Page 1160 - Reading Mercury

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Thur 24 Oct
New Waitrose will open its doors at 8.30 am on Tuesday. The first customer will
receive flowers.

Thur 31st Oct
NEW LIBRARY A ‘WONDERFUL ACHIEVEMENT’
Queues of people were waiting outside Wokingham’s new state-of-the-art library
for the doors to be officially opened first thing on Monday morning. Staff were on
hand to give them a warm welcome after spending the last fortnight transferring books
and equipment from the facility’s previous site in Montague House.
The new two-storey building is four times larger and in the adults and children’s
lending library houses 50,000 new books in addition to the original 40,000. The
ground floor of the £1.75 million library features a quiet reference and local studies
area together with IT facilities, including the internet, and a meeting room which can
be hired by the public.
Situated in the corner of Denmark Street and Langborough Road it has been built on
land once earmarked for the town’s Inner Distribution Road. The idea for a new
library was first mooted more than 15 years ago but it was not until 1994 that the
decision to go ahead was taken in a joint venture by Berkshire County Council,
Wokingham District Council and Wokingham Town Council. The library was
officially inaugurated by Heritage Secretary Virginia Bottomley earlier this year when
building work was still underway. Corporate sponsorship in the form of terminals and
software has been donated by Microsoft and Mitsubishi and CD Roms are available
for hire.
John Trimming, the county council’s deputy vice-chairman, Diana Carpenter,
chairman of Wokingham District Council and Tina Marinos, the Mayor of
Wokingham were on hand to jointly open the building on Monday. Before allowing
the 50-strong crowd inside, Mr. Trimming told them that the library was a wonderful
achievement.
COUNCILLOR HARDING IS THE BUSIEST
In a Wokingham Times survey councillors were asked what their main pastimes
were outside District occupations, family commitments and work. The busiest proved
to be Cllr. Philip Hudson:--Besides ploughing through council agendas on a daily
st
basis and the compulsory visits to district offices Phil is president of the 1 . Woosehill
Scouts; president of Woosehill Tennis Club; vice-president of a football club; a
governor of Keep Hatch Junior School; trustee of Wokingham District Counselling
Service. He is also involved in W.A.D.E. activities.
A former rugby player and scout leader he once boasted of a Pitman shorthand
speed of 180 wpm which he gained after the Second World War.

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Thur 21 Nov
WOKINGHAM TO LAUNCH CIVIC AWARDS SCHEME
Wokingham Town Council is to honour the most hard working and caring members
of the community with the launch of the town’s first ever Civic Awards. Nomination
leaflets for the Civic Awards scheme are now available from the town council Help
Shop based at the town hall. The Mayor, Cllr. Tina Marinos says the awards, which
will be the main civic function of the year, is a way for the town council to say thank
you to those who have done good in Wokingham.
Up to 25 people could be presented with the new honour which takes the form of an
engraved glass crystal paperweight. The nominations have to be submitted by January

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