ATLANTIC crossings featured in two of our stories four decades ago.

Roly Poulson was an 80-year-old man originally from Corsham and a lifelong Swindon Town supporter.

He had just flown back to his home in Canada after seeing Britain for the first time since 1935, and had made sure to visit the County Ground.

We said: “He emigrated from Corsham to Vancouver, 9,000 miles away - but continued to follow the fortunes of his favourite soccer team.

“The club invited Roly to visit the ground while he was in this country. He saw Town lose 1-0 to Blackpool and beat Sheffield Wednesday 3-0.

“Roly also met the players at a training session. And, before flying back to Canada, he presented £100 to the club.”

The other ocean crossing featured in our pages was a one-way trip to be made in the near future, and by machines rather than a person.

State-owned car manufacturer British Leyland was anxious to meet thriving American demand for its iconic wedge-shaped TR-7 sports car, which meant production had to be stepped up. What was then the Pressed Steel Fisher plant but is now BMW became a vital cog in the machine, and began turning out bodies.

We said: “Behind all the ballyhoo of Swindon’s TR-7 launch lies an awful lot of hard graft by the town’s car-making workforce.

“And the mammoth effort from the 5,000-strong Pressed Steel Fisher plant just shows that British workers can be as determined and fast as any competitor.

“In just four short months - and over a month ahead of schedule - the Swindon men have got the Triumph production line rolling.

“Now up to 1,000 cars a week should be coming off the line as finished body shells. They will then be taken from Swindon to Triumph’s Canley plant in Coventry for painting and finishing.”

According to online records, as little over 300 TR7s are still on British Roads.

It is difficult to find a definitive total for America, but it’s a fair bet that plenty of examples put together by Swindon hands still cruise that vast country’s highways.

Another transport-related story that week 40 years ago was of a different kind altogether.

British Rail, in partnership with a London educational organisation called the Mutual Aid Centre, decided to offer morning commuters along the main line to Paddington the chance to improve their minds.

Anybody who wasn’t already preoccupied with catching up on sleep, reading, trying to digest a hasty breakfast or perhaps melancholically pondering their life choices could head for a special carriage.

There they found volunteer tutors waiting to deliver instruction in French, Japanese, German, business management, economics, statistics, maths and antiques.

The project was led by social anthropologist Dr Pamela le Pelley, who was persuaded to don a mortarboard and gown by a reporter from a national newspaper. The Adver’s reporter confined himself to seeking out students. Unfortunately, the carriage was so crowded with journalists that he couldn’t find any, and the crush was so bad that the Japanese teacher couldn’t get in.

“On top of this,” we added, “two non-studying commuters had found their way into the reserved coach. ‘Why should I move? I’ve paid my money to travel on this train just like everyone else,’ said one.”

The undaunted Dr le Pelley said she was sure that once the fuss attending the first few days had died down the classes would be of real benefit.

She went on to write a book about the project, which grew and endured until British Rail’s network was broken up and privatised in the mid-1990s.

Yet another Adver story involving travel of one form or another involved that year’s Miss Thamesdown 17-year-old Donna Gordon from Blunsdon.

She had recently won the Swindon heat of a national beauty contest called Miss Cinema, and we sent a reporter and photographer with her to the regional finals in Bristol.

Ever level-headed, Donna told us: “It’s a way of getting noticed.

“I think the bigger contests help girls to get modelling work. It doesn’t matter if you don’t win - although that’s nice - it’s getting your face known that counts.”

As it turned out, Donna was not successful in the Bristol contest, perhaps because she had a cold, but the following year saw her make the southern regional finals of Miss Great Britain contest and head for London to join a professional disco dance troupe, Grant Santino and his Family.

In later years Donna became a mother and qualified as a travel agent.

One of her daughters, Jo Logan, was crowned Miss Wiltshire in 2011.

The following year we spoke to Donna, who was by then an assistant at the Central Library.

She told us: “It’s absolutely wonderful because she is a Swindon girl like myself and she is very much interested in the local area. She wants to be involved with local things like I was back then.”