Western Daily Press (Saturday)
Bath Rugby player faces charge of drink driving
A BATH Rugby player has been charged with drink driving after he and two other players were caught breaking lockdown rules.
Elliott Stooke, 27, crashed his car on the way home from a gathering in the early hours of January 24, The Times reports.
Avon and Somerset Police attended the single-vehicle crash and went on to charge Stooke with drink driving.
Before that, he had been at Jonathan Joseph’s house, along with Gabriel Oghre – a former Bath Academy player and hooker for Wasps.
All three were found to have broken the national lockdown restrictions, which ban the mixing of different households due to coronavirus.
Stooke and Oghre were both given three-week bans by the RFU, while Joseph received a two-match suspension.
They appeared before an independent panel on
Wednesday and charged with conduct prejudicial to the interests of the union and/or the game.
Stooke is due to appear at Bath Magistrates Court for the drink driving charge on February 17.
THEY say you can find love in the most unlikely places – but a muddy trench near a major road in Gloucestershire isn’t usually the stuff of romantic dreams.
But the heartstrings of archaeologists digging near the A417 were certainly tugged by the find of a Cupid figurine nearly 2,000 years old.
The figurine, depicting the Roman god of love, was discovered next to a bow-shaped brooch, and a Roman or early Saxon skeleton.
Made of solid bronze with wings and holding a flaming torch, the figurine was discovered in a deposit of charcoal, suggesting it could be an offering to the Gods.
The items were found along the proposed 3.4-mile stretch of the new A417 Missing Link route and go some way to showing what life in the area was like thousands of years ago.
Early survey works are ongoing ahead of construction of the £435 million road.
The Cupid figurine is a rare find, with fewer than 50 known in the UK, and one of only three found as part of an archaeological dig rather than by metal detectorists.
Jim Keyte, archaeology lead for the project, added: “The area of the project is rich in history, and the existing A417 largely follows the former Roman Road between Cirencester and Gloucester; Birdlip itself has its origins as a Roman settlement.
“It has been fascinating to reveal more about the area and the people who once lived here. Our investigations will continue as the project progresses, and we expect more interesting discoveries to come.”
Survey work saw 335 trenches dug in fields around the route over a period of four months to help the project team learn more about what life was like on the site during Roman times.
Michael Goddard, Highways England senior project manager for the A417, said: “The archaeology works we are undertaking along the A417 give us a significant insight into life on the site thousands of years ago, providing a unique glimpse into the past.
“It’s fascinating to see that Romans would have lived in the area in a similar way to how we do today – drawn to the area’s stunning beauty, something we are aiming to maintain with this landscape-led scheme.
“It’s also fascinating to see that the Romans left offerings to the god of love to keep them happy and help shape their own lives – with Cupid now a staple of Valentine’s Day celebrations all over the world.
“These finds help us understand the relationship between the improvement scheme and the surrounding historic environment which will ensure the protection of any historic finds for generations to come.”
While the most significant find was the figurine of Cupid, the brooch discovered at the same settlement also gives an insight into daily life as a Roman, who would have used the brooch to fasten their cloak to keep out the wind that still blows strongly across the landscape. The brooch is ornate, and shaped like an archer’s bow. It’s likely that the owner would have been quite wealthy.
The skeleton has proved a little more unusual though. Oriented north to south, archaeologists consider that it is unlikely to be Christian, meaning the remains date to either before 4th-century Roman or
early Saxon (5th-7th century). Researchers were also baffled by the fact the remains were buried face down, potentially suggesting the mystery person was not well liked, for instance a criminal.
However, the team will never really know as the skeleton will be left in situ and not studied further.
Mel Barge, Inspector of Ancient Monuments at Historic England, said: “We have been advising Highways England on this proposed road scheme alongside the county council heritage team.
“The Cupid statue is a rare and exciting find. It will tell us about the lives and beliefs of the small Roman community that lived alongside this road 2,000 years ago.”
The A417 provides an important route between Gloucester and Swindon and offers an alternative to the M5/M4 route via Bristol.
This £435 million project will dual the Missing Link – a three-mile stretch of single-lane carriageway on the A417 between the Brockworth bypass and Cowley roundabout in Gloucestershire.
ONE of the biggest moor fires seen in the West in recent memory raged across Dartmoor on Thursday night and into yesterday morning.
Emergency crews yesterday urged members of the public to stay away from an “extremely dangerous” large fire on Dartmoor.
The blaze was reported near Tavy Cleave, a few miles north-east of Tavistock and was estimated to be more than three miles (5km) wide at its peak.
Park rangers said yesterday that the fire was effectively ‘out’, but Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service said that an official ‘stop’ had not yet been put on the incident.
