Page 887 - Reading Mercury

she little thought of attending the golden jubilee celebrations. Mr. Browne said that
there had been many changes in education since he first took over the school, and that
children were now given far greater opportunities for education at a higher level.
On behalf of the “old boys” present, Mr. Geoffrey Gale thanked the management for
their invitation.
The Director of Education for Berkshire, Mr. T.D.W. Whitfield, told the audience
that Wescott Road School was built as a model for others, and it was still a good
model of the way a school should be run, even if the style of school building had
changed in the last 50 years.
During the afternoon the children presented a number of plays, but the weather
interfered with the scheduled outdoor programme of dancing and physical training.

th
Sat 30 June
BIG STORE BLAZE
Oldest shop In Wokingham
Wokingham’s largest and oldest shop, the departmental store at Heelas
(Wokingham), Ltd., in the Market Place, was swept by a fire on Wednesday afternoon
that gutted the rear of the building and caused damage running into many thousands
of pounds. Storerooms packed with furniture and bedding were destroyed within half
an hour of the outbreak, and despite strenuous efforts on the part of the local police
and the public, very little was salvaged.
It was about 3.15 p.m. that the fire was discovered by workmen who were
dismantling a large glass dome over the haberdashery department, and within minutes
it had spread along the entire length of the rear buildings. Thick brown smoke
billowed over the Rose Street car park, fanned by a strong wind that hampered the
work of the firemen.
Almost before the sounds of the siren had died away a fire-engine drew into the car
park—but was manned only by the driver. Helped by P.C. G.H. Wakelin, who was
early on the scene, he began laying a hose, and they were helped by two more police
and were soon joined by two other firemen.
The first fireman to arrive mounted a ladder at the rear of the building, but his
efforts made little or no impression on the fire, which raged through the building.
Slates were splintering under the heat and crashing to the ground around him, but he
continued to play his hose on to the roof until it was no longer safe for him to do so.
Aid From Bracknell And Reading
With the arrival of a second pump from Bracknell, and crew from Reading and
neighbouring brigades, the main blaze was soon put under control, and the danger
averted from the adjoining old timbered properties.
Volunteers Help To Salvage
Hundreds of onlookers flocked to the Market Place from an apparently deserted
town—it was early closing day—and many responded to the appeal for people to
salvage what they could carry. Furniture and bedding, together with anything that was
portable, were carried into the Market Place and then transferred to a café at the front
of the building.
Before all the stock could be cleared the public were ordered out of the shop, and no
sooner had they regained the safety of the undamaged shop-front than the ceiling in
the centre of the main hall began to cave in. One fireman, Mr. Pocock, of Bracknell,
was slightly injured by falling debris, and two girls were overcome by smoke and
needed medical treatment.

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