ST MARY'S JUNIOR SCHOOL
The long running saga of Marjorie Evans, headteacher of St Mary's, took yet more twists. At the start of the month she was re-instated by school governors following her acquittal upon appeal of a charge of common assault against a pupil. Other charges against her had also been dropped by Gwent police following a report from the Crown Prosecution Service. 56 year old Mrs Evans stated that she was looking forward to returning to the school as soon as possible.
Nevertheless, internal disciplinary action against Mrs Evans remains on the cards. Discussion of the 400 page report compiled by Gwent police produced a rift between governors body. While the governing body decided not to convene a disciplinary panel it did not rule out the possibility of future action. One of the governors, County Councillor Graham Powell, stated that he would ask the local education authority to dismiss the existing body and appoint a new one if disciplinary action was taken.
It is understood that several governors, including supporters of Mrs Evans, were angered by Councillor Powell's public outburst, as well as by his practice of speaking to the press in advance of the release of agreed statements. Councillor Powell had already outraged fellow Labour councillors, who had withdrawn the whip form him following accusations that he had harassed a council official at County Hall. The local educational authority followed-up this action by establishing a panel to discuss his position as school governor. If the panel, which is due to meet early in December, finds against him he could be removed from his position.

BUSINESS AND EMPLOYMENT NEWS
LLANWERN: Hopes of securing the future of jobs at Llanwern Steelworks were raised by news that Corus Steel had abandoned its attempts to buy the Huta Catowice steel plant in Poland. Nevertheless, deep concerns remained that, as adverse trading conditions continued to hit sales, Corus would retract its decision to invest £35 million on relining the Number Three blast furnace at Llanwern.
OLD PILL FARM: Monmouthshire County Council has received a £178,000 grant to complete the refurbishment of Caldicot's Old Pill Farm Industrial Estate. The grant will allow the clearing of three old Nissen huts and the conversion of a 2000 square feet stone barn in the middle of the estate into five small units.
MITEL: Management at the Caldicot telecommunications plant, which employs 865 people, announced that it was hoping to create sixty highly skilled jobs. The expansion will be dependent upon a decision by directors in Canada, who will decide whether to invest in Caldicot or in Mitel plants elsewhere in the UK, Sweden or in the Far East.
WILKINSON'S: The giant Wilkinson Distribution Centre began to supply the company's network of stores. The 850,000 square foot centre at the Gwent Europark, Magor, took twelve months to build and employs 300 people.

FOOTBALL
Caldicot Town F.C. travelled all the way to Anglesey to play Lalnfair PG in the third round of the Welsh Cup on 25th November, only to have the match abandoned after 35 minutes due to a waterlogged pitch. It has not been Caldicot's season so far. The club languishes at the bottom of the CC Sports Welsh League Division 2 with only one point from eight games.

RECTOR RETIRES
Reverend Terry Palmer has retired after 43 years as rector of Portskewett.

REMEMBERING THE FALLEN
A group of Year 11 pupils at Caldicot Comprehensive School produced a Book of Remembrance to commemorate the men who fell during the wars of the 20th century. Copies of the book, which contains details of all those whose names appear on the town war memorial, were presented to Caldicot Library, local churches and the town council. The book was produced with the assistance of a grant from Caldicot Town Council's Millennium Fund. The pupils were following up there project by preparing to publish it on the internet.

WHERE THERE'S MUCK THERE'S BRASS
Thieves stole more than £4,000 worth of copper and other metals from Caldicot Sewage Works.

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