Page 634 - Reading Mercury

THOSE FLOWER BASKETS
In the pedestrian section were several outstanding characters. Members of
Wokingham Corporation might have gained food for thought from the gentleman on
stilts, who claimed to be the Corporation gardener and lamplighter. Writing of
gardens and lamps, one entrant had a clever skit on the hanging baskets of
Wokingham. He pushed through the streets a portable lamp-post complete with flower
baskets, just like those in Broad Street, and with him he had his stepladder and
watering can, all ready for the job of tending the geraniums.
Humpty-Dumpty sitting on top of the wall caused much amusement among the
young and old, particularly the former. To the lilting music of accordion and guitar
trooped a party of Hawaiian girls and presumably their boy friends. It was a great pity
that they had no rivals in their section.
Attired as chief of the Tini Zulu tribe was another prize-winner, looking really
tough, and beside him were a pair of Red Indians with their war paint-a colourful
combination. Two other pedestrians, dressed as a scarecrow and traffic lights
respectively, deserved their places in the prize list, as did the charming highwayman.
Another entrant had a really good get-up as a tramp.
Wokingham seems to have been invaded by several pearly kings, for apart from one
who assisted in the “rag” with a barrel organ, were two others who took part in the
procession with their laden coster barrow. “O.K. for Sound” was a very apt inscription
on the 1902 Peugeot car driven by Mr. P. Goodey, of Twyford. The vehicle, which
goes exceedingly well, figured in the play, “Wild Violets,” at Drury Lane, and in the
A.A. film, “This Motoring.”
The carpenter’s job has changed out of all knowledge during the last hundred years,
according to the interesting trade exhibit of Mr. D.A. Slyfield, of Bracknell. On one
side of the lorry could be seen bearded gentlemen in queer hats and swallowtail coats
doing the work with axes, and beside them were the modern methods of the circular
saw. A familiar entrant at several south of England carnivals is Mr. W.G Boyce, of
Odiham, who travelled all the way to Wokingham in order to win a prize, and, of
course, show people his wonderful illustration of how the old woman and her
tiresome children lived in the shoe, of fairy-tale fame. His enterprise was deservedly
rewarded. The Embrook Women’s Institute had a tableau depicting women through
the ages, and one could recognise Britannia, Queen ?Victoria, Queen Elizabeth, Amy
Johnson, Elizabeth Fry, Dorothy Round, Grace Darling, Christabel Pankhurst and the
Women’s Institute member.
TOMMY FARR AND JOE LOUIS
Revellers who had forgotten that last week there was a world’s title at stake in the
boxing ring, had the painful reminder given by two youngsters, one as Joe Louis, and
the other as Tommy Farr, at a Yankee stadium in New York. A tableau that earned its
place in the prize list was that arranged by Mr. A.T. Cox, of Binfield, entitled
“Binfield Belles,” complete with pierrots and imaginary seaside.
The old-world spirit was captured in a scene in an old-time bar of a village inn,
complete with a cheery crowd of country folk. Another well-designed entry was the
L.N.E.R. Coronation express engine, “Dominion of Canada,” which had been
thoughtfully constructed.
The changes in bathing attire during the last hundred years gave scope to the staff of
Wokingham Poor Law Institution, who staged a tableau recalling the death of Mrs.
Grundy. Another enterprising prize-winner succeeded in bringing the Nine-Mile-Ride,
or part of it, into Wokingham, and right well he deserved his prize. Originality scored
easily. His car was covered with ferns and other plants which grew on the Ride.

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