A family will be spoilt this festive season after being picked for the Bath Chronicle's 'Win a Christmas' competition.

Marianne and Richard Staniforth have won everything they need to make this festive season extra special.

And the couple plan to share out their prize with friends and family to ensure everyone has a merry Christmas.

Mrs Staniforth, 56, said: "I was ecstatic to win - this is the third year that I have entered the competition.

"I always enjoy competitions, but have never won anything like this before.

"The prize is so big that I am going to share it with other people."

Mrs Staniforth, from Melksham, will be taking her children Dudley, 18, and Fiona, 16 to the panto at the Theatre Royal.

She has given the tickets to see Santa on the Avon Valley Railway to a neighbour and her children, and will be sharing the turkey from Larkhall Butchers with her parents.

Mrs Staniforth plans to use the hot air balloon tickets for a treat for her husband on his birthday in May.

She said: "I am just floating on cloud nine at the moment, it hasn't really sunk in that I have won.

"It is such a brilliant prize and I am so pleased."

Mrs Staniforth will be able to treat loved ones with the £25 gift card to spend at any Somerset farmers market, and a £100 gift card to spend at Waterstones.

Food and drink over the festive period includes a £100 pizza voucher at Dominos, a large Christmas cake from Bakers of Bath, a Caerphilly hamper from Caerphilly Christmas Market, and a magnum of Grande Marque Champagne from Great Western Wine.

The family home will be nicely decorated by a 6ft Premium Nordman Christmas tree.

Entertainment comes in the form of family tickets to a Christmas Carol Sing-along event at Bristol's Colston Hall as well as six tickets to see a Christmas show at Komedia, and a 4x4 off-road driving experience from Drive Tech.

They will then be able to relax with a Champney's facial for two, and some beauty packs.

A run by 200 Santa-clad fundraisers has brought in £5,000 for a children's charity.

The runners took part in the Children's Hospice South West (CHSW) Santas on the Run event in Bath last week.

The 2km fun run started at the SouthGate shopping centre and all participants received a medal and mince pie at the finish.

The charity's events fundraiser Jen Waldron said: "We would like to thank all the Santas who took part. We are expecting to raise £5,000 which will help enable us to keep supporting local life-limited children and their families."

The organisation provides respite care for children with life-limiting and life-threatening conditions, and vital support for their families.

To find out more about CHSW, log on to www.chsw.org.uk/ christmas-fundraising or telephone 01275 866600.

A group of Bath schoolgirls have rowed 140 miles without leaving the gym to back a charity.

The 23 GCSE PE students from the Royal High School took on the challenge as part of the 140th anniversary celebrations of the Girls' Day School Trust.

They all pitched in to row four 15-minute slots during a 12-hour period and all the money raised from sponsorship has been donated to Cancer Research UK.

Director of sport and PE Zoe Sheffield said the girls had worked hard to raise money for such an important charity.

She said: "Every year more people in the UK die from cancer than any other disease and sadly more than one in three of us will develop cancer at some point in our lives.

"The school is very proud of what the girls are doing for such a great cause."

This week, talks have once again taken place over the future complexion of European club rugby.

Few, except those with vested interests in retaining the status quo, would argue that the current qualification arrangements are either fair or acceptable.

Bath chairman Bruce Craig – who is also the deputy chairman of Premiership Rugby, the umbrella group that represents the top English clubs – is understood to be playing a central role in the negotiations.

And, from a West Country perspective, it's great for Bath to have a vocal, articulate owner who is prepared to pipe up.

Much has been made of how the Scottish, Welsh and Irish clubs enjoy all but guaranteed qualification to the Heineken Cup, while English and French sides have to slug it out and finish in the top six of the Premiership and Top 14 respectively if they are to enjoy top-flight European rugby.

No doubt the Celtic nations' generous pathway to regular Heineken Cup rugby will continue to be high on the agenda. But what of Italian rugby's guaranteed two slots in the Heineken? And what of Italian club involvement in European rugby more generally?

The accepted wisdom – which has gained some support by some excellent wins in the Six Nations by the Italian national team – is that rugby is a growing sport in Italy and that the best way to ensure it continues to grow is to give clubs guaranteed exposure on the big stage.

