Page 982 - Reading Mercury

RECORD
Money poured into the coffers of the St. Paul’s School, Wokingham, Parent Teacher
Association at the rate of well over £1 per minute on Wednesday. In an hour the
jumble sale at the school raised £83 which will go towards providing Christmas
entertainment for the children. The previous record profit from a sale at the school
was £60.

th
Sat 5 Dec
WOKINGHAM’S NEW HALL
The new Methodist Church Hall and ancillary buildings in Rose Street,
Wokingham, will be opened today (Saturday)—having cost over £10,000 to build.
The project which was started through the ministry the Rev. Leonard Hale, was given
a good financial start by a grant from the Joseph Rank Benevolent Trustees of £1,400.
The Methodist Chapel Committee added a further £400, but two years ago—in spite
of a 20-year-old legacy of £1,500—the total stood at less than £5,000. In the last two
years this amount has been doubled—but still the final target, enabling the church to
open the buildings free of debt, has yet to be reached.
The site on which the new buildings stand was part of a foresighted purchase made
by the trustees nearly a century ago. This week the minister, the Rev. E. Ralph said
that he hoped the new church hall would enable a considerable development to take
place in the youth work done by the church.
The doors will be opened by Mrs. A.H. Creed whose late husband, the Rev. A.H.
Creed, lived in Wokingham in the early 1950s. The service of dedication of the new
buildings will be taken by present minister, but Mr. Leonard Hale—who launched the
scheme—will also take part. The address will be given by the son of Mrs. Creed—Mr.
A. Lowry Creed, a former vice-president of the Methodist Conference, the highest
office open to a layman of the Methodist Church.
For some years there has been a friendly relationship between the Methodist and
Baptist Churches in Wokingham—as evidenced by their joint service of Holy
Communion each year—and after the dedication a tea will be held in the Baptist
Church Hall. The growing fellowship between all churches will be further illustrated
as the Rev. F. A. Steer, Rector of All Saints, and the Rev. H.M. Ray Smith, on behalf
of the Free Churches in the town, will speak at the tea.

th
Sat 19 December
WOKINGHAM CHRONOLOGY
The History Group of the Wokingham Society have fixed March as the target month
during which they hope to complete their chronology of Wokingham. This week Mr.
Anthony Cross, the society chairman, said that this chronology would be the skeleton
on which they hoped to build up their history of the town. “Various people or groups
of people had agreed to deal with particular periods of the town’s history, and their
combined efforts would produce a complete record of the town. The group has
considered the possibility of a museum in the town and an ad hoc committee of the
Town Council also has the matter under consideration.
The History Group felt that there were three main possibilities—a permanent
museum adequately staffed, an unattended museum or exhibition on a permanent
basis, and a semi-permanent display, cared for by some parent body, such as the
existing Reading Museum.

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