Welcome to the website of The Wokingham Society
We hope you will find this website informative and interesting
and that we can perhaps persuade you to join the Society. You will
see from our aims that we work to protect Wokingham town's past,
present and future. This covers our heritage, our environment and
facilities for the benefit of the residents and workforce.
Wokingham is an attractive town with a good history. We hope you
will enjoy the website pages and that we can convince you of the
town's and the Society's value.
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Who are we
The Wokingham Society is an independent, non-political
organisation (charity no. 274988), affiliated to both the Open Spaces Society and Berks, Bucks and
Oxon Wildlife Trust.
It aims to help protect the environment and character of the town of
Wokingham,influence local development planning, encourage
conservation of historic buildings, other traditional features and
the town's nature resources, support local business and try to
ensure that civic amenities are maintained and improved.
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Wokingham Society Annual General Meeting
The Society’s Annual General Meeting takes place in the evening of the third Wednesday in November, and is open to all. Details of the 2010 meeting will be available in the Summer.
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Annual General Meeting Report
The Wokingham Society held its annual general meeting at the Bradbury Centre last Wednesday 18 November. An audience of about 50 members and public heard how planning matters in the town had dominated the Society's activities during the past year, attending workshops, forums and hearings in profusion, and employing professional consultants. The Society recognised that the work had only just started to try to influence what was best for the town in terms of core strategy housing and infrastructure, and in the design of
a future town centre.
Tina Marinos stood down as chairman after two years to concentrate on her other extensive activities and Audrey Harrison retired as secretary after more than a decade. Peter Must took over as chairman, having joined the committee two years ago from the Albert Road Residents' Association. He believed that more input from residents' associations and working with voluntary groups would provide a coordinated, more influential forum in the decision-making process with the councils.
Stan Hetherington, the evening's guest speaker and who is very involved in the winter carnival and food and drink festivals, outlined the extent to which sponsorship of such events on a regular basis enabled these important community events for the town to be pursued. He hoped that the list of public charity events in the town could be expanded, perhaps in the music and craft areas and with a greater link to heritage. He stressed that despite the odd, valid grumble about the physical state of the town, it is a place well loved by its residents and greater involvement by them would be welcomed.
The meeting ended on a note of enthusiasm about the future, to help get Wokingham back on its feet as a town to be proud of in Berkshire
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Chairman's Welcome
May I welcome you to the Wokingham Society website. I was honoured and privileged to be elected Chairman by the Society in November 2009, and very much hope that I can play a part in helping to sustain the character and future of this wonderful market town.
We, along with other organisations and many individuals, look forward to the challenges presented by plans to regenerate the town centre and to build extensive housing developments to the north and south of the town. We will work closely with the local councils, residents and business community to ensure that the changes are made with sensitivity to the heritage and natural environment of the area and that the necessary infrastructure - for schools, shops, roads and transport - is put in place to meet the needs of all who live or work in or who visit Wokingham.
The Society has a proud tradition of offering help to local activities through its grants system and, although the economic downturn has to some extent reduced our capacity to provide such funds, we do continue to respond to requests for assistance and look forward to increasing our provision as soon as the financial situation improves. The Grants section of this website illustrates the causes we have been able to help in the past, and explains how local people or organisations can apply for funding.
To encourage those who use or visit the town to appreciate Wokingham's rich heritage, the Society regularly erects blue plaques on notable buildings and other structures to mark the life of individuals or the original use of that location in the history of the town. The link at the bottom left of this page takes you to where you can find an electronic version of our blue plaque trail guide.
We do hope you find our website interesting and helpful. If you have any questions or want to offer any thoughts please do contact me via the link to Chairman.
My best wishes to you
Peter Must
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If you care about Wokingham come and join us
For information on membership of The Wokingham Society, click Join
WS, email The
Wokingham Society or pick up a leaflet from the Wokingham
Information Centre in the Town Hall.
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Blue Plaques Trail Guide Leaflet
A trail guide leaflet based on The Wokingham Society blue
plaques is available. To view an electronic copy please go to
the Achievements page.
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