Unfortunately, all the evidence is that Italian franchises and clubs just aren't cutting the mustard or improving sufficiently – and that Italian teams are hogging prized European spots that should go to clubs from other countries which have earned the right.

The two Italian franchises with guaranteed spots in the Heineken Cup, Treviso and Zebre, are point-less in this year's competition so far, having conceded 218 points between them after three rounds.

In fairness, Treviso have shown some flashes of quality in both the Heineken and Pro12 in the past couple of season, so a case could – at a stretch – be made for their inclusion. Zebre's inclusion is far harder to justify.

The club was effectively conjured out of thin air over the summer after Aironi, the previous Italian venture to have an assured Heineken spot, hit financial trouble.

It is a side yet to prove itself, yet it walked into a Heineken spot at the expense of the likes of Gloucester, Perpignan and Bath.

Elsewhere, in this season's Amlin Cup, Rovigo, Mogliano, Calvisano and Cavalieri have all failed to win a match between them.

Italian club rugby is being whipped and embarrassed in whichever direction you look.

This current arrangement does European club rugby no favours and helps no one, least of all the Italians themselves.

The Royal United Hospital has been given a vote of confidence by its accident and emergency patients.

The hospital scored well in a survey which questioned more than 300 patients.

The overall view of the A&E experience was given a mark of eight out of ten – about the same as other hospitals across the country.

It scored 9.1 for the overall respect and dignity afforded to people, but only 3.5 out of ten for the level of information about how patients could complain about care.

Its best performances – where the hospital scored better than most others – came in the way patients were dealt with at reception and while waiting.

It scored eight for privacy at reception, 7.5 for the wait to be seen by the first triage doctor or nurse, and 7.1 for the wait before actually being examined.

The RUH was one of 66 trusts assessed by the Picker Institute Europe, an organisation that lets patients' views be heard.

Patients were asked a series of questions about their arrival at the emergency department, environment and facilities, and waiting time.

Emergency department matron Mandy Rumble said: "We are delighted with these results which reflect all of the hard work that goes into delivering emergency care.

"It is particularly pleasing to see that we have improved the experience of patients during a time when we have seen year on year increases in the actual number of patients attending the ED.

"We know that when patients visit the ED they may be worried, distressed and in pain, and our receptionists, who are trained in customer service, deliver an excellent first impression of the hospital.

"We recognise that there are still too many patients who do not feel they have been given enough privacy when discussing their condition, and this is a national issue which we will continue working to address."

In 2011-12 69,508 people attended the department, with 26,968 being admitted to the hospital.

This is higher than the previous year, where there were 66,228 visits and 25,110 admissions.

Picker chose a random sample of patients who attended the hospital in January.

The questionnaire was sent to 813 patients, and 323 returned it, giving a response rate of 40 per cent.

The survey also found that 98 per cent of people felt safe, 95 per cent felt the department was clean, and 86 per cent said they were not delayed when they were ready to leave.

A Christmas Eve blood donation session has been organised in a bid to tackle a looming shortage this winter.

In the last ten years, the number of donors across the country has declined by 20 per cent.

NHS Blood and Transplant has launched a campaign to find 100 new blood donors in 100 days across Bath and north east Somerset. A number of extra sessions will be taking place across the city, including on Christmas Eve in Midsomer Norton, in a bid to encourage people to donate before February 14. Donor relations co-ordinator Geraldine Parker said: "We try and have a push for donations at this time of year because it is more difficult for people to come out and give blood.

"While we appreciate people are often very busy shopping for presents and planning get-togethers at this time of the year, donated blood is needed just as much as ever in December.

"As a result, we are appealing for people here in B&NES to show warm hearts by taking just a little time out to give blood this Christmas.

"We are particularly keen for younger people and those who have not given blood before to get in touch so that they can become the lifesavers of the future."

The team is aiming to collect 21,344 units of blood in B&NES during the current financial year.

The blood goes to the NHSBT centre in Filton in Bristol, which is stocked with more than 1,000 gallons of blood, and handles 11,500 blood donations a year.

The unit provides blood to 100 hospitals across the South West of England, and donations have to be processed quickly as red cells last only 35 days.

