Discover the news from around the county in the November issue of Wiltshire Life, out now. Here's a taster...

Salisbury celebrates landlady with kind heart

ON SEPTEMBER 7, local archaeologist Phil Harding unveiled a Salisbury Civic Society Blue Plaque, dedicated to Agnes Bottenham, outside the Rai D’Or pub and restaurant on Brown Street. The plaque reads: ‘Here dwelt Agnes Bottenham, Landlady of the Rydedorre, who founded Trinity Hospital for the poor, c1370.’

Trinity Hospital was established to give shelter to
12 needy people, and for 18 temporary residents, who could stay for three days or, if sick, until recovered. At that time it was often the only refuge for the sick in the city.

From then until now, Trinity Hospital’s charitable work has remained unbroken. Today, the office of Salisbury City Almshouse and Welfare Charities is based in Trinity Hospital. This is the enduring legacy of Agnes’s bequest almost 650 years ago.

The unveiling at the Rai d’Or was a Historic Pubs and Inns themed event for Heritage Open Days, co-organised by Salisbury Civic Society and the Salisbury and South Wiltshire branch of the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA).

Other co-organised events in the programme included tours of the Haunch of Venison in Salisbury and the former Three Crowns Inn in Harnham, a historic pubs walk, an exhibition of Salisbury pubs and inns in the public library, displays for the 30th anniversary of Hop Back brewery at the Wyndham Arms, and a lecture on Romano-British beer at Salisbury Rugby Club.

www.salisburycivicsociety.org.uk


Soaring Sky Safari success

ORGANISERS OF Longleat’s recent Sky Safari are celebrating staging the UK’s largest annual balloon event after 119 hot air balloons took part in a mass ascent on Saturday.

Crews from as far afield as Alaska and Dubai attended
the three-day event, which was organised by Exclusive Ballooning. In total, 650 pilots, crews and staff were involved with 127 balloon teams on site. On Thursday, Friday and Saturday evening a total of 47 crews took part in night glow events, with the balloons firing up their burners to musical accompaniment.

Longleat’s own lion-shaped hot air balloon, Simbaloo, took part alongside penguins Puddles and Splash, who showcased their ‘baby’, Tall Steve, for the first time.

Despite adverse weather curtailing some of the planned ascents, organisers were delighted with the event’s success and are already making plans for 2018.

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