| Archived Save the Train forum articles - 2005 to 2010. See below
Public Records office moving to Chippenham - 23/25 Written by admin (Graham Ellis) on Saturday, 24th September 2005 I understand that work has just started (or is about to start) on the new Wiltshire Public Records office in Chippenham, moving the archives away from what is stated to be a substandard building in Trowbridge. The old cattle market site is near the station in Chippenham, from where it will be easily accessible. Travel to Chippenham from Salisbury and Trowbridge is possible using the direct rail link from Southampton to Swindon. However, this link is currently under threat from December 2006. According to the data I have, the new records office is expected to open in 2007 or 2008. Re: Public Records office moving to Chippenham - 23/31 Written by Nick Field on Sunday, 25th September 2005 Graham I can confirm that that building work is now quite advanced on the new records office in Chippenham as I walked past the site today, I am not sure exactly when it is due to open however. Re: Public Records office moving to Chippenham - 23/6323 Written by admin (Graham Ellis) on Monday, 16th July 2007 re: Transport and Times Telegraph, Issue 12 (An April 2007 publication from Wiltshire County Council) Dear Sir, I have just picked up a copy of your publication detailed above, and I have been reading about the History Centre in Chippenham. I note that you say that the centre is due to open to the public in October, and will allow general public access to the records. Re: Public Records office moving to Chippenham - 23/6334 Written by Lee on Tuesday, 17th July 2007 Here is an interesting background quote which may or may not be relevant : [quote author=philmcm link=topic=36.msg59#msg59 date=1128711363]Thanks, Graham. Sorry to say I have no connection at all with the stone companies, and sadly no time to chase them up - but I'm sure it won't be too hard to find a willing volunteer to at least write to them. Thinking back to when the line in Melksham was reopened to passenger traffic (which I have a short film of on video, by the way! It was screened on ITV I think as part of a programme about Dr. Beeching, the "evil mastermind" behind the closure of much of Britain's railways system - Melksham was for a while the first post-Beeching station in the country to be reopened) - thinking back to that time, local gossip had it that the real reason the line and station was reopened was that the rail company had opened some new offices in Swindon and were relocating people from elsewhere (Bristol maybe, or possibly London), and because there was a lot of house-building going on in Melksham at the time, they offered the workers a relocation package which included a cheap new home in Melksham and free rail travel to and from Swindon. So, it suited them to reopen the station, but obviously not to actually inject any money into the project - hence the crappy little shelter we ended up with. Ooh and some bike racks. Woo-hoo. This is pure conjecture and gossip, mind, and I can't even recall who the company in question was at the time; but it's almost definitely another piece of the jigsaw puzzle. Phil.[/quote] Re: Public Records office moving to Chippenham - 23/6358 Written by Lee on Wednesday, 18th July 2007 The move was completed two weeks ahead of schedule (link below.) http://www.wiltshiretimes.co.uk/news/latestheadlines/display.var.1550741.0.history_move_is_history.php Re: Public Records office moving to Chippenham - 23/7094 Written by Lee on Saturday, 25th August 2007 The local studies library in Trowbridge is moving to a new home at the Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre in Chippenham (link below.) http://www.wiltshiretimes.co.uk/news/latestheadlines/display.var.1642467.0.local_studies_library_to_close.php The move will mean that the it will have to close for a short period of time , although an online service will be maintained. To enable the changes to take place it will also be necessary to temporarily close the Trowbridge reference library. The local studies library on Bythesea Road will close on Saturday , September 15. The documents will be moved to the new centre which will open with the Wiltshire and Swindon archives and other heritage services at 9.30am on Wednesday , October 31 2007. Trowbridge reference library , also based on Bythesea Road , will close while the local studies library is being moved out of the building. The closure will take place from 4pm Saturday , September 15 until 9am Thursday , September 20. During the closures , local history enquiries will be answered by email on localstudies@wiltshire.gov.uk. And enquiries for the local studies library can be made either by email on libraryenquiries@wiltshire.gov.uk or by contacting Wiltshire County Council on 01225 