People can donate at one of the following sessions:

December 24, Midsomer Norton Community Hall, Gullick Tyning, 10am until 2pm.

December 27, Bath City Football Club, Twerton, 10am until 2pm.

December 28, St Philip's and St James Church, Odd Down, 1.30pm until 3.30pm or 4.30pm until 7.30pm.

Call 0800 123 2323 to book an appointment or visit www.blood.co.uk.

To give blood you must be aged between 17 and 65, in good health, and weigh at least 7st 12lb. Men can donate every 12 weeks, while women can donate every 16 weeks.

Bath Racecourse general manager Jo Hall gives her view on the horse racing scene...

It may have been a quiet month in terms of track action at Bath but the rest of the racing world has provided its fair share of drama and excitement.

Somerset trainer Paul Nicholls declared the end of an era as one of the greatest steeplechasers in history, Kauto Star, was retired. Kauto will be remembered for his numerous big race-successes and ability to bounce back after things went wrong.

Nicholls already seems to be making light work of filling the void left by the retirements of Kauto, Denman and Master Minded. A week after Al Ferof's four-length success in the Paddy Power Gold Cup – which secured his place as second favourite for the King George VI Chase at Kempton Park on Boxing Day – he clinched his fifth Betfair chase.

For many jump-racing fans, the highlight of the festive season is the King George and this month Long Run may attempt to emulate Kauto by regaining his crown. Another intriguing entry includes Sir De Champs, unbeaten since joining Irish champion trainer Willie Mullins and already a winner at two Cheltenham Festivals.

The Coral Welsh National at Chepstow on December 27 marks the 40th year of the bookmaker's sponsorship of this famous staying prize. Teaforthree is among the 55 entries and has been installed as the 7/1 market leader with the sponsors.

Entries include a strong Nicholls team featuring Tidal Bay, Harry the Viking, Join Together, Royal Charm and Michel Le Bon.

Racing returns here at Bath on Friday, April 19 but in the meantime we will be kept busy with conferences, weddings, meetings and our famous Christmas parties plus, of course, vital preparations for the 2013 season.

We'll have 20 exciting fixtures next year, including our eagerly-anticipated Ladies Day and famous Cider Festival Racenight, where The Wurzels will be back to entertain racegoers for the sixth year running.

For regular updates, visit www.bath-racecourse.co.uk.

Seven new low-floor buses equipped with leather seats will soon be running on a key route through Bath.

Operator First has spent £900,000 on the buses which will be used on the 13 route between Foxhill and Bathford.

The firm is billing the investment as an early Christmas present for the city.

The vehicles all have accessible low floor entry and leather seats, and are powered by engines designed to offer exceptional performance, lower noise, and reduced emissions.

The buses, which are painted in the firm's new West of England livery, come hard on the heels of new park-and-ride vehicles for the city.

First regional managing director Justin Davies said: "This is an exciting development for Bath.

"It comes on the back of £2.5 million worth of investment that we made in October when we put eight brand new hybrid buses into service on the park-and-ride routes and provides a further boost for our operations in Bath.

"Each of these new buses has cost us in the region of £129,000 but the investment is worth it if we can use it to help grow the service and encourage more people to use public transport in the city."

Bath and North East Somerset Council will now improve bus stops and shelters along the route, which serves St Martin's Hospital at Odd Down, and Batheaston.

The authority's transport cabinet member Councillor Roger Symonds (Lib Dem, Combe Down) added: "This is good news for bus passengers on the number 13 route and it is an endorsement of First's and the council's policy of working together to deliver better bus services to the people of B&NES.

"We are anxious to make all buses accessible in the near future.

"The council will keep its part of the bargain to provide accessible bus stops and new bus shelters."

Paragon Singers
Monteverdi Vespers of 1610
Wiltshire Music Centre

There will have been those who thought: Monteverdi Vespers? At Christmas?  In fact Vespers is the Christian service of evening prayer, appropriate in Advent and throughout the year.  And this, from the opening  tenor recitative was a performance to relish, a sumptuous combination of superb soloists: a meticulous, authentic sound from the Bradford Baroque Band on period instruments  and the choir energised by the quality of the solo singers and players. 
The two tenors, Mark Dobell and Jeremy Budd were sublime, the antiphonal affect wonderfully effective, especially in the Magnificat.  Faye Newton's Sancta Maria matching the cornetts and sackbutts with her striking coloratura – how the voice has richened and developed.  And the match with Katharine Hawnt in the Pulchra es was exquisite.  Aaron Burchell's alto has a fine warm tone and I'd liked to have heard more of him in the Magnificat.  Niall Hoskin and Phil Brotheridge provided a good robust baritone.

