Latest news with #Aldbourne
Yahoo
08-07-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Villagers install signs to protect family of ducks
Concerned residents are calling upon their local council to help protect a flock of ducklings from speeding traffic. Sarah West has lived in Aldbourne, Wiltshire, her entire life and said the eight ducklings and their mother have become a beloved fixture in their small village. After witnessing countless "near misses", she implored Aldbourne Parish Council to install prominent 'duck crossing' warning signs on the B4192, but to no avail. Aldbourne Parish Council said it will ultimately be up to the highways department at Wiltshire Council whether the signs are permanently installed on the road. More news stories for Wiltshire Listen to the latest news for Wiltshire The issue will be raised at a parish council meeting on Wednesday. In the meantime, councillor Alison Edmonds volunteered to pay for two temporary signs out of her own pocket, while they wait and hope for more official signage. Ms West says the mother was originally followed by 12 ducklings in tow, but four have gradually been lost to predators and environmental factors. "Dying of natural causes is more bearable, but being squashed would be so unpleasant," she said. She added it is unlikely the birds could avoid a vehicle approaching them at speed. "They're so small you could fit them in the palm of your hand. When you watch them crossing the road, they struggle to hop up onto the pavement." The 61-year-old recalled a "terrifying" incident where a van drove over the entire family, but they "miraculously" ended up between the four wheels, unscathed. "I nearly had a heart attack," she said. "I was so scared the whole lot had been killed in front of me. "Every day we count the ducklings to make sure they're all still there. People tear through the village, it's only a matter of time. "We've done what we can but it's not enough, it's now up to the council to do their bit to protect them." Follow BBC Wiltshire on Facebook, X and Instagram. Send your story ideas to us on email or via WhatsApp on 0800 313 4630. Thousands raised for memorial after geese killed Fears missing village geese may 'have been killed' Ducks shot dead and left in woodland Aldbourne Parish Council
Yahoo
08-07-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Villagers install signs to protect family of ducks
Concerned residents are calling upon their local council to help protect a flock of ducklings from speeding traffic. Sarah West has lived in Aldbourne, Wiltshire, her entire life and said the eight ducklings and their mother have become a beloved fixture in their small village. After witnessing countless "near misses", she implored Aldbourne Parish Council to install prominent 'duck crossing' warning signs on the B4192, but to no avail. Aldbourne Parish Council said it will ultimately be up to the highways department at Wiltshire Council whether the signs are permanently installed on the road. More news stories for Wiltshire Listen to the latest news for Wiltshire The issue will be raised at a parish council meeting on Wednesday. In the meantime, councillor Alison Edmonds volunteered to pay for two temporary signs out of her own pocket, while they wait and hope for more official signage. Ms West says the mother was originally followed by 12 ducklings in tow, but four have gradually been lost to predators and environmental factors. "Dying of natural causes is more bearable, but being squashed would be so unpleasant," she said. She added it is unlikely the birds could avoid a vehicle approaching them at speed. "They're so small you could fit them in the palm of your hand. When you watch them crossing the road, they struggle to hop up onto the pavement." The 61-year-old recalled a "terrifying" incident where a van drove over the entire family, but they "miraculously" ended up between the four wheels, unscathed. "I nearly had a heart attack," she said. "I was so scared the whole lot had been killed in front of me. "Every day we count the ducklings to make sure they're all still there. People tear through the village, it's only a matter of time. "We've done what we can but it's not enough, it's now up to the council to do their bit to protect them." Follow BBC Wiltshire on Facebook, X and Instagram. Send your story ideas to us on email or via WhatsApp on 0800 313 4630. Thousands raised for memorial after geese killed Fears missing village geese may 'have been killed' Ducks shot dead and left in woodland Aldbourne Parish Council
BBC News
08-07-2025
- General
- BBC News
Aldbourne villagers install signs to protect family of ducks
