Page 159 - Reading Mercury

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votes of thanks had passed, the meeting was adjourned to Wednesday the 2 Dec. To
enable the committee in the mean time, to have the rules, & c. Printed and circulated.

1819

1820
th
Mon 10 Jan
BANKS FOR SAVINGS
We have much pleasure in stating, that at the second half-yearly meeting of the
Forest Saving Bank, held in the Town Hall, Wokingham, on Monday last, it appeared
that 99 persons had opened accounts, and made 214 deposits, amounting to £1707
11s. 4d. (out of which number 190 were in sums not exceeding £20) that £113 6s. had
been repaid to different depositors; and that the sums of £40 6s. 7d. had been paid for
interest. We think it right to add, that the Depositors in the Forest Saving Bank receive
the full amount of the Interest due on their respective deposits, without any deduction,
whatever—the cost of stationary, printing, advertising and every other expense, being
wholly paid by the voluntary subscriptions of the Officers of the Institution.

th
Mon 17 Jan
PEDESTRIOUS FEAT
A young man named John Wellman, a native of Wokingham, aged 19, went on
Monday, for a wager, from Hannican’s Lodge to Wokingham, (a distance of 2½ miles
and 51 poles) and back, ten times within twelve succeeding hours, making in the
whole fifty three miles and nearly a quarter, which he accomplished with comparative
ease twenty-five minutes within the given time, notwithstanding the ground is very
hilly and slippery. In the course of the journey he had to open 3 gates 20 times each,
making in all 60 times, and to climb over 6 stiles as many times, making in the whole
120, all of which he performed without being at all distressed, as he was able to
pursue his occupation the following day.

th
Mon 19 June
WOKINGHAM BRANCH BIBLE SOCIETY AND LADIES’ ASSOCIATION
The Anniversaries of the Wokingham Branch Bible Society and Ladies’ Association
th
(which were held on Thursday the 8 inst.) afforded a high gratification to numerous
and respectable meetings of the inhabitants of that town and neighbourhood. The
Chair was ably filled on both occasions by D.M. Kinnon Eq., and the Reports were
calculated to encourage the friends of the Bible Society, to new and persevering
exertions. From these it appeared, that 387 copies of the sacred Scriptures had been
circulated by these Institutions since their establishment in the year 1817, and that the
Associations had been enabled to devote £10 to assist in supplying Foreign Countries
with the Book of God. The resolutions were moved and seconded by the Rev. G.R.
Whatley, Rev. J. Anderson, C.S. Dudley, esq. Rev. J. Coles, Rev. J. Newbery, Mr.
Haywood, Rev. T. Galland, Mr. Heelas, Rev. G. Hulme, and Rev. A. Douglas, several
of them addressed the Meetings at considerable length. Allusions were made to the
late attempts to spread infidelity and disloyalty through the land,--and facts of the
most decisive nature were brought forward to prove how powerfully the extensive
circulation of the Bible tended to counteract them. The prospects which are
continually opening to the Parent Society in Russia, America, in the East Indies and

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