VANDALS have struck again at the award-winning Bowerhill Residents Action Group (BRAG) picnic area.
The picnic area has been targeted three times since it was opened in June 2015, this time vandals damaged flowers, left litter everywhere and broke two of the three picnic bench seats.
Chairman of BRAG Mike Mills said, “I can’t believe that once again I am reporting vandalism to the picnic area, which occurred just before the Easter weekend. BRAG volunteers have spent time repairing the damage by removing the broken pieces, removing litter and clearing up the area.
“BRAG appealed for scaffolding boards that could be cut down to make new seats for the picnic benches that were damaged and shortly after Mark Stevenson, a Bowerhill residents, not only supplied BRAG with scaffolding boards which have been cut to size and fixed to the benches by BRAG volunteers, but he also donated a picnic bench that he no longer wanted. He enlisted the help of his neighbours and put the heavy bench onto his car trailer and took it directly to the picnic area where he and his neighbours unloaded the bench and placed it in position as agreed with BRAG members.
“BRAG are grateful to Mark for his help and very appreciative of all the messages of support that we received after the vandalism. Good news came out of bad.
“For the past three years BRAG has entered the picnic area in the, ‘It’s Your Neighbourhood’ category of South West in Bloom and have won Level 5 Outstanding awards each year. The picnic area has been entered again this year and despite the vandalism, BRAG are hoping for more success.”
![Melksham Times Past
A column about days gone by in Melksham by local historian Lisa Ellis
The Independent Chapel and Women’s Rights in the 1840s
A document I recently transcribed lists the baptisms performed at the Independent Chapel. This record is especially helpful in that, along with baptisms, a lot of them include birth dates - one of the ways I discover which day someone was born.
The following is taken from a Wiltshire Times article published on 9th November 1878 which reports a speech given during the 100-year services and to celebrate their renovations (what we now know to be the Rachel Fowler Centre).
One speaker, Rev. T. Mann, minister in Trowbridge, talked about the Chapel’s origins when he related how Rev. Honywill came to Melksham and how he’d gone on to remain as the minister for the Independent Chapel for almost 60 years. [Honywill and his family lived on King Street in what we now call “Legion House”.]
Read more on our website, the link is in our bio.](https://scontent-lhr6-1.cdninstagram.com/v/t51.75761-15/505444438_18038424887647822_3264519508333556874_n.jpg?stp=dst-jpg_e35_tt6&_nc_cat=110&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=18de74&_nc_ohc=gXZQJoHTNiEQ7kNvwHezuPI&_nc_oc=AdlrJvMDapuork_EjycPOcegNeMnCA37GEIudkxkTeCfTgvB5iijE05ojpwlYCd5gN8&_nc_zt=23&_nc_ht=scontent-lhr6-1.cdninstagram.com&edm=ANo9K5cEAAAA&_nc_gid=2ejTZ6D9dPXIFkdtQ-bGfg&oh=00_AfMePUYDK6PXDzeUYs-aKY4wfMPOaURY8Z6OwO7o8TXJSA&oe=685718CA "Melksham Times Past
A column about days gone by in Melksham by local historian Lisa Ellis
The Independent Chapel and Women’s Rights in the 1840s
A document I recently transcribed lists the baptisms performed at the Independent Chapel. This record is especially helpful in that, along with baptisms, a lot of them include birth dates - one of the ways I discover which day someone was born.
The following is taken from a Wiltshire Times article published on 9th November 1878 which reports a speech given during the 100-year services and to celebrate their renovations (what we now know to be the Rachel Fowler Centre).
One speaker, Rev. T. Mann, minister in Trowbridge, talked about the Chapel’s origins when he related how Rev. Honywill came to Melksham and how he’d gone on to remain as the minister for the Independent Chapel for almost 60 years. [Honywill and his family lived on King Street in what we now call “Legion House”.]
Read more on our website, the link is in our bio.")
