Page 1137 - Reading Mercury

Thur 9th April 1992
CARNIVAL IMAGE FOR NEW POOL
Wokingham’s new leisure centre is to be called the Carnival Pool. The £4.9M
swimming pool in Wellington Road, which looks set to be finished slightly ahead of
the scheduled date of September 14th, could be open to the public towards the end of
October.
The pool was named at a meeting of Wokingham District Council’s recreation
committee last week. The vote went with the suggestion put forward by Cllr. Denis
Thair, at a working party meeting, that keeping Wokingham out of the title would
give the feeling of a district facility.

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Thur 23 April
Wokingham’s High Stewards, old and new, are to be honoured by the Town Council.
Retiring High Steward, Major John Wills is to be presented with a plaque bearing the
th
council’s crest at the Mayor Making ceremony on 12 May. He has served the town
since 1973 when he was appointed High Steward. He is retiring because of ill-health.
At the same ceremony the Town Council will honour his successor, Lady Elizabeth
Godsal, who will be presented with an illuminated copy of the declaration of her
acceptance of office. The out-going Mayor, Jeanne-Burnett-Wilson will make both
presentations before she hands over to Cllr. Bob Wyatt at the ceremony.

Thur 7th May
MAJOR HONOUR FOR ALBERT WOKINGHAM’S TREASURE
Town Macebearer, Albert Dunham, is now the official warden of the Guild of
Macebearers in the south. Albert was installed on Sunday—the first time that
Wokingham has been given the honour and 70-year-old Mr. Dunham is as proud as
punch.
In a moving ceremony in Wokingham Town Hall the chain of office was handed
over by retiring warden Gerry Rowls—who only just made it after a special
celebration to welcome family from New Zealand.
Albert was talked into taking on the office of macebearer in 1981 by the late Stan
Bowyer, a former town mayor. And on Sunday, Mr. Bowyer’s son, Michael, was
present at the special inauguration ceremony at Wokingham Town Hall, attended by
up to 30 other macebearers from the southern region.
Mr. Dunham, of Mole Close, Wokingham, will be given the title of regional warden.
His duties will include attending mayoral conferences as well as his usual role as town
mayor’s attendant. In accepting his new title Mr. Dunham told the assembled guests,
“this is a great honour and I can assure the Guild that I will uphold the responsibilities
and the good name of the Guild.”

Thur 7th May
EMMBROOK’S W.I. FORCED TO CLOSE DOWN
Emmbrook Women’s Institute has been forced to close down because members
cannot find anyone to be their secretary. Members met in Emmbrook Village Hall last
month, but no one stepped forward to take on the post of secretary. So there was no
alternative but to declare the W.I. closed.
Emmbrook W.I. Was formed in October 1936 and lived through many difficult
times, including the war years when the A.R.P. Took over the hall and the W.I. Met in
the Baptist Room in Milton Road. Later the Institute suffered the loss of a great
number of members when they were re-housed in other parts of the town and an

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