“My name is Lee (@Leefer3 on twitter)…and I have been watching Swindon Town since 1975, so it’s close to forty years now.
Boyhood memories
As a 12 year old I got 50p pocket money a week and I felt incredibly rich. I lived in a childrens home at the time and they weren’t keen on me going to football, it was a lot rougher on the terraces in the ’70s. But to a young lad with plenty of tension inside him, that was part of the attraction.
I vividly remember my first match v Mansfield Town. I paid 35p to get in the Town End. Then bus fare 5p return from Stratton, programme 5p –which left 5p for sweets or a bag of chips and scrumps. I was in my element. A couple of seasons went by before I went to my first away match at Everton in the FA Cup; the noise and atmosphere were simply electric.
The years rolled on and I moved away, but always tried to watch the Town whenever possible. Over the last twenty five years I have watched most home matches and plenty of away ones, with two league cup semi finals and four Wembley appearances notched up.
The best player I ever saw in a Swindon shirt has to be Glenn Hoddle, although past his best years when at Swindon, he still had the qualities to change a match single handed. My favourite player though has to be David Moss who went on to play for Luton. In my opinion should have got an England cap. Looking at recent years, Jan Fjortoft and Charlie Austin have caught my eye. In the last two seasons I have watched the Town a little less due to work and playing the game with a little white ball over 18 holes, but people who know me, know how passionate I still am about the club.
The love of Swindon
You see I love Swindon as a place, and the club is a massive part of the community. And, whether you like football or not, it’s part of the make-up of modern Swindon and Swindon past.
I have been pleasantly surprised at the current regime, as I have to be honest and feared the worst. But MarkCooper and the people trying to run the club have done a very decent job. Funnily enough, within the photos I have shared is a letter from Terry Cooper the current manager’s father. I received it while he was manager at Birmingham about twenty odd years ago!
So as the years dribble by, players like Harold Feming (Fleming Way is named after him) and Don Rogers surely our greatest ever player, are a constant reminder of greatness at the club. And let’s not forget players like Freddie Wheatcroft who gave thousands of Swindon fans pleasure only to perish in the Great War doing what thousands of Swindonians did. Paying the ultimate price for our freedom. The freedom that paves the way for people like myself to take for granted the pleasure I get on most Saturdays and midweek matches. Whether Swindon Town FC win, lose or draw.”
The man himself – Don Rogers:
Don Rogers
Don Rogers, born 25 October 1945) is possibly the most well-known Swindon Town player of all time and certainly the best-loved.
His heroic status amongst Swindon fans was cemented when he led the team to a 3-1 victory against Arsenal in the 1969 League Cup Final.
Don’s regarded as one of the best players to pull on a Swindon Town shirt. His principal rival in this respect being Harold Fleming. He played at outside left and served the club in two spells.
Born in Paulton, Somerset, Rogers signed a youth contract with Swindon in January 1961 at the age of fifteen. Rogers turned professional in October 1962 and made his first-team debut on 17 November. That was in a Third Division match against Southend United. Rogers scored the two extra-time goals which won the 1969 Football League Cup Final for Swindon, 3-1 against Arsenal.
He signed for Crystal Palace in 1972 for a fee of £147,000. He later joined Queens Park Rangers in September 1974 in an exchange deal involving Terry Venables and Ian Evans. Rogers played 18 league games for QPR. He scored 5 goals before returning to Swindon in March 1976 in exchange for Peter Eastoe.
Aerials 2009 Pic Dave Evans 6.08.09
County Ground
Some items from Lee’s collection of memorabilia:
And some pictures from inside the ground courtesy of a Twitter follow. Thank you!
A largely pictorial post featuring various Retro Swindon roadsigns. Some are in Swindon and some are somewhat further afield.
I’ve featured them here for not much other reason than that they have lasted this long and it feels like a nice thing to have some pictures of them here. Seems like a good enough excuse to me.
Swindon signs:
Here are some Swindon signs from various points in and around the town. In no particular order there is:
County Road, new and one rather rusty and forlorn old one. The old milestone to Semington that lives on Canal walk. And a nice snowy one in Upper Stratton. A very old post on the road from Commonhead to Coate, and a lovely traditional one between Hinton Parva and Bishopstone.
