Page 1036 - Reading Mercury

WOKINGHAM IS RELIEVED BUT LOOKS AHEAD
The County Highways Committee‘s decision to withdraw Wokingham’s much
criticised one-way traffic management system was warmly applauded when Cllr. Ian
Crail, the Mayor, revealed the news last Thursday night. Cllr. Crail presiding at an
open meeting of the Borough Council in the Town Hall said that it had been decided
this system could form the basis of a contingency plan which could be implemented at
a later date when the M4 was linked with the A329 relief road.

DISUSED WELL FOUND AT RAIL STATION
Workmen rebuilding Wokingham railway station uncovered a fresh water well on
Monday. The well, which was thought to be several centuries old, was brick-lined and
it was 5 ft. in diameter and 40 ft. deep. The workmen gauged its depth by tying a
piece of concrete to a length or rope to make a simple plumb line. Mr. John Kelly, a
pipe-layer, was working nearby when it was found.
The digger was clearing a trench when it took the cap clean off the top and they
looked down into the deep hole with water at the bottom. But during the night it filled
up right to the top with water and they had to pump it out before they could restart
work. The well which was in the middle of a building site was eventually filled in and
concrete laid over the top.

1973

th
Thur 25 Jan
600 IN WOKINGHAM WALK
Led by the Wokingham Carnival Queen, Miss Caroline Williams, and two young
pipers from the Arborfield Apprentices School, A/T L/ Cpl M. Ross and A/T W.
Stewart, more than 600 people set off on Sunday to walk 20 miles in aid of a Day
Centre for the Elderly. The Wokingham Walk started and finished at the Wokingham
Youth and Community Centre.
Two small diversions had to be made to the planned route. The first one because a
golf tournament was being played on a course the walkers had intended to cross, and
the second round a pig farm at Broadmoor for fear of carrying disease to the animals.
Four young men including last year’s first man in, Brian Greenham decided to run
the distance. Brian, of 48, Eastheath Avenue, Wokingham, who attends the Brighton
Polytechnical College, travelled to Wokingham especially to take part. He finished
fourth.
First were two Arborfield Apprentices, A/T L/Cpl. Peter Savage and A/T Sgt. Ian
Colville, who were immediately followed by Graham Maurice, a student at Bracknell
Technical College. All completed the 20 miles in a few minutes over two hours.
The Walk was not a race. The object was for as many as possible of the participants
to finish but for none of them to carry on further than they felt capable of without
doing injury to themselves. St. John Ambulance Brigade members were out in force
touring the route in an ambulance and cars while others manned check points. Walk
Marshalls also kept a constant look-out for anyone in trouble.
For the first time ever, units of the Army kept in touch with the Centre by means of
radio, relaying news of the walkers back to the organisers. They were able to warn of
signs stupidly altered by hooligans and to save many walkers from going in the wrong
direction. Some unfortunates were not so lucky and were lost in the woods between
the second and third check points, trudging through quite a long way through really
boggy ground before once again getting on to the right road.

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