713000. The Trowbridge lending library will be unaffected by this closure. Wiltshire County Council has apologised for any inconvenience caused while this move takes place. Re: Public Records office moving to Chippenham - 23/7096 Written by admin (Graham Ellis) on Saturday, 25th August 2007 [quote author=Graham Ellis link=topic=23.msg6323#msg6323 date=1184619162] re: Transport and Times Telegraph, Issue 12 (An April 2007 publication from Wiltshire County Council) Dear Sir, I have just picked up a copy of your publication detailed above, and I have been reading about the History Centre in Chippenham. [snip] Could you please tell me what steps are being taken to improve the train service from when the centre opens in October to allow it to be realistically accessible by train from elsewhere in Wiltshire - perhaps you would like to use my home town of Melksham as an example in your answer. Many thanks Graham Ellis [/quote] I have yet to receive an answer .... perhaps it's a hard question, but it shouldn't be - when you move a major resource, surely you should plan the access - especially if you're the local transport authority for the area Re: Public Records office moving to Chippenham - 23/7312 Written by courgettelawn on Saturday, 1st September 2007 I have received no assurances at all from Wiltshire CC over transport to the new record office and local studies library due to open next month in Chippenham. Apparently there is an Key Bus Route Network which connects all important centres of Wiltshire but I have yet to receive information on this also. However I feel relatively confident no such thing exists which takes in Salisbury and other south Wilts destinations. Readers of other threads concerning access to the archives will see that the issue of transportation was brought up during initial consultation about the move but was ignored. The candid comment left by John Ellis on my blog post about it is quite illuminating: http://tehmina.org/2007/06/12/access-to-archives/#comments Re: Public Records office moving to Chippenham - 23/7349 Written by Nick Field on Monday, 3rd September 2007 One thing they did do was cut back some overgrown brambles, repair the fencing and widen the footpath from the station to the new offices. I noticed this during the early stages of contruction. So if you manage to catch a train from South or West Wilts you should at least have a trouble free short walk to complete your journey ;) Re: Public Records office moving to Chippenham - 23/7666 Written by Nick Field on Tuesday, 18th September 2007 There is an open day at the new centre this coming Saturday, with the official opening taking place on October 31st: http://www.wiltshiretimes.co.uk/display.var.1694687.0.open_day_for_11m_history_centre.php Re: Public Records office moving to Chippenham - 23/11733 Written by Lee on Monday, 21st April 2008 Looks like the Wiltshire & Swindon History Centre is proving to be a success (link below.) http://www.wiltshiretimes.co.uk/news/latestheadlines/display.var.2208722.0.10_000_visit_history_centre.php link to index of articles |
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Save the Train was the campaign to bring an approriate train service back to and through Melksham. Most big contributors are still around writing at the Coffee shop forum where new members are very welcome. The train has been saved - sort of - we have stepped back up from an unusable service to a poorish one but it's doing very well. We did that through setting up the TransWilts Community Rail Partnership. That fulfilled its early objectives; it has been taken over by local and regional government types who are now doing medium and long term work. The team from this forun can also be found at the Melksham Rail User Group (which was the Melksham Rail Development Group at the time these articles were written and we had no users. We mustn't loose sight, though, that the train service remains poor and needs our community support in marketing and campaigning to keep it going in a positive direction ... and all the more so when we're expecting to find a different normallity once we get out of the Coronavirus Pandemic and head for zero carbon via the climate crisis. Yes, it's saved ... it's now a key community facility ... the need for enhancement and the strong and near-universal local support remain, and the rail industry and goverment remain slow to move and provide the enhancements even to level us up with other towns. Please support the Melksham Rail User Group - now very much in partnership rather than protest with the rail industry and local government, including GWR, TransWilts and unitary and town councils. And please use the trains and buses, and cycle and walk when you can. -- Graham Ellis, (webmaster), February 2021 | |||
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