What's on in May
Specialist plant fairs and open gardens beckon, plus the chance to meet Paul Martin of Flog It!
News from Around the County
Would ewe baa-lieve over 1,000 lambs born? THE ARRIVAL of hundreds of single lambs, twins and triplets made for an exciting and successful first Lambing Weekend at Wiltshire College. Mothering Sunday also saw the arrival of one set of quads, which was a treat for those visiting the lambing sheds. The cold weather and snow at the end of February, saw lambs start to arrive a little earlier than planned, with more than 600 being born ahead of the event.
Singing the praises of Salisbury in spring
Over recent weeks the eyes of the world have been focused on Salisbury, as it finds itself at the centre of an international incident, with a former Russian spy and his daughter being mysteriously poisoned by a nerve agent.
Adoring bold, bad and beautiful Diana Dors
WHEN SWINDON Siren Diana Dors was young she would close her eyes and dream of owning a mansion, a swimming pool and a beige telephone. She was to grow up a superstar who had all those things, becoming the youngest person to own a Rolls-Royce. ‘Britain’s answer to Marilyn Monroe’ died young at the age of 52 and perhaps never reached her full potential, but she left behind some valuable films, and warm sentiments among her legion of fans. One of those is artist Anna Mazzotta. The two women are inextricably linked as we will find out.
Wherever did you get that hat? Do tell!
A framed photograph of a demure Catherine Middleton wearing a beautiful and barely there feathered headpiece hangs in the Wiltshire showroom of milliner Vivien Sheriff. It was taken during Kate’s first official engagement in Anglesey in February 2011, before her marriage to Prince William. Despite a fierce wind on an incredibly grey day, the headpiece, fixed by an invisible comb, didn’t move an inch and proved the perfect complement to a cream tailored military-style coat by Katherine Hooker.
A street named Elsie Knocker Grove
I realise that I come from a very sheltered background, but to me a knocker was always a thing on your front door. How was I to know that it’s a rude word in several contexts? It came about when Marlborough Town Council was asked to suggest names for the roads on a new estate. A colleague came up with the splendid suggestion that, in the centenary year of the ending of the First World War, it would be appropriate to name them after people who returned, as against those who never did, whose names are on the war memorial.
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Wiltshire Life Homes and Gardens supplement
Wiltshire Life's Homes and Gardens supplement focuses on restoration and regeneration, whether that be turning a historic but water-ravaged wreck into the beautiful B&B, Prince Hill House, once a meeting place for Churchill and Eisenhower, or successfully negotiating the process of a grand residential building project.
Salisbury's inspirational dancing hares
For hundreds of years, the legend of the Salisbury dancing hare captivated people in south Wiltshire. To see a hare dancing under a full moon was said to bring good fortune for the rest of your life. Salisbury’s dancing hare folklore was to inspire local artist Julieann Worrall Hood when more than two years ago she won a sculpture commission for the St Peter’s Place housing development being built by Persimmon Homes on the outskirts of the city.
Wiltshire women's fight for the right to vote
In 1866, out of more than 1,500 signatures which made up the first mass women’s suffrage petition to be presented to Parliament, only three had been placed there by women from Wiltshire. Beyond the fact that two of these were teachers from Corsham we know very little about them or what motivated them as individuals, but we can say that they were the pioneers of a movement which took a long time to take root within the county, which being predominantly rural and sparsely populated, was not likely to be easily won over.