Page 1122 - Reading Mercury

raised by TIMES readers, Lord King paid tribute to the paper’s involvement at a time
when the Press in general was coming in for criticism.
In his speech, Lord King said his company’s donation to the new centre was one of
the largest it had ever given. Over one million people in the United Kingdom have
been cancer patients. In West Berkshire alone there are on average 1,400 new cases a
year. I hope that many others will follow our example so that we can quickly pass the
target of £350,000 for the local appeal and £3 million for West Berkshire.
Other guests included Sir Francis Kennedy, special advisor to Lord King, the
Countess of Westmoreland, President of the Macmillan Fund, Major Douglas
Goddard, chairman of the District Council, Margaret Hawkins, chairman of the
Wokingham and District Cancer Relief Macmillan Fund, and many other local
dignitaries.

th
Thur 14 Dec
THE SANTAS ON BIKES
Leather-clad they rode into Barnardo’s school in Wokingham on Saturday bearing
Christmas gifts. Children gazed in delight as more than 100 motorbikes streamed up
the drive of High Close School. Some riders had piles of gift-wrapped presents tied to
their bikes. Others had huge soft toys riding pillion with their machines covered in
Christmas decorations.
The toy run was organised by the Christian Motor-cyclists Association, who had
powered their way to the school to make sure all the children there have a fun-packed
Christmas.
The convoy had ridden to Wokingham from Palmer Park in Reading. C.M.A.
chairman Derek Toome of Winnersh said there were more bikers than ever this year.
“There must be about 125 to 150 bikes here, from places like Portsmouth and Bristol
as well as the local area. I’m over the moon that so many have turned up. It’s a great
cause. Everyone buys a present and people have spent anything from £5 to £40 on
games, toys, puzzles, you name it.”
The toy run was the brainchild of Winnersh motorbike fan Ben Spiller. Ben said that
the idea came from America. It is good for the kids and good for the bikers who
always seem to have such a bad image.

SALVATION ARMY SISTER DIES
The last of the three famous Salvation Army sisters, Olive Bramwell-Booth, was
being buried at Finchampstead today (Thursday), following her death at the age of 98.
Olive was the last surviving child of General Bramwell-Booth, the second leader of
the Salvation Army.
She died on December 13th at a home in Camberwell, South London. She had
devoted her life to the work of the Salvation Army in Britain and abroad. The
Bramwell-Booth sisters were the granddaughters of the Salvation Army’s founder
General Sir William Booth.
After the war she was in charge of work with churches and relief organisations
helping to repatriate children who had been moved from their homes during the war.
In 1950 she became secretary of the Salvation Army’s war graves department which
organised visits for widows to their husbands’ graves.
Olive retired in 1951 but she and her sisters continued to appear on television, and at
luncheons and receptions and Olive was known as a lively public speaker. One of the
sisters, Dora, died in February at her home in North Court, Finchampstead. The elder
sister, Commissioner Catherine Bramwell Booth died in 1987 at the age of 104.

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