January 9, 1970.

WESTBURY: Westbury Secondary Modern School is the only secondary school in the whole of Wiltshire without a suitable hard surface for school games, Mr Nigel Anderson, chairman of the county education committee, told members at their meeting at Trowbridge on Friday. The finance and general purposes committee recommended that £3,800 be spent on a hard surface for games at this school, and this was approved. The chairman said there were drainage problems at Westbury School. Practically two-thirds of the playing field area had been drained successfully, but there were no more funds available for further work. Negotiations were in hand, however, for purchasing an additional playing field and for this reason it had been decided to delay further work until the negotiations were complete. Mr Anderson said girls at Westbury School had to spend 40 minutes travelling to and from Warminster to play tennis. The school governors had been pressing for a hard surface tennis court for some years, but this secondary school was the only one in the country without a suitable hard surface for games.

January 12, 1990.

MELKSHAM: Present-day Melksham still holds reminders of 1274 when King Edward I gave the hundred and manor to the priory of Amesbury. The links with Amesbury and many other fascinating items are included in Town Trail One, a fact sheet produced by the town trust and illustrated with excellent sketches by George Ward School pupils. The circular trail begins and ends in Market Place and includes such historic buildings as 42 King Street, the town’s last working forge, which closed in 1939. No 6 King Street was built in the early 18th century as the White Hart Hotel specialising in theatrical clientele. If you wonder how Melksham had enough actors and actresses to fill a hotel, the same question occurred to the police nearly a century ago, and in 1896 its licence was withdrawn because it was being used as a brothel. The trail guide is full of fascinating detail about the town’s history and costs just 20p.

January 14, 2005.

WARMINSTER: Patients in Warminster suffered a new blow this week when the hospital’s minor injury unit cut its opening hours. A nursing shortage meant the unit could only open from 9am to 5pm between Christmas Day and January 3 and it was hit with the same problem on Monday. West Wiltshire Primary Care Trust says the reduction in hours is only temporary and is appealing for qualified nurses to get in touch. The Warminster unit normally opens from 8am to 9.30pm but will now close at 6.30pm until further notice. Unit manager Elaine Leeder said: “Nurses who work in the minor injury unit need to have special training and we have not been able to find anyone to fill in for staff sickness and vacancies.”