Page 891 - Reading Mercury

morning that the “up” and “down” lines were opened for two-way traffic, and it was
possible to free the goods trains that had been kept waiting. The last passenger train
left Reading for Waterloo at about 1.50 a.m., two-and a-half hours late. The 9.24 p.m.
from Waterloo was stopped one hour later at Bracknell, when passengers were
transferred to Thames Valley ‘buses, or they hired taxis to take them home.
“Terrific Crack”
As far away as Ascot the electric flash was seen. At that time a man whose garden
adjoins the railway said he heard a “terrific crack” and a spluttering as if a “fuse had
blown in the middle of my garden.”
The night was a disastrous one for the Wokingham Football Club. The stand, which
had cost £550 to put up, was their second to be wrecked by the weather in two
seasons. This last was uninsured against storm damage, and it is estimated that the
cost of repairing it will be well over £200. The roof was not bolted to the wooden
framework; had it been, it is thought that the whole structure would have been
overturned. As matters were, the rear iron supports were lifted from their footings.
The telephone wires (not part of the G.P.O. network) were restored at 5.45 a.m. on
Saturday, but workmen were busy with the wires while Saturday’s game was being
played.
Hazardous Driving
Elsewhere in the town there was considerable damage to roofs and chimneys. Mr.
A. Musto, of the Wokingham Borough Surveyor’s staff, was on call until 3 a.m. on
Saturday, and was out again three hours later. At 5 p.m. on Friday, he dealt with a
large tree bough which had fallen across Molly Millars Lane, the first of many
branches to make driving hazardous. Sometime between 10 and 10.30 p.m. a large
elm was blown down in the Wiltshire Road, falling across the lawn at General Sir
Frank Messervy’s home, Wiltshire Farm. A small cupressus blocked the pathway
between Palmer School and Osborne Road, and in the same vicinity a greenhouse was
wrecked. In the Barkham Road a fir tree heeled over before the wind, but was pulled
down before it could fall on to the road.
There is a mystery about a quantity of what appeared at first sight to be plate glass
which lay shattered in Messrs. Sale and Son’s yard in the Market Place. This was later
thought to be part of a car windscreen, but its origin is still untraced.
There was flooding in what is known locally as “tragedy lane,” leading to the
council tip near Gipsy Lane, sufficient to wash away several heavy railway sleepers.
Many football matches and other sports fixtures in the Reading area were cancelled
for Saturday.
Fencing of St. George’s Vicarage was blown down.

th
Sat 15 Dec
SAVERS’ SOCIAL
The Wokingham M.B. Savings Committee held a social at the Drill Hall,
th
Wokingham, on Friday last week at their part of the national celebration of the 40
anniversary of the National Savings Movement. During the evening there was a short
film of the opening of the birthday celebrations held at the Guildhall earlier in the
year, and one of the ornate brass swords and imitation candles that were used in the
ceremony were on show. The Mayor, Cllr. Mrs. C.E.A. La Bouchardière, attended
and presented long-service awards to the following: Mrs. M.E. O’Connor (10 years),
Ald. S.L. Bowyer (seven years) and Mesdames J. Carpenter, J. Matthews, M. Dodd
and K. Kirkpatrick (seven years each). Mr. W.E. Billen was unable to be present to
receive his badge for seven years’ service to the movement. Mrs. E.G. Coffin, of the

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