The Band was impeccable, with the wind instruments producing their highly individual sound alongside immaculate strings, chittarone and chamber organ.  If they were occasionally dominant, the effect was still spine-tingling, and the choir responded with some beautifully controlled piano singing,  particularly in the Ave Maris Stella, with its constantly changing combination of solos, and chorus, surging through in the final Spiritui Sancto.  The Duo Seraphim was, quite literally, heavenly, the harmony luxuriant, sung with style and artistry. 

And the final Magnificat, with its extraordinary range of colours and textures, bound together by the cantus firmus, was exactly the kind of exuberant joyful climax Monteverdi would have wanted.  The choir hit top form, the balance and quality of the sound giving the work an explosion of ebullience and jubilant good humour.  I hope conductor Keith Bennett and his musicians enjoyed this outpouring of Monteverdi's genius as much as a packed and enthusiastic audience.  Vespers for Christmas? Absolutely.
Peter Lloyd Williams

A night shelter which has just emerged from a £460,000 revamp is already having to turn homeless people away this winter.

The Julian House charity is looking for extra public support this Christmas as it battles to keep up with demand for its services.

Its Christmas Appeal, which aims to raise £100,000, has so far made just over £21,000.

This is slightly down on the same period last year, but the charity is hoping that the city's Christmas spirit will help it to reach the January target.

Its shelter in Manvers Street has recently reopened after a facelift which has created individual pod-style bedrooms, allowing it to accommodate more women.

But the 20-bed unit and a nine-bed annexe are already at capacity, and with a prolonged period of icy weather forecast this will make life difficult for those having to survive on the streets.

Fundraising manager Cecil Weir is concerned that bad weather will stretch the organisation's resources over an already busy period.

He said: "The night shelter reopened on November 28 and since then we have been full almost every night.

"It has been impressive to see how quickly the staff have been able to get everything up and running in, what is, a brand new environment.

"However, it is deeply frustrating for all of us that we're still having to turn people away – such is the level of homelessness at the moment in Bath.

"Just to make things even more difficult we now have an icy spell forecast, tough enough if you are trying to keep your home heated and drive safely to work, but even more challenging for those you find themselves sleeping outside."

He said the onset of worse weather would see the refectory area converted into a makeshift dormitory, with mattresses on the floor.

"We didn't expect to be doing this so soon but we are literally talking about helping to save lives."

Mr Weir has been organising the campaign for 12 years.

He said: "Although homelessness is very much a 365 day-a-year problem, the public's awareness is at its height around Christmas; that's why we focus our fundraising efforts now.

"The money that we raise over these weeks funds our work throughout the year.

"In many ways it's just as tough being homeless in July as it is in December.

"We would urge the public to consider supporting our work.

"Our goal is to ensure that no one needs to sleep rough and try and reconnect these desperate men and women back into their local community, with more support more could be achieved."

To donate, use the form on this page or go to www.julianhouse. org.uk.

There are new faces at one of the city's most stylish second-hand clothes shop.

The Bath Frock Exchange in Kingsmead Square is under new management and after a refurbishment the business has relaunched.

Business trio, Anne-Marie Marchent along with mother and daughter Sharon and Emma Savage, took over the shop in October.

The shop, which sells pre-owned fashion labels from Louis Vuitton and Dolce and Gabbana to Prada and Vera Wang, stocks a variety of items including dresses, coats, shoes, boots, handbags and hats.

The women have also extended the business so customers can now also enjoy beauty treatments.

Ms Marchent said: "We had a beauty salon in Farrington Gurney, which we had recently extended to include a very small dress agency. This business came up for sale and we decided to move into Bath.

"We focus on designer labels but do take very top end high street names and we aim to keep clothes out no longer than four to six weeks so every time a customer comes there are new clothes to see.

