Shine On Stage are opening their BRAND NEW STAGE SCHOOL on January 18^th 2014. Tuition in Dance, Drama, Singing, LAMDA and workshops with West End performers. Places are booking now so contact Alice to book your place: 0845 519 6455/ www.shineonstage.co.uk

We are delighted that The National College for School Leadership have designated Malmesbury School as a National Support School. This is official recognition of the track record of outstanding support provided by Malmesbury School to other local Schools.

We are very pleased that the work the staff and governors have been doing at Malmesbury for some years now has been recognised at a national level. In May 2012 under the new Ofsted Inspection framework Malmesbury School was described by Ofsted Inspectors as ‘Outstanding’ in all categories.

This designation comes in conjunction with our Headteacher, Tim Gilson being appointed as a National Leader of Education and acknowledges the outstanding leadership of Malmesbury School by Governors and leaders at all levels. There are 96 headteachers appointed to the role of National Leader of Education (NLE) in the latest recruitment round and there are now about 800 NLEs across the country.

Headteacher Tim Gilson said ‘It is really fantastic that Malmesbury School has been given this National status as an Outstanding School. We really look forward to expanding our work in supporting other local schools. It is in recognition of the exceptional quality of our staff and their capacity to work with other schools.’

Charlie Taylor, Chief Executive of the National College for Teaching and Leadership, said: “School-to-school support is having a growing impact and the results speak for themselves with benefits for both the schools being supported and those providing the support.”

Many in the National Leaders of Education/ National Support Schools scheme see improvements in exam results at both the support and client schools with progress achieved in excess of the improvements nationally.

History fans keen to get their hands on tickets for BBC History Magazine’s inaugural weekend festival in Malmesbury may be in luck as additional tickets are released today following overwhelming public demand.

Launched by the UK’s bestselling history title, the BBC History Magazine History Weekend will take place from Friday 25 to Sunday 27 October 2013. More than 20 top-name historians and authors including Alison Weir, Sir Max Hastings, Michael Wood and Dan Snow will discuss topics ranging from the first Tudor queen, the Battle of the Atlantic, the Norman conquest and ancient Egypt.

Dave Musgrove, Associate Publisher of BBC History Magazine, commented: “We’ve seen huge interest in our festival already and are delighted to be able to offer more people the chance to attend with additional tickets now available. We’re expecting these to sell fast so would advise anyone interested to book soon to avoid disappointment.”  

Tickets for the BBC History Magazine History Weekend are on sale now at www.historyweekend.com. To accommodate the additional demand a number of the talks will now take place in the beautiful and historic Malmesbury Abbey, while the remainder will be held in Malmesbury Town Hall. A fully-stocked history bookshop, courtesy of Waterstones Cirencester, will be available within the Town Hall for the duration of the festival, where speakers will be signing books.

For further information on the BBC History Magazine History Weekend visit www.historyweekend.com

As you read through this issue of Malmesbury Connections you’ll see advertisers’ weblinks and might think “Hmmm, that could be what I want, I’ll look at their website”. As I might too. But about 68,000 people in Wiltshire wouldn’t be able to do the same as you or me….they’re not online.  Now try to imagine how your life would be without email, Google, Skype, online shopping and services, etc.!

In 2012 Wiltshire Council started the ‘Wiltshire Online’ scheme to help those who aren’t yet online to get online, to be able to have the internet benefits so many of us now take for granted. The scheme is entirely based on volunteers (‘Digital Champions’) who are confident users of computers giving a bit of their free time to show those who want to learn the basics how to get started online.

I recently became a Wiltshire Online Volunteer Co-ordinator: this involves matching up Digital Champions and learners according to their needs and experience.  But Wiltshire Online is new to the Malmesbury area. What we need now are Champions so that I have the teachers to put in touch with the would-be learners!  I’m hoping you may be interested in helping.

As a Champion you would have a first meeting (we suggest a public venue) with the learner I’ve matched you up with, and then you would jointly decide where and when to have further meetings, probably of an hour or so each, depending on how things progress.

Does this sound like something you could and would like to do? If so, the Wiltshire Online office would love to hear from you (call 01225 793349 or email digitalinclusion@wiltshire.gov.uk) . Full details of the Digital Champion role and how to apply can be found at http://www.wiltshire.gov.uk/wiltshireonline/get-involved/  ….and I hope this is one link you’ll be clicking on!

Chris Baker

On Friday 21 June, Joe Porter began to walk to school from Milbourne, Malmesbury. The difference that morning was that it was 3am and his school Calder House was in Colerne over 17 miles away!

