Page 1168 - Reading Mercury

She went on to say how Mr. Goatley had been seen in the town earlier in the day
making sure a shop sign had been painted to ensure it fitted into the town’s decor.
“His service has been outstanding and constant and for all the above reasons I warmly
recommend to all my fellow councillors that Ken Goatley be awarded the status of
Honorary Townsperson.”

1998

st
Thur 1 Jan
TOWN’S ‘HERITAGE’ BIKE IS RESTORED TO ITS FORMER GLORY
A hundred year old penny-farthing was restored to its former glory by KC Sports,
Barkham Road and will be placed in the Courtyard Market in Wokingham Town Hall.
The magnificent example of an early form of personal transport was crafted in the
town before the turn of the last century in a blacksmith shop behind the Ship Inn in
Peach Street. It was thought to be made for the father of Wokingham bike dealer Jack
Trill
Mr. Trill and his brother Percy ran a family bicycle shop in Denmark Street on the
site of the empty Tesco store. Mr. Trill gave the penny-farthing to the town as a
historic memento and it has been suspended by chains from the courtyard market
ceiling ever since.
Jack Trill’s daughter, Betty Simpson, who still lives in Wokingham, said she
believes the bicycle was made for her grandfather and it was recently ridden in a
Wokingham carnival by her daughter. It was kept in their workshop for a long time
and then her father gave it to the town
The restoration project took KC Sports, Barkham Road, a year to complete
replacing the solid tyres, painting it and polishing the brass.

th
Thur 15 Jan
MYSTERY AS TOWN’S BUTCHER FAILS TO RETURN FROM LUNCH
Shoppers and traders are baffled by the mysterious disappearance of Wokingham’s
town centre butchers. Pettit and Brown Family Butcher, who reported good trade over
Christmas, suddenly closed down last week—leaving a sign saying ‘Gone for lunch’
propped up in the window.
Richard Hoare, manager at Jones Laing Auton—the butcher’s landlord, said that the
company had gone into liquidation although this report has not been confirmed. An
officer at the Official Receivers in Reading said that Pettit and Brown family butcher
was not on the list of people who have been forced into liquidation or closed down by
the courts. But the receivers do not have lists of those companies who go into
liquidation voluntarily.

TEMPERATURES WERE THE THIRD HIGHEST IN 116 YEARS
1997 was a year of weather extremes, according to Bracknell’s Meteorological
office. And it was not as dull or cold as we would like to think. The results collected
by Wokingham weather monitors and collated by Bracknell Met office produced
extreme weather patterns.
The average daily temperatures of 11.2 degree Celsius (52.2 Fahrenheit) was the
third highest in 116 years.
Although the year produced 18 dry spells of five or more consecutive days, summer
fared badly. The wettest month was actually August where 88.8mm (3.5 inches) of
rain fell. April showers abandoned the county with the longest dry spell between
March 26th and April 17th.

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