I simply adore this Walcot sign – not sure why. It’s so very retro and a bit Fawlty Towers.
Okay then – so who remember furlongs and yards? I can just about remember furlongs in the measurement table in my school exercise books. Along with Pecks and Bushels … anyway – here is a fabulous old milestone in the Savernake Forest, Marlborough.
This lovely old beauty is on the old Marlborough rd near The Spotted Cow:
Some signs from roads between Slough and London:
A lovely old one in Langley near Slough with Hyde Park on it…1741.
The other one is on the old A4 at Slough….the A 4 is an ancient thoroughfare once the main route from the west to London long before the M4 was built.
2020 update
Returning to Swindon another milestone that I saw for the first time in recent weeks when wandering round West Swindon on one of my Covid-19 constitutionals.
This is one is in West Swindon and is now set into the wall above an underpass – I’m not sure I can quite remember where now. I wasn’t going anywhere in particular when I chanced upon it.
“Tick, Tick, Tick. This is the sound of your life running out.” ― Anonymous
A wee post about Swindon’s Jubilee clock. Moved from its original town centre home, it now resides outside Swindon’s railway station where the big beady eye of Swindon’s jubilee clock has watched over things since 2012.
The Jubilee clock Swindon Station
Tick, tock, tick, tock
Designed by artist Edwin Wright and made by the Cumbrian clock company, the clock could play tunes and even announcements. It played Christmas music, including Silent Night, and Valentine’s Day love songs like Dream a Little Dream. Then GWR Radio DJ Jez Clark was the voice of the clock’s shopper announcements.
It was much derided for never working well – which is not unreasonable but I always liked it. More to the point I liked it in that position far more than than the water feature that superseded it. While it sits well in its new home on the railway station forecourt I did think it look good on the crossroads of Swindon’s pedestrianised centre – it allowed you to look in all four directions easily whereas the water-feature sort of ‘clutters’ it up. I don’t dislike the thing per se – just not there. But hey, that’s only my opinion…
According to the font of Swindon knowledge, Duncan & Mandywhose website has more fab images, the original name for this eyeball clock was the Millennium Clock. But, as the commission was to celebrate Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee, the name got changed.
How long a minute is, depends on which side of the bathroom door you’re on.
Zall’s Second Law
On the topic of clocks as we are, then this post about long-standing Old Town business, Deacon’s. For in their shop stands the Regulator Clock made by the Deacon’s business back in 1865. For more on that read the blog below.
The Magic Roundabout: a guide book entry I wrote this guide book entry in the final year of my English/Eng Lang studies at UWE. The piece formed part of a travel writing module.
For my coursework portfolio I wrote, amongst other things, some stuff about Swindon:
* a travelogue on the West Swindon Sculpture walk.
*and this guide-book entry for the Magic Roundabout.
I also wrote a guide-book entry for the West Swindon sculpture walk. But it was this one that I submitted for my portfolio and for which I got a 1st. Indeed a 1st for the degree as a whole. 🙂
Other writings on Born again Swindonian about the MR
Dare you navigate yourself across the infamous & world-famous counter-flow ‘Magic-Roundabout’ – the ‘white-knuckle’ ride of traffic?
The Magic Roundabout
You’d be forgiven for being perplexed at the notion of a traffic roundabout being of any interest to anyone other than traffic-system aficionados. But you couldn’t be more wrong. This fabled entity is known the world over.
Created in 1972, Swindon’s Magic Roundabout was originally named the County Islands roundabout due to its location in close proximity to the town’s County Ground football stadium, home of Swindon Town FC. But the locals were not long in bestowing upon it the nickname ‘The Magic Roundabout’ after the TV programme of that name. Eventually the local authority submitted to the popular consensus and officially re-named the roundabout and gave it appropriate signage.
A Town of Roundabouts
Swindon is famous, even infamous, for its roundabouts. But this legendary one surely has to be the jewel in the town’s roundabout crown? Situated on a junction where five roads meet, the traffic-consuming monster vexes native visitors and utterly baffles those from across the pond. For all this though Swindonians love it and generally find their passage across it to be smooth and fluid, even at peak times.