Concerned residents are calling upon their local council to help protect a flock of ducklings from speeding West has lived in Aldbourne, Wiltshire, her entire life and said the eight ducklings and their mother have become a beloved fixture in their small witnessing countless "near misses", she implored Aldbourne Parish Council to install prominent 'duck crossing' warning signs on the B4192, but to no Parish Council said it will ultimately be up to the highways department at Wiltshire Council whether the signs are permanently installed on the road. The issue will be raised at a parish council meeting on the meantime, councillor Alison Edmonds volunteered to pay for two temporary signs out of her own pocket, while they wait and hope for more official signage. Ms West says the mother was originally followed by 12 ducklings in tow, but four have gradually been lost to predators and environmental factors."Dying of natural causes is more bearable, but being squashed would be so unpleasant," she added it is unlikely the birds could avoid a vehicle approaching them at speed."They're so small you could fit them in the palm of your hand. When you watch them crossing the road, they struggle to hop up onto the pavement." The 61-year-old recalled a "terrifying" incident where a van drove over the entire family, but they "miraculously" ended up between the four wheels, unscathed. "I nearly had a heart attack," she said. "I was so scared the whole lot had been killed in front of me. "Every day we count the ducklings to make sure they're all still there. People tear through the village, it's only a matter of time."We've done what we can but it's not enough, it's now up to the council to do their bit to protect them."
BBC News
04-07-2025
- BBC News
'Pioneering' surgery and '86-year-old's first tattoo'
Here's our daily pick of stories from across local websites in the west of England, and interesting content from social media. Our pick of local website stories Swindon Advertiser has written about a distressing video that shows a secondary school student who uses a wheelchair being dragged to the floor and attacked by another a more positive note, ITV West Country has shared the story of a Somerset boy whose epileptic seizures have disappeared after he received "pioneering" neurosurgery at Bristol Children's the Stroud News & Journal has shared details of how the discovery of two Roman swords has led to a new ancient settlement being found near Chipping Campden in the Cotswolds. Our top three from yesterday Dirty nappies and stained clothes left at charity shopsLost Turner work sold as museum outbid at auctionMum haunted by daughter's final weeks on hospital ward What to watch on social media Gloucestershire County Council is reminding people that telecare alarms may no longer work after landline phones switch to been a huge reaction on Reddit to a Bristol man's first tattoo at the age of in Aldbourne have been putting up signs telling drivers about duck-crossing areas - they hope the parish council will make them permanent soon.
BBC News
17-06-2025
- General
- BBC News
Funeral celebrates life of one of the last survivors of D-Day
The funeral of one of the last survivors of the assault on the D-Day beaches in 1944 has been held at Wiltshire Newton. from the village of Aldbourne, was 20 years old on D-Day when he was part of a tank crew sent to attack a German blockhouse. His amphibious Sherman Tank was among the first to land on Gold Beach on 6 as "feisty, driven, a little bit mischievous", he was involved in the D-Day 80th anniversary commemorations, and even had a French school named after Graeme Green, the regimental secretary for the Royal Dragoon Guards, described Mr Newton as a "great guy" who always had a "little glint in his eye". He added that Mr Newton was "driven to commemorate his fallen comrades".At the funeral earlier at North Wiltshire Crematorium, near Royal Wootton Bassett, a message was played from the Cecil Newton Primary School in Normandy. Mr Newton was a trooper in the 4th/7th Royal Dragoon Guards and a loader in an amphibious Sherman Tank crew."I was never nervous. I was too young to be nervous. I hadn't got the imagination," he said in a BBC interview about D-day. Along with his crew, he was in action for just a few moments."It was just off the landing craft into the water, an engagement with the blockhouse and then we sank," he said. Later in the war, in November 1944, he was severely wounded with a leg injury and was shot three times when his tank came under attack in a German described himself as "exceptionally lucky to survive" the later those he knew who died in the war was Mr Newton's brother Frederic - shot dead by two Germans who raised their hands to surrender, but then opened June 2024, Mr Newton travelled back to France to take part in the D-Day 80th anniversary also visited a French school named after him and some of the places his comrades fell in battle.
