Page 519 - Reading Mercury

TERRITORIAL DANCE
The Saturday night dances of the local Territorial Company are now an established
feature of the town, and the attendances show an increase at almost every dance. On
Saturday no less than 160 people were present, this being a record for a Saturday
night, and included Major Hughes, the O.C. of the company, and Lieut. G.S. Ford,
D.F.C., one of its officers. The new grand piano recently purchased by the company is
a decided acquisition.

FURNITURE SALE
Messrs J. Watts and Son, Auctioneers, opened their new sale room at 12, Milton
Road, Wokingham, recently erected by them to enable better facilities to be given for
display of lots and convenience of buyers, and attracted a large and representative
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number of buyers at their sale on Feb. 17 , when 360 lots of furniture were disposed
of. red Chinese lacquer cabinet realised £20, a mahogany china cabinet £7, a
mahogany Chippendale chair £6, a pair of ebonised cabinets £21, a library table £10
10s., Ironstone dinner service £12 10s., a Sheraton bookcase £26 and other lots at
equally good prices.. These new sale rooms which accommodate a considerable
amount of furniture, were designed by Mr. Donovan Watts, and built by Mr. F.
Langman.

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Sat 17 March
FELLING A TREE
An unusual sight was witnessed on Saturday when a large chimney stack was felled
at the site of the old saw mills. Mr. Denton who is developing the grounds as a
building site and has laid out Denton Road connecting Easthampstead Road with
Sturges Road directed a group of his own workmen in the operation. The stack
consisted of 125 [?] courses of bricks and its height was approximately 57 feet.

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Sat 28 July
DEATH OF FORMER RESIDENT
Mrs. T. Morris (née Fennell) at one time a well-known and respected resident of
Wokingham, recently died of cancer, in Australia.

A RARE BIRD
A male specimen of the Hoopoe recently arrived at Mr. F.W. Mattingley’s, the
prominent bird fancier’s, in Reading Road. Owing to the delicacy of its nature the bird
was not sent by water, but made the trip from Hamburg by air to Croydon, thence by
rail. It is believed to have been the first of its kind in captivity in this country. The
Hoopoe has since died.

THE FIRE BRIGADE
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The Fire Brigade has been very busy recently. On July 19 a call was answered to
Blue Mountain Farm at Binfield, where some outbuildings were burnt down. The
following day, about 7.10 p.m., the brigade went to the Wellington Hotel, where
rubbish in the stokehole had caught alight and had set fire to laths and rafters. At 12.5
a.m. on Monday a call was responded to from Moss End, Warfield, where two sheds
used by cottagers near were discovered alight. A motor-cycle, two pedal bicycles and
some tools were destroyed.

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