Thetownend.com

Not planning to do much this weekend, apart from the usual grocery shopping and going to the dump. Although I've lived here all my life, can anyone reveal any hidden gems?

Pretty sure you've already covered them.

Although not very hidden, and not that much of a gem, the road out of Calne is one of the limited highlights.

Fuck me

This is just getting stupid 4D

 :zzz: :zzz: :zzz: :zzz: :zzz: :zzz:

Good stuff...I got a bit confused earlier, when seeing Jayo who I thought was in Paris, but obviously not.

My best Calne experience was shagging  a 17 year old bird, in a Ford Anglia, in the car park of John Bentley School (I was 16 at the time)...so not much help really.

You little rapscallion, you!

Would have thought a bottle of scotch and a loaded Luger whould do the business

North or South?

i.e. outside the Sports Centre, or the Cop Shop.  If it's the latter then that was all the more impressive  ;)


Although never a native but having gone there for secondary school, outside of sitting in the pub & the inevitable fights there wasn't much of interest in Calne at all

I don't remember, it was a very long time ago...my Swindon school had a reciprocal arrangement with Bentley, whereby house captains, head boy/girl etc and other associated swots, where invited to each others social functions. The Calne lot thought it might be good for their kids to get some Swindon sophistication, this being the late 60's...I was happy to oblige  :)

Daddy!!!!! 

And I always thought shagging wasn't invented until the 1980s

Late 60's would have been The Bentley Grammar, rather than John Bentley.

Also, the idea of Swindon sophistication made me laugh

But it was in comparison to Calne.

I remember when we had the white horse pub, there used to be one parking space out the front. The local joke was that it was reserved for ambulances or police cars.

Count your blessings 4D. I'm in a room above a pub in St Annes, Nottingham, which is an area that the off-licensee has just told me is the gun capital of England  :( Pretty shite day, rain sodden, but enjoyed the piss up in the Olde Trip to Jerusalem with a splinter group of the London Reds. Hooter's wasn't for them.

Quality!

Good juke box at the Jenny Wren.....erm.....um......ah.....that's it.

I haven't been into it for a few years, but the independent Off Licence was always one of the best.

take a trip just outside Calne to Compton Bassett and have a meal at the White Horse... now in the Michelin guide...

Oh, is it?  Im going there for lunch tomorrow!

Who were those traitors then? Didnt make the jerusalem, stayed in the fellows. When for a quickie (ooh err) in hooters but queued for 10 mins without getting anywhere near a beer so went to the ground for one.

Jerusulam had a fair few Reds in there, the London contingent (5 of them) were pussy-whipped by their other halves to steer clear of Hooters. Don't know why they mentioned the saucey establishment to them in the first place! Guys in their late 30s, early 40s, packed the booze down them. Two of them from Clapham wearing retro Swindon shirts circa 1975.

Hmm. by the sound of the retro shirt bit I think a couple of them went into hiding and avoided getting the beers in. I think questions need to be asked :)

The jolly miller was good 15 years ago, gone now  :(

The libbie is definitely a locals place  ;)

Makes you appreciate how lucky you are living in Wiltshire once you've lived in places like St Anne's. I was born and brought up just around the corner from there in Hyson Green, which is arguable worse than St Anne's and when I moved to Wiltshire it was a real culture shock. Most of my family still live dotted around Nottingham but it's a relief to know my Children can go out in relative safety down here. As you can imagine we get lots of visits from my relatives who love this area and you wouldn't find them moaning about places like Calne.  :)

Do you know if the Bartlett brothers still drink in the Libby ?

We have a new graduate started at work, he last lived in Manchester. He asked me if Chippenham was safe to walk around at night :)

Thing is though it highlights your point, he was serious, some places are properly no go. And we get away with that here

The Jolly Miller during Pip's tenureship was superb. Trev, from Marlborough continued the good work, but then it all went to shit.

Talbot and London Road are alright, as is the Lansdowne, the rest are pretty dire to be honest.

Calne's a lot better than it was though, and driving through on the A4 I'd even imagine some people would think it looks a nice town. 

Paul? I know who he is, bit older than me though  ;)

I think I know who you might be Jan, do you have a younger brother? Did U wear a tam a shanti for the England v Scotland game in euro 96 at the jolly?

Yes Paul and his brother Gary are probably in their fifties now, both used to be decent footballers and were often found in the Libby. Calne is more attractive now the old factory ( Harris' ? ) isn't there although it closing down must of affected lots of Calne families work wise. Having the new library built smartened that area up no end.

Yeah, rather embarrassingly I did, although I am the younger brother, unless there's something my mum and dad never  told me.

Good to be back in Calne. The guy I spoke to in the off license in St Annes told me not to stray into Hyson Green  :nod:
Calne is really not so bad as many on here make out. Certainly true Notts, we can go about our lives relatively unphased in Wiltshire, not having to worry unduly about where is safe or not to venture. Notts City centre is pretty good in fairness. Impressive central square, something that Swindon lacks. Infact where's our focal point?

Haven't you heard of the seven wonders of Swindon?

http://www.jasperfforde.com/swindon/7wonders.html

http://www.jasperfforde.com/swindon/7ws_3.html


apparently one of my ancestors i've never heard of designed "The Double Helix of Carfax"

Know what you mean.  I honestly cannot think of one.  Usually a public space outside the Town Hall or a market square etc. fronted by some architecture that means something.  If town planners hadn't butchered Swindon over the years, it might possibly have been Regents Circus...with a rejuvenated Baptist Tabernacle?

The urinal/fountain or Wharf Green.

Glad you had a good weekend apart from the result, there's good and bad in everywhere just on different scales. I still enjoy going back to the places mentioned and seeing the changes, things go in cycles and areas what were once really run down aren't too bad now and vice versa. Towns like Calne are no worse than Trowbridge or Melksham, poor relations to the posher towns of Chippenham and Devizes  ;) Anyway Dostoyevsky, you spent the night in St Anne's and lived to tell the tale  :)

Manny road

Haha, how can you compare Calne to Nottingham, it's about 20 times the size.

Sorry old boy, I'm going to Paris on Friday.

I have never been to Calne and in fact I don't even know where it is.

Just outside Brighton

Often gets confused with Colne, which is in Lancashire, itself not to be confused with Koln, which Bomber Command reduced to dust 1942-45....Colne Dynamoes, were a sort of 80's Rushden and Diamonds, but were thwarted in their ambitions by the refusal of the Conference to admit them. I've never been to Colne, or Koln

I do love a good fable Reginald but I can safely say I have never met anyone who confuses Colne with Calne

I have.

I suppose being from the privileged classes you've never needed to work in the Dorcan Sorting Office...sack loads of Lancs letters end up there.