Page 919 - Reading Mercury

belonged to an era long past. The Town Hall looks more attractive now than, I would
think, at any time in living memory. The walls should not be obscured by the mirror—
or the dull pictures that are eventually to be restored. I would hope that the council
could find storage space, not only for the mirror, but for the many portraits which
will, if re-hung in their present state, detract from the new beauty of the hall.
QUERCUS

th
Sat 19 Dec
DEARER PICTURES
Admission prices at the Ritz Cinema, Wokingham are to be increased by threepence
th
as from January 10 . This will make the standard prices 2s. 3d., 3s. 3d., and 4s. The
cheap rate for old age pensioners will remain at 9d. The high cost of maintenance and
the burden of the entertainment tax are given as the reasons for the price increases.

1960
th
Sat 16 Jan
PORTERS STARTED IN “OAKINGHAM”
Clock Business Has Ticked Long History
Just retiring from the Hartley Wintney business after 60 busy years is Mrs. Porter,
widow of the late Mr. Alfred William Porter, whose family have been jewellers and
clock-and-watchmakers since before 1700, and who transferred their business from
Wokingham to Hartley Wintney in 1844 in the days when the stage coaches to the
West of England ran past the shop, and the coachmen called in to check their watches.
Somewhere about the time when Porters opened in Hartley Wintney, the landlord of
the Whyte Lyon, a few hundred yards up the road, shot himself because he thought
the opening of the railway at nearby Winchfield would mean the end of the road
traffic through Hartley Wintney on which the hotel’s prosperity depended!
Mrs. Porter, now 84, came out of Fleet Hospital on Saturday after enjoying excellent
health for most of her life, but thinks now it is time she took life less strenuously. Her
son, Mr. Basil Porter, is now in charge of the business.
Tale Starts In 1750
After more than 50 years in London, a member of the Porter family set up business
in Wokingham, then called Oakingham, in 1750. Somewhere about 1800 Mr. Samuel
Porter decided to make a call on Mr. John Staples, a clock-and-watchmaker in
Odiham of whose work Mr. Sam Porter was a great admirer. The two craftsmen had
never met, but Mr. Porter walked from Wokingham to pay his respects to his Odiham
rival. The return journey covered about 30 miles!
Mementos of the long history of the business are all around as one calls at Mr.
Porter’s shop. A time-keeper in Mr. B.A. Porter’s flat is a drop dial cock in a
mahogany case, and it has been keeping time ever since it was made by Mr. Mark
Porter in 1790 at Oakingham.
Standing still in the same position in the shop where it was built by Mr. Alfred
Porter in 1849 is a magnificent grandfather’s clock, 6 ft., 6 ins. tall. It keeps unvarying
good time.
The grandfather clock is just a youngster hardly learned to tick compared with some
Methuselahs at Porters. Just gone from the workshop is a clock, made in 1580. A
German table clock constructed about 1600 is just leaving, and it is “good for
centuries,” said Mr. Porter.
Emperor’s Clock

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