June 26, 1970

HEYTESBURY: Extensions to the 498-year-old St John's Hospital, Heytesbury, costing £100,000, were opened and blessed on Wednesday, St John's Day. The extensions comprise ten flats, seven bungalows, a common room and staff house. The residents are retired people of limited means. St John's is a hospital in the ancient sense of the word - an almshouse. The extensions were jointly opened by county council chairman Sir Henry Langton and Lt Col GAW Hungerford, a direct descendant of one of the hospital founders, Margaret Lady Hungerford. The extensions were blessed by the Bishop of Salisbury, the Rt Rev Joseph Fison. Guests at the opening were welcomed by the hospital trustees' chairman, Lord Heytesbury. He said the extensions were the first real addition to the hospital in its nearly 500 years of history. He said he was genuinely interested in old people and their problems of loneliness and insecurity. He said the hospital provided a link in the chain for old people throughout the county and gave them all they could possibly want. Unveiling a plaque Lt Col Hungerford said he and his family felt honoured, humbled and heartened that the Hungerford name should still be remembered in Heytesbury, although it was three and a half centuries since the family left the area. The hospital was first envisaged by Walter, Lord Hungerford, who fought at Agincourt, was a speaker to Parliament and treasurer to Henry VI. The original buildings burnt down in 1765 and were replaced by the earliest buildings now standing on the site, between 1766 and 1767 and cost between £1,500 and £1,600.

CORSHAM: Spot, the two-year-old Jack Russell terrier belonging to Mr Eric Gibbs of Chippenham, who was sitting in his master's car when it was stolen from the Hare and Hounds, Pickwick, Corsham on Friday evening is now back home. The car (left unlocked with the keys in the dashboard) and Spot were found abandoned at Hawthorn, a few miles away. Mr Gibbs told The Chippenham News he was having a sleep on Sunday afternoon when the police called at his house to say the car and Spot had been found. He thought no one could get near the car because Spot was too vicious. "I was overjoyed to see my pet and he was delighted to see me," said Mr Gibbs.

June 29, 1990

BRADFORD ON AVON: One of only four women holding the George Cross travelled from Bradford on Avon to London on Wednesday to pay her respects to the Queen Mother. Mrs Margaret Purves marched with 30 members of the Victoria Cross and George Cross Association in a televised 90th birthday tribute to Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, who is president of the association. Her husband was a spectator on Horseguards Parade. In all 5,700 people represented organisations of which the Queen Mother is the patron. Mrs Purves was 14 when she saved two boy scouts off Sully Island on the South Wales coast by swimming to their aid when the tide caught them. She was awarded the Albert Medal, the civilian Victoria Cross, in 1950 by King George VI, which was translated into the George Cross in 1971. Only 78 holders of the George Cross are still alive.

June 24, 2005

MELKSHAM: It was a chance for the people of Melksham to show how they felt about the town hospital and they took it with pride. Up to 800 people, from toddlers to the wheelchair-bound, armed themselves with homemade banners to make a stand against bed closures on Saturday. A protest march, organised by UNISON brought shoppers and traffic to a standstill as the strength of feeling was spelled out to health bosses. It followed a campaign by the Wiltshire Times that collected more than 1,700 signatures calling for the beds to be saved. Among the marchers were parents, former workers, nurses and town mayor Margaret White. Former hospital nurse Joan Smith, 87, of Martigny Road, said she was determined to be at the march, with her neighbour Sue Maybank pushing her along in a wheelchair. She said: "I think it is disgusting they could even consider closing it. I think this hospital brings a lot of care to Melksham." In a post-rally speech in Somerfield car park, UNISON steward Roger Davey said: "This march shows the commitment of Melksham to keeping the hospital open. We need more beds not less beds otherwise we are going back to the 1930s."