Page 1094 - Reading Mercury

An 18-year old youth climbed the town hall clock tower and caused £700 of
damage. James Cook, Kelsey Avenue, Finchampstead, received three months in youth
custody. On Friday night towards the end of August he removed the hands on two of
the faces. He had previous charges. He was ordered to pay £700 to Wokingham Town
Council plus £25 for failing to keep the peace during his one-year sentence.

BLAZE SHUTS WOOLWORTHS
A devastating weekend blaze in Wokingham’s Woolworth’s store cause severe
damage, threatened nearby residents and shut shop doors to customers all week.
Management cannot yet say when the store will reopen.
During the huge Saturday evening fire a family of four were forced to flee their
neighbouring flat as thick smoke billowed from the burning building as more than 30
firemen fought against thick smoke and flames. Woolworth’s staff from several local
stores have spent the week hard at work, trying to salvage stock and clean up after the
blaze. Woolworth’s press officer could not say how long it would be before the store
was back to normal.
Six appliances and their crews from Wokingham, Bracknell, Crowthorne and
Reading raced to the scene. Senior staff officer at Reading Fire Brigade described the
extent of the fire which is thought to have started in the first floor stockroom. “We
recorded 90% per cent of the first floor and roof more severely damaged by the fire
and there is also water and smoke damage”. Woolworths had just finished trading for
the day and most of the staff had just gone home when the fire started, soon after 5
p.m. As the blaze raged firemen wearing breathing apparatus were forced to leave the
inside of the two-storey building for fear it would collapse.
The Wokingham store manager was on holiday at the time and Mr. Michael Hiscock
from the Maidenhead store was standing in. Mr. Hiscock and a staff supervisor were
the only people in the store when the fire started.

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Thur 6 Oct
Suffolk Lodge in Rectory Road was opened by Mayor Cllr. David Ireland. The
lodge was built by W.E. Chivers and is it run by Berkshire Social Services.

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Thur 27 Oct
NEW BASE FOR RED CROSS TAKES SHAPE
A new Red Cross centre is soon to open in Wokingham, which will provide a
permanent site for the Society’s also valuable space for storing equipment. The new
centre is being built at Denmark Street and is a modernisation of the old Wokingham
Clinic incorporating the war memorial which has been used as a meeting centre over
the years. Offices are also being built which the Red Cross Society will let to local
businesses.
Centre organiser, Mrs. Ann Jeater explained the need for a new centre. “It will
provide a meeting room for Red Cross activities and training sessions. We also need
somewhere to store equipment and medical loan material.”
The medical loan equipment is very necessary to the Society, as it is loaned out to
people in their homes when for example someone has had an accident and needs a
wheelchair or bandages. The idea came from group Captain Bill Swift the recently
retired director of the Berkshire Red Cross.
Not many places have a Red Cross centre and this is intended to be a kind of show
piece. One of the advantages of the Society is that they will not have to spend any
money on the new centre, as the Berkshire branch of the British Red Cross Society are

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