From the Files

WILTSHIRE: A massive majority of teachers in Chippenham, Devizes, Trowbridge, Westbury, Warminster and Bradford on Avon responded yesterday morning to the National Union of Teachers’ call for a half-day token strike in support of the national pay claim. Nearly 80 schools were affected and most were obliged to close. And at the George Ward School, Melksham, this morning members of the National Association of Schoolmasters are following up with a further half-day’s withdrawal of labour. Mr Walter Williams, secretary of the 230-strong West Wilts NUT, said: “ All who know the teachers concerned will realise that their decision was not easily or quickly made. These are men and women who care about their pupils and their own profession and it was those considerations which decided them – not flag-waving hysteria or the immediate issue of £135.” He added that the nation’s children deserved the best and the nation should be prepared to pay the cost.

December 1, 1989.

CROCKERTON: Crockerton could be revelling again for the first time in 50 years if plans to resurrect the village’s medieval festival go ahead. The Crockerton Revels, which date back to the time of Thomas a Becket, were a regular event until the 1930s. Now Warminster historian Danny Howell and Warminster Arts Centre director Shona Powell want to revive them. Local history has it that Thomas a Becket was on his way to Glastonbury when he stopped off at Crockerton. The Revels were in full swing and the ‘turbulent priest’ had such a good time he never quite got round to going to Glastonbury. Danny said: ”I have been toying with this idea for a long time. It seems to be this is something that could be brought back to Warminster as a regular event.”

December 3, 2004.

BRADFORD ON AVON: Moves have been made to protect bats and other animals on Bradford on Avon’s Kingston Mill site before any development work takes place. Bats have used the dilapidated old buildings as a place to roost for decades. Site ecologist Colin Menendez has been monitoring wildlife on the site since the late 1990s. He said there are two main bat roosts. One, an old stable building, is used by long-eared bats. It was damaged by vandals over the years but has now been restored for the bats under a conservation licence from English Nature. New species of bats have been attracted to the renovated roost, including pipistrelle bats and lesser horseshoe bats. A new roost will be built for these bats on the site, although it is impossible to predict whether they will adapt to it or not. Measures are also being taken to protect otters, which swim up and down the River Avon next to the site and rest and feed along the riverbank at night.