might have been as Stow outscored
ADIE Mings has hailed the character of his resurgent Chippenham Town side but insists you won't get anyone boasting about their promotion chances. After watching a gutsy 2-1 win at home to Maidenhead in his first game officially in charge, Mings revealed
PAUL Burke has conceded the final promotion slot is Malmesbury Vics' to lose after accusing Saturday's ref of "bottling it" in his Bassett side's 2-1 defeat at Old Woodstock. The Bassett boss has already stated Trowbridge and Lydney will run away with
JOHN Fisher has slammed the Wiltshire FA's choice of venue for Highworth's county cup semi-final against Melksham and insists it has to be changed.' Teams in the last four of the competition expect their semi-final to be staged at neutral' venues, but
FATE, co-incidence, unlucky number 13? Call Marine's Uxbridge debacle whatever you like but manager Mark Collier insists it is a stark reality check. Collier must be feeling a large slice of deja-vu as for the second successive season his Supermarine
COVINGHAM Park Junior School is out of special measures following a report from Ofsted praising it as "good". The school was placed in special measures in December 2005 because of what Ofsted called "widespread weaknesses." The headteacher resigned
PROLIFIC burglar John Young stole thousands of pounds worth of designer clothes in a late-night smash and grab raid. The 26-year-old had only been out of prison a week when he took more than £5,000 worth of garments from the House of Fraser department
DAVID Howell claimed a top 30 finish at the Nissan Open in California - as his American namesake claimed the $1million title. Howell shot a disappointing final round 72 - one over par - to finish on a four under par total of 280, for a share of 29th
