Page 1051 - Reading Mercury

th
Thur 24 Jan
MONEY-RAISING TRAMPS
The Wokingham and District Association for the Elderly held its fourth sponsored
walk on Sunday. About 450 people set off from the Youth centre in Broad Street at 10
a.m. to walk the 20-mile route and, between them they raised about £3,750 for the
W.A.D.E. day centre for the elderly. Mrs. Jean Davy, the Chairman of W.A.D.E. was
highly delighted with the result.
The route went through Crowthorne, Sandhurst, along the outskirts of Bracknell and
through Binfield.
One walker who did surprisingly well was Thomas Reeves of Barkham Road,
Wokingham. He broke his leg in a motor accident last year and did 12 miles of the
route on crutches. He wanted to complete the whole of the journey, but was forced to
stop by his friends.
Most of those who set off completed the route and only 35 people dropped out along
the way.

th
Thur 7 Feb.
NEW BOYS’ HOSTEL FOR WOKINGHAM
APPROVAL has been given 'for a new boys' hostel to be built in Wokingham, a
scheme which nearly .got deferred because of the Government's cut back in local
authority spending. The go-ahead, given by Berkshire's Finance Committee on Friday,
is subject, however, to agreement of the County Council,
The idea is to rebuild Green Field House Hostel, Maidenhead, on the sites of Field
House and South Field hostels in Wokingham. The cost of about £200,000 will be
largely paid for from the sale of the Maidenhead site.
The project had had a far from easy time getting through committee stages. It was
recommended for approval by the Education Committee, but at the opening of the
Finance Committee, the Chairman, Mr. W. A. Gilbey, suggested deferment so that the
costs could be looked at further by the new County Council.
Mr. F. D. Pickering was among those opposed to a delay. This, he said, was a
scheme to help deprived and handicapped children and Berkshire had done relatively
little in the past in this area. The new hostel would be a major step forward.

st
Thur 21 Feb
EMMBROOK SCHOOL BLAZE
Fire completely gutted the sixth form precinct at Emmbrook Secondary School,
Wokingham, on Thursday last week. But for the prompt action of caretaker, Mr.
George Huckle, an adjoining building would have been involved in the blaze.
The building is a detached one and contains accommodation for approximately 60
pupils. It was erected in 1968 as part of the preparation for the raising for the school
leaving age, at a cost of £27,000, including the cost of furnishings. So far the cause of
the fire has not been ascertained.
The loss of this building has meant a re-organisation of classes and the school hall
has temporarily had to be brought into use as class accommodation. No children are
being required to stay away from school and the authority has already taken steps to
arrange for the delivery and erection of temporary classrooms on the site.

th
Thur 28 March
MOVES TO BOOST SCHOOLS FIRE PRECAUTIONS

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