"A lot of what we sell has only been worn once or not worn at all."

There are also plans to develop the shop's website so customers can view and reserve all stock online.

Bath's Tiola Gleeson has been selected as the youngest member of the British squad for the Australian Youth Olympic Festival in January.

The 12-year-old Ralph Allen schoolgirl trains under the guidance of coach Sarah Moon at City of Bath Rhythmic Gymnastics Club and will follow in the footsteps of two members of the history-making Team GB squad when she competes in Sydney last month.

Club-mate Lynne Hutchison took part in the last festival in 2009 and helped GB win a bronze medal. She and compatriot Jade Faulkner both moved into group rhythmic gymnastics and represented their country at London 2012.

Tiola competed in the selection event back in October and, due to a change in age group, will compete as a junior against girls aged up to 15.

Coach Moon said: "This is truly a fantastic opportunity for Tiola. We didn't expect her to be selected and it's just fabulous that she has been. I hope she can use this fantastic opportunity to set her up for the future."

Tiola's 12-year-old club-mate Selina Brown also attended the trials but finished outside the selection spots due to illness.

City of Bath, a community non-profit making club, is now looking for sponsorship to encourage and maintain its international success. Anybody interested should contact Jess Roxburgh on jessi_roxy1@hotmail.co.uk or 07539 810635.

Homeless people in Bath will be able to have a warm bed and a roast dinner on Christmas Day thanks to the generosity of a woman whose brother was looked after at Julian House.

Geraldine Marsh, 49, donates £60 every December for 20 people to stay in the Julian House night shelter on Christmas Eve and have a cooked dinner on the day itself.

She started this seven years ago, when her brother Darren Waldie, who died in 2006 at the age of 35, was staying at the shelter.

Mrs Marsh said: "What is £60 really?

"Christmas is a special time, and I wanted people who have no home to have somewhere to go and a nice meal on the day."

Mr Waldie's life had started to spiral out of control after a relationship ended, and that coupled with the death of his mother marked the start of his descent into alcoholism and drug abuse.

Because of this he lost everything, including his children, home and job, and found himself on the streets.

Mrs Marsh, who recently cut the ribbon on new facilities at Julian House, said: "All it takes is for one thing to go wrong and your life can spiral out of control very fast."

Mrs Marsh could not have her brother to stay, as she has two young children, but she worried about him constantly, and bought him a mobile phone so they could keep in touch.

She was relieved when he started staying at Julian House, and said: "Julian House is wonderful, and the charity supports homeless people with all aspects of their lives.

"It is so important to support Julian House, as you never know if you or a friend or relative may one day need their help.

"The new shelter is wonderful, and I was so proud to have been asked to cut the ribbon.

"It will greatly benefit people, with more privacy and the fact that it is open 24 hours."

A new centre which aims to find new ways of getting disabled people fit has appointed its first research fellow.

The DASH Centre at the University of Bath was launched earlier this year to change lives through research into disability, physical activity and health.

Now Jean-Philippe Walhin has been appointed as the Susan Whorrod Research Fellow at the centre, which is on the Claverton Down campus where Britain's Paralympic squad prepared for this summer's games.

It has been supported by major donations from former students and friends of the university, including Mrs Whorrod who made a donation of £250,000.

Her husband Roger was one of the university's earliest graduates and in 2010 donated £500,000 which was doubled by a Government match-funding scheme to provide a £1 million boost to the its research into sustainable chemical technologies.

Mrs Whorrod was inspired to support the DASH Centre following a career in nursing, working both as a front line sister and a nursing manager.

Researchers will investigate the role of physical activity in maintaining health among disabled groups. Evidence suggests that spinal cord injured paraplegics have a 60 per cent increased risk of cardiovascular disease, and a 400 per cent higher risk of developing type-2 diabetes. It is not clear whether this risk is a direct result of their disability or a less active lifestyle.

Mr Walhin joined the university seven years ago as a research officer on a project jointly funded by the campus and the British Heart Foundation which investigated the effect of diet and exercise in type-2 diabetes. He said: "This is a fantastic opportunity to apply our existing expertise and knowledge in the area and translate this to the wider disabled population."