In this week's Standard (From Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard)

In this week's Standard

Making headlines in the Cotswolds this week

* CIRENCESTER Town's premiership-standard sports arena could be up and running by the autumn if funding can be secured... and this is what it will look like.

The football club has already received planning permission for the £600,000 facility, which will be the envy of many league clubs.

Cirencester are, of course, celebrating a 2-1 win over local rivals Gloucester on Saturday - and there's plenty about that in our sports pages!

* A family of six who have been told to leave their rented home in Cirencester may end up in a B&B in Gloucester because of the dire shortage of rentable accommodation locally.

In just over three weeks the family will have to leave their home whilst their landlord spends two months renovating it.

The local housing association can't guarantee finding the family a new home in time and they can't rent privately as a large deposit would be required and their money is tied up in their current home.

Their plight highlights the shortage of affordable housing to buy and rent in the Cotswolds, which last April Cotswold District Council's head of health and environment warned had reached the critical stage.

* The Queen has two. Most of us have one. But for the members of a very exclusive club, birthdays come just once every four years.

This week the Standard meets readers who celebrate their birthdays on February 29.

They include pensioner Rosemary Fowkes, who at 64 will be turning sweet sixteen on Sunday. She is one of a pair of twins and her sister Jennifer will be celebrating on the other side of the world... she now lives in Australia.

We also meet Nathan Ind, from Tetbury, who will celebrate his fifth birthday. Nathan sells cars for a living - not bad for someone who won't be old enough to take his driving test until 2052!

* PLUS, meet the pensioner who fell into a river after a car overtook him on a narrow bridge. Now he's threatening to sue the council.

Find out about the skier who sparked a 12-hour rescue operation after he went missing on a mountain during blizzard conditions.

And read about this week's selection of ne'er-do'wells on our ever-popular In the Courts page...

In shops from Thursday.