He undertook this huge challenge in memory of Jemima Prees, a schoolfriend who died in February following a skiing accident.

Jemima was a wonderful 10 year old girl, with a beaming smile and an obvious infectious zest for life. She was a keen horse rider, performer and reader (despite being dyslexic). Her parents have set up a fund called Jemima’s Gift, which is already raising money and providing opportunities for other children to reach their full potential – in sports, the arts and in learning activities.

Joe who’s 13, has autism, learning difficulties and mobility problems, so added to the shear length of the journey, it wasn’t going to be easy for him. However it was his idea and he was very determined to complete the task. To help him he was accompanied by his Headmaster, Form Teacher, his Grandpa and his mum Sarah.

Here’s the report of their morning…….

An early alarm call, his Headmaster and Form Teacher arrived, a quick bacon sandwich and then a prompt 3am start in the dark.

Joe, with a brisk step, led the way out of Milbourne and through the quiet streets of Malmesbury to begin the 17.5 mile journey to Calder House school in Colerne.

The cross country route took his intrepid team along footpaths; down bridleways; through fields, roads and woods; under the motorway; across meadows and up steep valleys.

Delays were few but interesting – troublesome gates, large nettle patches, inquisitive cows, plus a BBC radio interview. And yet the walk, which included plenty of refreshment stops too (more bacon sandwiches and chocolate snacks!) took only 7 hours, with Joe keeping up a fantastic speed the whole journey.

He arrived at 10am to the loud cheers of his school friends and teachers and a wonderful warm welcome from Jemima’s mum Dr Karen Prees, plus an unexpected visit from Tim, Jemima’s dad which capped a great adventure.

We’d like to thank everyone for their good wishes, support, enthusiasm and very generous and kind donations. The final total we hope, may be in excess of £2,500.

It was truly a team effort with special mention to Tom the farmer for his route planning, logistics (and negotiation with local landowners!); to those who walked with us for parts of the journey and everyone who cheered us on our way

Walk to the Foxley and Norton Golden Jubilee dry stone egg, then continue on to Bremhilam Church, the smallest operational church in England.  At various village gardens there will be stalls with plants, cakes, ice cream and cream tea!  There will be an art exhibition in the church with displays from local artists, sculptors and children.  1pm to 5pm tickets £5 under 16 free!

Tournament Report:

British Flyball Association Sanctioned Tournament

Held at Cantley Park, Wokingham

Saturday/Sunday 27th/28th April 2013

Cotswold Flyball Club, a small club based on the Wiltshire, Gloucestershire border sent 5 teams to this nationally sanctioned tournament, 3 open and 2 starter teams.  The performance sent shockwaves through the Flyball world as the club notched up 4 divisional wins and 1 second place to dominate the tournament eclipsing several larger clubs.  This is the first time in the club’s history that 3 Open teams have made a clean sweep of gold medals and also had a total of 4 divisional wins.

The Cyclones ran the second fastest time in Cotswold history smashing through the 19s barrier twice in their opening match. The time of 18.69s actually proved to be the fastest of the day, not just in their Div 3 but also Div 2. This time will ensure the team’s promotion to the top 2 leagues of this fast growing sport.  After a slight wobble they went on to dominate the division and pick up gold, a fabulous effort from Rocky, Flynn, Poppi and Tammi.

The Typhoons went in to division 4 as 3rd seeds but soon set about the opposition and won all their matches to snatch gold. Dexter making his full open debut gave an impressive performance backed up by teammates Ceris, Moss, Woody and sub Lexie.

The Zephyrs giving a full open debut to Rhona and deploying the 2 “Jack Russell” tactic again with the Dizzy/Jack combination and with veteran Kelli opening, took their division to a final match shoot out in division 5 that they won to take Gold.

The Breeeze starter team of Evie, Boo, Mist and Mop took their division to a 3 way tie that they deservedly won on countback by posting the fastest time, also bringing home gold.

The Mistral starter team of Fergus, Milo, Reuben and Smarty put up a tremendous show taking the silver medal in their division, this was a first outing for most of these dogs.

Photo Opportunity at Dairy Farm, Long Newnton, Tetbury, Glos, Thursday 2nd May at 7.30pm to feature handlers, dogs and medals, please confirm attendance to David or Imelda Gosling on 01666 826833 or by reply to this e mail.

Flyball is the fastest growing dog sport in the UK.

Cotswold Flyball club train on Thursday evenings 7 pm at Dairy Farm, Long Newnton Airfield, Near Tetbury. Website:www.http://cotswoldflyballclub.webs.com/