Wadworth Shire Horses

Wadworth Shire horses retirement 'end of an era' for Devizes

This is not quite local to us here in Compton Bassett but seeing it in print planted a seed in my mind that I just wanted to share.

Wadworth recently announced the retirement of its beloved Shire horses which, barring a brief interruption, had been delivering beers to pubs in Devizes and the surrounding villages for 125 years. Explaining the decision, managing director Toby Bartholomew cited the difficulties of carrying out local deliveries following the relocation of the brewery to Folly Road alongside rising financial pressures worsened by the government’s autumn budget.

It is a political/commercial decision about which I am not qualified to have an opinion on. However, when I first came to the area 30 years or more ago, I was learning my way around living here. Which shops to use, which pubs and where to spend my time. One Sunday morning I was sitting in my car in Devizes Square as I read the headlines in my Sunday paper, enjoying the early morning sunshine. Two magificent Shire horses with their handlers, such beautiful, powerful, animals who were being lead from their stables at the brewery down to wherever their Sunday paddock was. They were like two spaniel puppies going for their first walkies after a long wet week. Except they were over a tonne in weight and just as excitable, more than a single handler could properly control. ut they were wonderful and immediately became part of my Sunday morning program after collecting my paper. My grandparents used to have their milk delivered by a horse drawn milk float. The horse used to know his route and where each delivery was. The float had a chain through the spokes of the back wheel which offered little resistance to this giant powerful animal and when the milkman reappeared from his previous delivery his horse and float was already waiting at the next stop on his route. My grandparents house was on the edge of the footpath beside the road and the horse knew Gramps was there and always had a peppermint in hia pocket that the horse wouldn't pass until he had got. I often remember the sight of that giant of an animala coming across the footpath and up the steps. His front hairy hooves in the doorway and his huge head through the door looking for his peppermint. As an 8year old boy I was so sad when the horses were retired and the milk floats were all replaced with elecric floats. Interesting but they had no soul.

I'll miss the old Shires in Devizes with the same sadness as that young boy many years ago stood at the door of his granddads house in Peterborough

The spring 2025 COVID-19 vaccination campaign

Notifications recieved from Wiltshire Council

There are still many people aged 75 and over that have not come forward for their Spring Covid booster. It is important that people don’t wait to be called by their GP for this booster but book their booster as soon as possible if there first booster was more than six months ago.

Traffic Mirrors Policy

Compton Bassett Parish Council do not believe it appropriate to have traffic mirrors in a conservation area, they are unsightly and distracting.

The Parish Council strongly advise against traffic mirrors and would object to any applications for traffic mirrors. Neither is it the practice of Wiltshire Council to authorise the use of mirrors as their road safety benefits are very much in doubt.

Experience shows that mirrors on public highways can increase safety risks, which include:

• reflected light and interference with adriver’s vision
• reduced ability to judge an oncoming vehicle’s speed
• creating an unreasonable dependence on the mirror
• if dirty, the mirror may distort or restrict the view
• mirrors may be a target for vandals.

Drivers involved in accidents often seek to apportion blame and the erection of a mirror on the highway could result in claims against the Highway Authority. Other solutions may be available, for example cutting backvegetation or realigning boundary fences.

Cllr Pete Szczesiak
Chair - Compton Bassett Parish Council
April 2022