Page 1104 - Reading Mercury

TOWN CRIER RESIGNS
Chick Biddle, Town Crier, aged 76, resigned after 20 years. Before becoming town
crier Chick, who holds the BEM, was a soldier. He resigned because of advanced age.

th
Thur. 13 March
A public meeting was held to determine if there was enough interest to twin with
th
Viry Chatillon as well as Erfstadt. The meeting was held on Wed March 12 .

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Thur 29 May
LOYAL CHICK’S FAREWELL
One of Wokingham Town Council’s longest standing servants has bid farewell to the
councillors he has served for twenty years. Mr. Herbert “Chick” Biddle who served
the town council first as a mace bearer then as town crier, was last week presented
with a carriage clock by new town mayor Cllr. Marion Fergusson Kelly in recognition
of his loyalty and hard work over the years.

th
Thur 25 Sept
ANTHONY CROSS
Anthony Cross died on Sunday afternoon. Born in March 1921 he was a confirmed
bachelor. He lived at Dolphin House, Highfield Close, Wokingham for 39 years.
Educated at Ardingly College, Sussex he studied history at Cambridge University.
During the Second World War he served as an officer and was wounded in the
Sicily Landings of 1943 and was invalided out of the services.
He then worked as a Conservative Party agent in Chelmsford, Essex before attending
the London School of Economics.
He was well-versed in foreign affairs but his first love was history. Development in
Wokingham in the 1960s sparked off his fight to save it from planners. This led to
him founding the Wokingham Society in 1964. He was its leading force. He was its
chairman for ten years and its president for twelve. He was a man who loved
Wokingham and did as much as he could for it. He was also the editor of the
Wokingham Chronology.
He was widely travelled and a member of the Berkshire History Society and a long-
standing member of the Conservative Party.

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Thur 16 Oct
NO PLACE LIKE HOME FOR LOYAL THEATRE COMPANY
After nearly forty years of entertaining local audiences, beginning with its first
performance in the Masonic Hall in 1948, Wokingham Theatre at last has a permanent
home. The smart brick building next to Cantley House Hotel, cost £150,000, and
represents the sheer hard work put in by company members. Membership in the
company varies from 100 to 120, with about eight productions staged each year. The
actors are never lacking in enthusiasm.
The new theatre will also be the venue for different groups, including a fashion
show, a music group, and a dance school.
The company has not always been housed in such impressive surroundings. In the
October of 1947, a meeting was held in the town hall, resulting in the birth of the
Wokingham Players. The company had a variety of houses over the first few years,
including Church House and Wokingham Town Hall. But a permanent home had to
be found. An unused army building was located in Grayshott, taken in pieces to

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