No. 128 • November 1992 • Circulation 11,500
BOOK A BIKE FOR CHRISTMAS AT EXPRESS CYCLES
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Christmas Club now running
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west swindon's magazine and the swindon wide what's on guide Parents consider school status Parents at Greendown,WestSwindon's secondary school, have been discussing the benefits and disadvantages of Grant Maintained Status for their school. The Greendown Parents' Councii has been researching whether to 'opt-out' of local authority control since last June and organised five meetings for parents in each year group during October. A formal debate posing the question as to whether Greendown should become a Grant Maintained school takes place on 2 November. Governers at two local schools, Ridgeway and Freshbmok, have tried to opt out but have been dee feated by parent ballots. The feated Greendown governors have not taken a position on whether the school should change its status. Parents can call for a ballot on whether a school should go GM if twenty percent sign a petition calling for a vote. Greendown parents may support such a ballot, which would be conducted by the indende pendent Electoral Reform Society, pendent following the debate.
96 - 99 Manchester Road, Swindon
ir (0793) 534907 & 513705 1©It
Pudsy needs you more than ever Join Pudsey and Lincoln Bear at Link Centre for a day of fun in aid of BBC Children in Need Day - Friday 20 November. Already planned are: A Challenge on Ice - A special ice show will be organised all in a few hours complete with costumes, music and props
pmgGt 11
' Sponsored sports activities i Competitions and races for people with disabilities Live broadcasting by BBC Wiltshire Sound from 8pm - lam
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For further information, contact Alan Seabrook on 871212 If you're organising an event, contact the Link magazine on 872282 to get your photo into our December edition
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WELEA SCHOOl. Thursday 5 November 6.3Opm start Adults £1.20; Child £1
L DR E N N E E D
(pre-school free) liefs'eJ,merits. Tickets oisaf the school G6uuy competition
Doors open at the Young Peoples Centre Young people in West Swindon have a place to go which is theirs after the reopening of the old milking shed at Toothill Farm by the Mayor of Thamesdown on Saturday 31 October. The building has opened and closed many times since it was first used as a youth club fourteen years ago. Now that substantial rebuilding work has been completed, the youngsters hope that the new West Swindon Youth Centre can stay open on a permanent basis. A new management committee largely made up of teenage users has taken on responsibility for making the building accessible to young people and for developing a programme of activities. Details of regular opening times for the centre will be published soon.
LYDIARD (Hook ftrt?nce) Saturday 7Nvmber AdmIssionfror.5.30pm. Fcodm 6pm. Firewórk3rt at 7pm Organisec (Tst Purton & Lydiard Scout Group
Safety barriers needed to prevent fatality A Ramleaze resident wants safety barriers installed at a road crossing to prevent a serious accident. David Feather fully expects a pedestrian or cyclist to be badly injured or killed on the main footpath from Shaw Village Centre to the West Swindon Centre where it crosses Ramleaze Drive. Over the last seven years since moving in, he has heard or witnessed several accidents and bee lieves there have been many near lieves misses and minor incidents which have gone unreported. Most ree cently, in early October, twelve year cently,in old Colin Defty from Middleleaze on his bike,did not stop to look and listen and collided with a car. Luckily he got away with cuts and bruises and tooth damage. MrFeather said the danger could
be reduced if cyclists were slowed down. "A lot of people use the route as it's the most direct way of
getting to and from the shopping centre and leisure park. The road crossing is on a bend and the foot-
David Feather and Cohn Defty at the danger crossing on Ramleaze Drive
path emerges between bushes and houses. Cyclists come down the hill and suddenly appear on the road; drivers don't have a chance. I often hear parents shouting at their children to stop before they get to the curbside. "We don't need an expensive zebra or panda crossing; barriers on both sides of the road and a warning sign would stop cyclists before they get to the road. The numberof accidents that have taken place are leading to a fatality." Christine Defty of Caprice Close said she had a very lucky son. "He had seven stitches on an eyelid, cuts and bruises on his face and broke three teeth - it could have been a lot worse." Cohn and his friends are now using cycling helmets.