Page 6 - link magazine
P. 6

6 	FRESHBROOK & GRANGE PARK
    Freshbrook Village Group                        Exchange teachers return
     Residents' Organisation
                               A year in the lives of four teachers
     Annual General Meeting
                               comes to an end when they return to
           Wednesday           their own schools after exchanging
       11 September, 8pm       jobs. Alice Warne and Ann Fisher
                               return this month to their jobs at
      Freshbrook Community     Freshbrook School occupied by
              Centre           Peggy Doeksen and Murial Hack-
                               ney from Stillwater, Minnesota who
    Residents from Freshbrook and
    Grange Park are invited to attend,   left in July. Before they left, we
                               talked to them about their impres-
     find out about the work of the   sions.
       group which includes the
     management of the community   For Peggy, coming to Britain has
    centre and elect a new committee   left her with more questions than
          for the next year    answers. "It's been a wonderful
                               year, but for me, the more you know
                               the less you know. I feel very posi-
                               tive about my contribution in school
    Pets at Home  but I had a panic attack towards the
                               end, thinking I hadn't done enough
     Worried about who will                               Freshbrook headteacher Phillip Gurney bids bairwell to U.S. teachers Murial
                               or seen enough. There is just so
    look after your pets whilst   much more to see and to find out.   Hackney, left, and Peggy Doeksen
       you're on holiday?        "It's been a year of chaos in your   Peggy and Murial took every op-  their colleagues, and the children
                               education system, a very stressful  portunity to visit the theatre and to   and parents they met in Freshbrook.
     Pets At Home could be     time for teachers. They are so hard  tour the U.K., clocking up 20,000   Next month, we talk to Alice and
          your answer.         working and most surprising,  miles on their travels.   Ann about their experiences in Min-
                               they're so dramatic. The British, far   Both would like to bid farewell to   nesota.
     Pets At Home cares for    from the stereotype of being cold
     pets in their own homes   and unfriendly, have a senseofthea-
        (sorry, no dogs).      tre which permeates the culture.   Reception problems forces
                               School assemblies and classroom
      Telephone Swindon        work are all an exercise in use of   up TV costs for GP residents
            873062             voice, creative expression and gen-  Residents in Grange Park are pinning their hopes on a BBC television
      for furt her details     erating excitement. It's been a rev-  programme to improve TV reception in their area, whilst a hotel chain
                               elation to be part of it."   is also getting the BBC involved in the problem.
                                 Murial reflected more on the edu-  TV pictures have completely dis-
                               cational aspects of their year. "The  appeared in some households over   Poor all over
      Facechoice               focus of education is so different  the last nine months and residents   Since our short item in the
                               here and it took some getting used  are blaming the construction of the   August Link, we've had several
        Pharmacy               to. Here, all subjects are integrated  four star DeVere Hotel on the Shaw   calls and letters regarding poor
                               in project work throughout the day.  Ridge Leisure Park, within a few   TV reception from all parts of
          Freshbrook           We're used to separate subjects in  yards of their homes. They say that   West Swindon. The letters are
        Village Centre         their own time slots.      the building which towers over their   published on page 26, butdoes
                                "We'vebeen amazed by the work-  houses is blocking out the signal,   anybody have solutions?
          Tel: 870226          load of British teachers. They have  but have received a guarded re-  Please let us know.
                               so many responsibilities and pre- sponse from hotel bosses.
          Opening Times:       pare so much of their teaching mate-  Now the BBC consumer pro-  be installed on the hotel roof to im-
         Monday - Friday       rials. They do a great job with such  gramme Them & Us is looking into   prove reception.
            9am   -  1pm       limited resources."        the matter says Marney Road resi-  "DeVere just will not accept that
         215pm - 630pm          Towards the end of the year  dent Brian EveralL He's hoping they   the hotel has ruined reception," said
             Tuesday           Muria I's class performed a short play  will take the project further and ex-  Brian. "I've got nothing against the
     9am- 1pm; 2.15pm-5pm      about two English children return- pose the problem on air. 'We've   building, but the company should
      Saturday  9am - 12noon   ing from the U.S.A. and explaining  seen our TV pictures deteriorate   take into account how the hotel is
                               what they saw there and the differ- since last Christmas when the struc-  affecting people's lives."
                               ences in the language.     ture of the hotel started going up   DeVere Hotels Project Manager
                                                          and by April there was virtually no   Ian Groves denied that the com-
                                                          picture. At times reception im-  pany was being insensitive to the
                                                          proved depending on where the   views of residents. "Being new to
          AUTUMN                                          no difference. I've spent hours re-  be seen as negative or unhelpful in
                                                                                     the area we certainly do not want to
                                                          crane driver parked his crane.
                                                           "We boughtabooster which made
                                                                                     this matter. Whether the construc-
                    NATURE NATURAL TIME FOR PLANTING      positioning and redirecting the   tion of the hotel is affecting the tel-
                                                          aerial, rewiring and generally tink-  evision signal has yet to be proven.
                                                          ering. All channels are affected and   "However we have asked the En-
                  EVERYTHING YOU NEED                     now we've had cable installed out of   gineering Department at the BBC to
                                                          necessity, not choice. It means we   investigate the impact of the hotel
                       TO CREATE YOUR                     pay about £260 a year in licence fees   and to make recommendations to
                                                          and cable charges and not just for   us. We will decide what the best
                         IDEAL GARDEN                     the licence that everybody else pays.   course of action is once we have
                           OPEN DAILY                      "Some residents in the road can't   received their report."
                                                          even get cable and they'vebeen told   He pointed out that his company
                                                          they'll have to pay for it to be laid."   would not be under any legal obli-
           Haydon End Lane, Haydon Wick                    The residents have been in touch   gation toensure that a signal is avail-
                 Tel: Swindon 721221                      with DeVere managementand have   able even if it were shown that the
                                                          suggested that a signal transposer   building was affecting the signal.
   1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   10   11