The Road Research Laboratory
The roundabout was created by the Road Research Laboratory (RRL) to deal with an area that was a motorist’s nightmare, being routinely unable to handle the sheer volume of traffic converging on it from five directions. Like many of the best ideas their solution was stunning in its simplicity. They simply combined two roundabouts in one. The first being of the conventional clockwise type and the second, revolving inside the first, sending traffic anti-clockwise. This counter-flow roundabout solved the congestion problems back in the 1970s and is still, despite the ensuing increase in traffic volume over the last 40 years, processing it all as quickly and as smoothly as a giant Magimix.
Traffic keeps moving almost all the time, waiting only a few seconds to join each mini-roundabout and thus steadily travelling at low speed across the junction. A normal roundabout would involve long waits to join; signals would involve bursts of movement and long enforced stoppages. As a result, it has been calculated that the Magic Roundabout has a greater throughput of traffic than anything else that it would be possible to install in the same space. Magic indeed! Moreover, it has an excellent safety record.
A bark worse than its bite
Although voted the seventh worst junction in the UK, the roundabout’s bark is worse than its bite. Though appearing difficult to negotiate, all it asks of the driver is to be observant and to always give priority to traffic coming from the right.
One approach to the roundabout is to drive down Drove Road from Swindon’s Old Town. If you don’t fancy manoeuvring it in a car it’s possible to stand and observe the carefully controlled mayhem from the safety of the pavement – you can even consume fish and chips from the chippy on the corner while you do.
Swindonians are very proud of their Magic Roundabout and the tourist information desk, situated in the town’s central library on Regent Circus, sells a wide range of Magic Roundabout memorabilia that runs the range from key-rings to mugs to tea-towels and even T-shirts. So, if you’ve braved this colossal contraption of a road system you can celebrate your feat of derring-do with a suitable souvenir or two.
XTC
Whether you love it, hate it or are indifferent to it one thing is for sure: visit Swindon and you can’t ignore it. Swindon-grown band XTC effectively and poetically capture the dizzying assault on the senses this behemoth can induce in their 1981 song: ‘English Roundabout’:
‘ … all the horns go ‘beep! beep!’ All the people follow like sheep, I’m full of light and sound, Making my head go round, round.’
A weekend visit to the Swindon designer outlet centre or whatever it is we are calling it, has prompted me to write a view lines about it. Cos I think it’s really rather cool – and I don’t only mean for the shopping.
Leaving the foodcourt & looking towards the car park
Occupying the restored Great Western Railway Works near Swindon town centre, this is a covered McArthur Glen designer outlet. It’s located a few miles from J16 of the M4 motorway.
There’s a steam locomotive on display in the eating area – currently (Feb 2020 – Ditcheat Manor).
Which, as descriptions go, is fine. But it doesn’t, it can’t, convey the atmosphere of the place.
I love that the Swindon one has taken the home of a once glorious, but now long-gone industry, and breathed new life into it by becoming the home of a 21st century industry: retail.
Instead of a slow disintegration followed by demolishment, the workshops of the Great Western Railway* are recycled, revitalised and regenerated. And in a way that has retained the character of the workshops. Always the original industrial use of the buildings is clear. Whenever I stroll around and look at the beams, the bits of machinery and the engine in the food court my thoughts turn to the men and women who worked so grindingly hard within these walls.
The Great Western Railway
Founded in 1833 and engineered by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British Railway company. It linked London with the south-west, the west of England and much of Wales.
The GWR was alone in keeping its identity through the Railways Act 1921. That act amalgamated the GWR with the remaining independent railways in its territory. 1947 saw it merged and nationalised into the Western Region of British Railways.
God’s Wonderful Railway
Many refer to the GWR as God’s Wonderful Railway. While other call it The Great Way Round. Either way, it found fame as the Holiday Line – taking people to resorts in South West England.
Many of the company’s locomotives, built in the workshops in Swindon, were painted in Brunswick green. Though for most of its existence the GWR used a two-tone chocolate and cream livery for its passenger coaches. They painted their Goods wagons red but later changed them to mid-grey.
