Page 1098 - Reading Mercury

A journalist Mrs. Whitford may have been, but she was an equally talented artist
and when she reached the age of sixty, she persuaded the council to let her use
Montague House for exhibiting local artwork. Why should people have to travel all
the way to the capital or large city embankments simply to see art displays when there
is plenty of talent on our own doorstep was her claim.
Although she was the founder of the Wokingham Arts Group, she contributed
mainly to its organisation and co-ordination and not to its social side. But she let the
group flourish on its own, and it did just that. She herself was still doing oil paintings
of anything and everything, with the single exception of portraits, into her ninety-sixth
year at her home until failing eyesight prevented her from going on.
In the end, Mrs. Whitford’s hectic and happy life came to a close after a slight chill
turned into pneumonia and she died peacefully holding her daughter’s hand on April
17. How inappropriate it would be for a woman who loved publicity to miss out on
this final chance for a little limelight.

THE WEEK WOKINGHAM WENT WILD
Wokingham went wild recently, but a police presence was not required at the Town
Hall where a major event was being staged to make local residents appreciate the
countryside around them. Entitled “Wokingham Act Wild”, the event was a series of
exhibitions and talks given by all sorts of people in the area concerned with
conservation.
It was all organised by a group called WERD—the Wokingham Environmental
Resources Development team, who work from the teachers’ centre in Alderman
Willey Close and are funded by the Manpower Services Commission.
The Town Mayor, Mrs. Ann Davis, was there to see the day off to a good start, and
she had nothing but praise for the team’s efforts. Wendy Willett is the coordinator of
the six-person WERD team, and she had the headaches of organising the event.
As part of their effort to encourage people to appreciate the wilderness of the
countryside, WERD were selling wild flower seeds at one of the stalls. They wanted
to get people to plant these in their garden to attract wild insects and butterflies. They
would see then that wild things can be as beautiful as the more conventional garden
flowers.
Much of WERD’s work involves dealing in schools where they give talks and
provide educational packages for children about the countryside. They also do a lot of
work with the disabled, the unemployed and the elderly—and of course, the general
public. Because WERD is funded by the Manpower Services Commission’s
community programme, its employees are entitled to work for one year only. The
present team are coming to the end of their time and they are looking for new people.
The posts are open to anyone who has been unemployed for some time.
There was certainly no doubting the success of the Wokingham Act Wild day.
Crowds of shoppers and schoolchildren thronged the town hall to talk to
representatives of the organisations which included the Wokingham Natural History
Society, the children’s branch of the Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire
Naturalist Trust, the Berkshire Conservation Volunteers and the World Wildlife Fund.
One unusual stall belonged to Martin and Sue Brown who were publicising their
organisation Earthbound Explorer. Martin explained that they run courses on subjects
connected with the countryside, birds and animals, some of which take place as
evening classes at Dinton Pastures and some of which involve one-day field trips
They are also hoping to branch into the realm of running holidays in the countryside.

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