Page 995 - Reading Mercury

movement. Lord Baden-Powell and his wife, Lady Baden-Powell, who is World Chief
Guide.

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Sat 18 March
RADYNE EXPANSION MERGER
Radyne Ltd., of Wokingham, the world’s largest company dealing with induction
heating equipment is to link up with Delapena Ltd., of Cheltenham. The companies
are part of the David Brown Corporation and account for more than a third of all
induction heating equipment in use in Britain.
Induction heating is a widely-used method for directing heat accurately in industry.
All Delapena’s induction heat treatment marketing and technical services will be
moved to Wokingham to produce a new range under the name Radyne Delapena
Research and Development will be stepped up and new fields explored when the firms
are fully integrated.
Delapena employs about 450 people but it is not yet known how the move will
affect staff. About half of the present work carried out in Cheltenham will move to
Wokingham.

WOKINGHAM’S NEWEST SCHOOL
In a showcase at Wokingham’s newest school is a 45-million-year-old fossil, dug up
when the school was being built. But in every other respect the school is among the
most modern in the country. Among the new ideas in school design incorporated in
the new St. Paul’s School, Wokingham, is the provision of their own wash-basins and
toilets for each classroom which also has a drinking fountain.
The school took nearly two years to build and can accommodate over 300 children
aged between seven and eleven. The school has eight self-contained classrooms, all of
which will be in use when the children from the infant school move to the junior
school after the Easter holidays.
Miss B.G. Foy, the headmistress of the school, told the Mercury that all the children
are very proud of their new school and she is pleased to think that they can now take
in children who they had to turn down when the old school was in use. To keep the
school in good condition all the children wear slippers or plimsolls while at classes.
The changing rooms at the school have footbaths and hot air fans and the large hall
is equipped with physical exercise bars. The hall is also used for school dinners which
are served from the kitchen adjoining the hall. A library in the centre of the school is
quickly being created.

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Sat 15 April
BOOMING WOKINGHAM
Wokingham’s population has increased by 59% in the last six years, from 10,710 in
1960 to 17,020 last year, states a report of the borough treasurer, Mr. Bryan Chant, to
a recent meeting of the town Council’s Establishment and Organisation Committee.
Over the same period the number of council-owned homes has increased by 50%
while housing advances have gone up by 111%
Berkshire’s fastest-growing town, Wokingham, had a penny rate product of £3,487
in 1966, whereas this was only £619 in 1960. These penny rate figures are slightly
misleading as Wokingham’s Town Clerk, Mr. L. Goddard Smalley, pointed out on
Monday. The big change was largely due to the alteration in values in 1963.
At the same time he quoted figures over the past six years, showing how the loan
debt had risen by 136%.

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