Page 1125 - Reading Mercury

Raymond Hipkin, managing director of Jora Leisure Ltd., who has owned the Ritz
for 11 years, said the move was forward planning. He said, “I’m really trying to be a
realist. This is just a one-man-band and we won’t survive.”
The multi-screen complex at Bracknell is considered a major threat. “When there
are seven or eight major films showing, cinema-goers are bound to find something
they like.”
The Ritz was custom-built in 1938 for £47,850 and film-goers paid a shilling or
sixpence to get in. It was originally owned by Union Cinemas but changed hands
three times before Jora bought it from EMI. Mr. Hipkin has also discussed with the
Wokingham District Council ideas for a night-club or disco on the site, but the council
said this was too near a residential area.
The bingo hall and video shop will remain, but Mr. Hipkin has applied for planning
permission to turn the 400-seat cinema into offices and shops. The cinema entrance
will be used for the bingo. There is a small area on the ground floor for retail, and the
first floor will be used for offices.
Barry Gilbert, manager and projectionist at the Ritz for the last four years, is deeply
disappointed about the closure.

nd
Thur 22 March
MEMORIES OF TIMES GONE BY
This week Stroller looks at the life of George Phelps—and maybe stirs up a little bit
of nostalgia for the way Wokingham used to be.
George Phelps was born in Wokingham on March 19th, 1923. Hundreds of council
tenants past and present will remember him. For George was the rent collector for
Wokingham Borough Council. In 1974 the rural and borough councils merged to
become Wokingham District Council and George was appointed senior rating
assistant.
As a young lad George had attended Palmer School, where Mr. Maidment was the
headmaster. Hard-working and well-behaved pupils were presented with splendid
certificates for “good conduct and satisfactory progress.”
When he was eight, George followed a family tradition and joined the choir of All
Saints’ Church. “My father, my uncles, my brother and later my son Michael all took
their places in the choir stalls,” says George. George’s grandfather also sang in the
choir. Old Mr. Phelps lived at the bottom of Rose Street. He had a powerful voice,
and after he had imbibed a couple of pints in the pub that used to be at the top of Rose
Street, he would burst into song that could be heard the length of the street.
Another love of George’s life was soccer. He won his first medals playing for
Palmer School 1st XI. George left school at 14 and went to work as surgery boy for
Dr. Curl and Dr. Rose. The surgery was at 29 Market Place, which has since been
demolished to make way for the little parade of shops which includes Oxfam and John
Bell Carpets. George’s starting wage was five shillings (25p) a week. One of his jobs
was to take medicines out to private patients, riding round on a trade bicycle.
After a year George was offered another job. He went along to 16 Market Place and
worked for Miss D. Sale, a member of the old Wokingham family of nurserymen and
seedsmen. Miss Sale was one of the first florists in the country to send an order under
the Florists Telegraph Delivery later known as Interflora.
It was about now that George and his friends found there was no junior football
team in the town. Undaunted the lads found their own team, playing mostly on
Barkham Road recreation ground. Then Ald. David Goddard heard of their

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