Page 977 - Reading Mercury

working of the new barriers. The barriers were designed to “fail safe”—so that in the
event of a fault the arms would fall and seal the road to vehicular traffic. And in this
event a warning would automatically be given to the railway. But on Monday night
the crossing did not “fail safe”.
“We were expressly asked by the ministry to install a warning system so that we
should know when the barriers were in the “down” position too long. There was no
provision for a warning being given when they failed in the “up” position. They
should not have done this” commented British Railways later.
The fight goes on
A leaflet published by British Railways, showing how the new continental style
barriers will work at the Star Lane level crossing was issued this week. A copy was
sent to Wokingham residents’ association and other leaflets have been on display on
station platforms.
But the fight against the new barriers still goes on—even after they are in place.
Although parents have said that they fear children will be able to get on to the
electrified line the Minister of Transport decided to quash all objections last week and
gave the railway authority the go-ahead to install the barrier.

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Sat 12 Sept
ROTARY CLUB
At the weekly luncheon meeting on Monday, a member of the club, Rotarian E.
Coleman, spoke to members about a recent visit he had made to Norway with a party
of Rotarians and their wives from the district. Mr. Coleman told of the welcome
The party received when they were entertained by three Rotary clubs in Norway, and
described some of the places of interest that they had visited. The meeting was chaired
by the president, Rotarian A. Tomkins.

BRITISH LEGION
Members of the Wokingham branch, British Legion, Women‘s Section, who
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attended the resumed Monthly meeting on September 2 , heard an interesting talk on
the Church’s work among merchant seamen. This was given by the Rev. A.P.
Hutchinson and was illustrated by coloured films of the merchant navy in all parts of
the world. A vote of thanks was proposed by the president, Lady Victoria Villiers, and
endorsed by the chairman, Mrs. D. Murray. Further arrangements were made re the
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sale of work on Wednesday, October 7 .

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Sat 26 Sept
THE LATE MR. F. HEELAS
The death occurred on Saturday of Mr. Frank Heelas, of 33, The Terrace,
Wokingham, aged 92. Mr. Heelas was a member of the family which established the
well-known Wokingham firm bearing their name. He was for many years a member
of the now defunct Wokingham Club. A funeral service was held at St. Paul’s Church,
Wokingham, on Friday, followed by cremation at Woking.

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Sat 3 Oct
BALLOON RACE
Wokingham Boy Scouts released 1,256 balloons from the Town Hall yard,
Wokingham, on Saturday as part of their effort to raise money to send a local Scout to
the World Jamboree in America in 1967, They would have released more but, owing

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