REVIEW OF THE YEAR: A look back at Salisbury's top stories of 2023

This is part two, covering May to August. 

You can look back at part one here. 

May

• WHILE people from around the world descended on London for the opportunity to spot the royal procession go by, hundreds also gathered at Salisbury Cathedral for its screening of the Coronation of His Majesty King Charles III and Her Majesty Queen Camilla. 

• Councillor Atiqul Hoque became the 762nd mayor of Salisbury. More than 200 civic dignitaries including mayors from neighbouring towns and cities, witnessed the handover of the mayoral chain from Cllr Tom Corbin to Cllr Hoque, who is the city’s first ever Bangladeshi mayor. 
• AN AUDIENCE member was left “disgusted and appalled” by a performance of a Harry Potter themed event at the Arts Centre. Victoria Flint attended Spontaneous Potter with her boyfriend to celebrate her 42nd birthday. Victoria said: “The first thing that the main character said when opening the show was, ‘I have never watched a single Harry Potter film or read a single Harry Potter book’.”

Victoria Flint (Image: Joshua Truksa)

• SALISBURY Live held its flagship annual event at River Bourne Community Farm in Laverstock to much acclaim, drawing the biggest crowds ever seen as the event enjoyed sunny skies on a warm May day. 

June

• Archaeological digs on Netherhampton Road uncovered fascinating bronze age findings. The team uncovered five Bronze Age barrows (circa 2400 BC 700 BC) spread across two excavation areas, ten burials, three unurned cremation burials, an Iron Age lynchet, a large number of pits and postholes dating from the Neolithic andLate Bronze Age plus pottery, knives and red deer antler. 

Area 1 Central and Eastern ring ditches with the cathedral behind (Image: Vistry Group)

• It was announced that the Salisbury City parish poll cost taxpayers nearly £40,000 – more than double what was projected.
• Salisbury Rugby Club celebrated 100 years of playing as Salisbury RFC, the “Green and Whites” with a special weekend full of events. The highlight of the weekend was a Gala Dinner in a large marquee at the Clubhouse where 230 guests gathered for a four-course meal and some entertaining speeches.

Salisbury Rugby Club centenary weekend celebrations (Image: John Palmer)

• The Everyman cinema opened its doors on Endless Street after months of anticipation. 

• A fire ripped through 16 flats in Amesbury and left a number of families without homes.
• This year’s Chalke Valley History began with a packed audience listening to former Prime Minister Sir John Major talking about his life in politics. In a conversation with historian and journalist Tim Bouverie, Sir John gave details of his friendship with Boris Yeltsin, the relationship with his predecessor, Margaret Thatcher and was trenchant in his belief that we should have remained in the EU.

July

• Plans to build an underground tunnel near Stonehenge were given the green light by the government. The approved £1.7bn project was met with backlash as one campaign leader, Tom Holland, described the plans as “an act of vandalism that shames Britain”.
• A row was sparked after Salisbury City Council voted to scrap hanging baskets and decided to retire Gilbert the Dragon. 
• Retired teacher Piers Le Cheminant, 77, was jailed for nine years after being found guilty of sexually assaulting boys at Salisbury Cathedral School.
• A strength gym brought home a world record along with 16 medals following a powerlifting championship. Twenty members of 349 Barbell, at High Post, competed in the British Powerlifting Championship and one world, five British and two European records were broken.

 
August

• A father was stabbed to death in broad daylight outside the Spar in Bemerton Heath. Maurice Jones, 25, was charged with murder following the death of Tsvetomir Genov, 20, on August 22. His trial is set to take place next summer. Armed police officers guarded the scene and locals said the incident left them feeling shocked and upset.

Armed police in Bemerton Heath (Image: Spencer Mulholland)

• Dozens of residents staged a protest demanding City Hall be reopened immediately, despite the leader of Wiltshire Council keeping firm that he remained committed to reopening it as an entertainment venue.
• Fisherton Street became one-way as phase one of the transformation Gateway Project to widen the pavement began. It marked the start of a year-long disruption to traffic to make the street “easier, safer and more convenient to travel by foot into the city centre”.

• A Retired Cold War jet was added to Boscombe Down Aviation Collection in Old Sarum. The two-seater Jaguar XX145 arrived at the aviation museum almost 50 years after its first flight.