Page 1114 - Reading Mercury

is expected to be over £5,000. Stage two of the programme of less urgent work is
already being drawn up and could be agreed early next year.

th
Thur 24 Nov
PADDOCKS CAR PARK PLAN SCHEME IS APPROVED
The plans to build a car park at The Paddocks have been agreed by councillors. The
decision has been condemned by residents who are angry at the loss of green land
near their homes. They fear the car park will attract hooligans and be a danger to
children. Wokingham District Councillors have received 37 letters of objection.
After the meeting Ellison Way Management Committee members claimed that
council officers had not properly considered their suggestion of an alternative site for
the car park on to the eastern side of Elms Road. They said the Elms Road land had
originally been set aside as common land and therefore could not be legally be built
on.
Town councillor Jean Burnett-Wilson said the proposal could not be recommended
legally and claimed the land at Elms Road was common ground. The land was on
record as being common in 1817 but surveyors maintain it has not been since then.

1989
th
Thur 12 Jan
HEATHLANDS SOLD FOR £1.3M
Wokingham farmer Mark Hall has sold Heathlands Country Market and Garden
Centre for £1.3 million. He plans to return to vegetable and pick-your-own growing
including raspberries and strawberries on the remaining 120 acres. Mr. Hall has been
running it for the past 14 years and felt it was time to do other things. The site needs a
great deal of money spending on it and he is nor by nature a retailer. He is a grower.
His wife thought it was more than she wanted to take on and she wanted to get
involved in the farming side.
The new owner is Cramphorn Plc based in Chelmsford, Essex. A deal has been
made with Cramphorn to continue supplying vegetables to the country market. The
company plans to extend the present buildings and increase the range of items at the
garden centre.
Mr. Hall moved to Wokingham in 1966 and began growing vegetables before
opening the centre in 1972.

th
Thur 16 March
A REPRIEVE FOR WATCHDOG GROUP
The closure threat over the town’s watchdog body, the Wokingham Society, has
been lifted. It was feared the society would be forced to fold when only 13 members
turned up for the AGM. But last week members answered the call to rally round when
they crowded into the Methodist Hall for another annual meeting.
Rosemary Goldschmeid, the secretary said the closure threat seems to have receded.
“The main problem appears to have been that we weren’t properly co-ordinated. We
just couldn’t reach everybody.”

TANLEY’S GIFT TO WOKINGHAM
Stanley Bowyer, who died last July aged 81, has left hundreds of pounds worth of
legacies to various local charities and organisations. His estate was valued at £246,
738 net and the donations included £500 to All Saints’ Church of which half goes to
the organ fund and half to the choir fund.

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