Rob Steemson, Dartmoor National Park emergency officer, said the cause of the fire was now “under investigation and it’s not known at this point”.
Mr Steemson said the fire appears to have been “on hills to the north east of Peter Tavy, encompassing Standon Hill, Lynch Tor, Walkham Spur, Walkham Head and towards River Tavy Cleave”.
He said: “We’re not sure where it started. We currently have a mix of rangers on foot and commoners on quad bikes trying to get around and examine the area.”
Mr Steemson added: “Normally we would start to get such fires in March and April, when it dries and the wind goes East and South East. The tops of the vegetation above the peat are particularly prone and dries out. The fire brigade and the police are out looking to see if there’s any reason or where it may have started. They’ll be heading to the south eastern point of the fire and working along the edge to find the source.”
A blaze also caused significant damage on Exmoor’s West Anstey common. The 100 metre-long gorse and heathland fire was also fanned by the strong winds. Firefighters from Dulverton and Bampton extinguished the fire at around 12.40am.
ARETIRED firefighter who has died at the age of 79 will go on his final shout later this month – with his coffin being transported on his beloved vintage fire engine.
Chris Wannell, who died on Monday, spent more than 30 years putting out fires in Wiltshire, mostly in his home town of Royal Wootton Bassett.
But his love of fire engines was born long before he first donned a Wiltshire Fire Brigade uniform and continued right up to the very end.
He helped raise considerably more than £100,000 for the Fire Fighters Charity and received the organisation’s lifetime achievement award in 2018 – one of his proudest achievements.
He owned several vintage fire engines and his final journey will be on Martha, a 1943 Austin that he bought in 1975 and restored.
Martha, which began life putting out fires started by Luftwaffe raids over London, is a familiar sight in north Wiltshire having helped Chris with many of his fundraising charity ventures.
If fire engines and those brave men and women who rode upon them were Chris’s first great love, then the town of Royal Wootton Bassett itself wasn’t far behind.
He was a town councillor for 40 years and was mayor twice, as was his wife Audrey.
Chris was one of the main instigators of how Wootton Bassett became famous for the dignified way it saluted Britain’s fallen war heroes from Afghanistan and Iraq.
But like many in the town he was uneasy at it gained the name Royal Wootton Bassett, telling the Western Daily Press at the time it was about the servicemen and women, not the townsfolk.
He said: “We are simply the ordinary people of a very special town standing still and quiet for a few moments in a mark of sorrow and gratitude for those who have given their lives in service of the nation.”
Chris’s family hope people in the town will line the high street on Friday, February 26, when he will go on his last ‘shout’ through the town he served for decades.
North Wiltshire MP James Gray, a long-time friend, said the words ‘Wannell’, ‘Wootton Bassett’ and ‘fire brigade’ are so intertwined as to be inseparable.
He said: “There is almost no aspect of the town of Royal Wootton Bassett with which he – and his dear family, Audrey, Heather and Martin – were not involved in one way or another.
“There was not an inch of Bassett which he did not love with a passion. ‘Cut me open,’ he used to say, ‘and you’ll find Bassett engraved on my heart’.”
His children Heather and Martin said in a statement: “Chris was born in Chippenham in 1941 and rumour has it, his love of the fire brigade came from when his mother pushed his pram past the fire station as the fire brigade were turning out.”
Chris was for many years an engineer at St Ivel in Wootton Bassett, while continuing his work as a retained firefighter.
Chris finished his active firefighting career on October 19, 1996 as Officer in Charge of the local station.
In the latter years of his life, while still working tirelessly for his community, Chris enjoyed time at steam rallies with his grandchildren Bradley, Poppy, Daisy and Holly.
He attended many local rallies and some which were a little further afield such as the Great Dorset Steam Fair and the Isle of Wight Steam Rally.
He will be sorely missed by all who knew him and especially his family.
Heather and Martin said: “As children we learned early on to share the most precious thing we had – our Dad. He saved many lives and we are very proud of him.”
They added: “As the Covid rules do not permit more than 30 at his funeral, we will drive Chris through the streets he loved on his last shout on the back of his beloved fire engine Martha closely followed by Belinda, his beautiful 1930s fire engine, and we would encourage everyone who wishes to stand on the High Street and clap as the cortege passes by (whilst maintaining social distancing).”
The funeral is on Friday, February 26 at 1pm at Royal Wootton Bassett parish church followed by a procession around the town and interment in Wootton Bassett cemetery.
Donations to the Fire Fighters Charity in memory of Chris can be made at
There was not an inch of Bassett which he did not love with a passion JAMES GRAY