LOOKING back on some of the stories the Gazette has reported through the years...

September 1986

AN INVESTIGATION was under way into the history of a rare stone coffin discovered in a field at Tormarton. 

The exciting find was made when farmer Mr George Gent, of Grange Farm, asked contractors to dig trenches for a barn extension. 

As they excavated the ground they came across stone and underneath it was the coffin. 

Still in situ at the time of reporting, it was identified as dating from the time of the Romans and the discovery of the carved, Bath-stone coffin, which was made for a child, marked the first recorded Roman site in Tormarton. 

The skeletal remains were recovered and moved under the care of Bristol City Museum. 

Further excavations uncovered small amounts of pottery, which dated to the Iron Age. 

Although no traces of buildings were evident it was expected that there were some nearby, as the owners would have been very wealthy to afford a coffin carved in Bath stone, and burials in rural Roman Britain often took place in a cemetery attached to a settlement.

September 1996

A FAILED mission from Berkeley to rescue Yugoslavian children resulted in the formation of a new organisation. 

The crew of a coach, which returned empty-handed from a Hungarian refugee camp, met and decided to form Western Aid Relief (WestAR). 

The organisation planned to send out aid collected following the publicity for the original trip.

It had already received an offer of a lorry and a driver to transport the goods, which included medical supplies and clothes, and had received further pledges of support. 

The group planned to contact the United Nations to identify where the supplies were most needed.

September 2006

AT WEDDINGS, the mother of the bride traditionally confines her role to looking radiant in a big hat and shedding a few tears during the ceremony. 

But Anne Spargo went a step further by conducting the ceremony of her daughter Catherine to Dr Gary Smith herself. 

Anne, who was a doctor at Frampton surgery with her husband Peter, in Frampton-on-Severn, was ordained as a deacon two months previously. 
“It was a great family occasion,” said Anne. 

“I felt really privileged to take the wedding of my first daughter to get married. My daughter Ruth played the cello, my son Robbie played the trumpet and other daughter Emily was the chief bridesmaid.”