Page 1178 - Reading Mercury

News of the death of retired Wokingham Headmistress, who was a kingpin in
setting up education in Emmbrook, will bring back memories for many former pupils.
Miss Sarah Williams, who was the first headteacher of Emmbrook Infants, died on
December 29th at the age of 77. She died at her homeland of Wales, having moved
back there from Shinfield to be nearer relatives when her health failed.
But Clifford Wells, who was the first head of the original Emmbrook Primary, has
contacted School Report because he feels many in Wokingham will remember her and
want to pay tribute to “a lovely lady and loyal colleague, who served the Emmbrook
area with distinction.” He wrote:—
“She was wise and poised with a quiet command, which was enriched by a great
musical ability and even greater artistic talent. Her rich personality and ability were
evident throughout both schools—a lovely lady and loyal colleague, who served the
Emmbrook area with distinction.”
Miss Williams’ Emmbrook years spanned from 1965 until 1980. She had been
teaching in the copper belt town of Bancroft in Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) until
1964 and then at the Calcott Primary School in Wokingham.
In the early 60s, the town was booming and the old Palmer, Wand Wescott primary
schools were bursting at the seams. Building began in Emmbrook and the pressure
was so great, primary children were taught at first in the almost completed classrooms
of the Emmbrook Secondary, while builders worked on their own building.
Mr. Wells had been appointed as head of the new primary and Miss Williams was
his first full-time teacher. They got the school up and running despite initial
drawbacks like no building, no complete playground but plenty of mud in their
temporary home and infant classes of 50 in the afternoons of the first week!
In September 1965, 170 children moved into the new Emmbrook Primary School,
with Miss Williams as deputy head with responsibility for the infants. Numbers still
grew—it was the fastest growing school in Berkshire—and in 1968, the adjacent
junior school was finished. Miss Williams became Infant headmistress and she retired
from the position in 1980.
Mr. Wells who now lives in Shropshire paid the final tribute by saying:—”There
will be many citizens of Wokingham who will recall happy memories of a dedicated
teacher.”

th
Thur 4 Feb
MOBILITY SCHEME SUCCESS
Demands for scooter rides with Wokingham’s mobility project has reached
saturation point leading to calls for a paid co-ordinator to take the scheme on to
greater success. Membership of Wokingham Town Mobility and the amount of rides
taken per week has increased by 150% in the last three months.
The project confidently projected a minimum of 3o members taking in excess of 15
rides per week by the end of March, in an outline business plan presented to
Wokingham Town Council’s finance committee last week.
Wokingham District Council has a budget of £15,000 for boosting district-wide
mobility. However, that money has been earmarked for capital use, meaning it can
only be spent on an administrator. But Wokingham Volunteer Centre is arguing that
before Wokingham Mobility can expand to run more scooters, a paid co-ordinator
needs to be in place to cope with the extra workload.
This was described as a catch-22 situation by Cllr. Tina Marinos, chairman of the
Town Council’s finance committee, and town council representative on the District’s
access group. She called on Wokingham District Council to be more flexible with

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