News from your clubs and societies
Berkshire Freemasons
A PLAN to refurbish an historic building in Twyford has been given a boost thanks to Berkshire Freemasons.
Earlier this month, trustees from the Twyford Snooker Hall received more than £2,000 to help with the refurbishment of the hall, which dates back to before 1880 and moved to its current location on the Wargrave Road in 1909.
The hall was then gifted to the club by the village’s then vicar in 1919, for the villager’s selfless contribution to the war effort in 1919.
According to the national census, the town recorded less than 1,200 residents in 1911 and those men who enlisted over the four terrible years of conflict accounted for 47% of the entire male population of the village.
One of the snooker tables in the hall is over 130 years old, having been donated to the club by the owner of The Hermitage, a large house long since demolished on what is now Hermitage Drive.
Local Freemasons from Ashley Hill Lodge and the Berkshire Masonic Charity were delighted to visit the hall with their donation, which was gratefully received.
Hall chairman David Warner said: “On behalf of the club members we thank the Berkshire Freemasons for their support which has really made a difference.”
Bill Johns, who presented the cheque on behalf of Berkshire Freemasons, said: “The Berkshire Freemasons are delighted to support projects of this nature which benefit the local community.”
Wokingham Lions
As the holiday season approaches, many of the elderly residents, as well as young families in Wokingham, are needy and on tight budgets.
The Wokingham Lions Club is working to collect and deliver food parcels to them before Christmas. The annual Christmas Collection kicks off on 1st December outside Waitrose (Wokingham).
Members of the Wokingham Lions Club will be collecting on this schedule:
Waitrose – Saturday, 1st December, 9am – 4pm
Sainsburys (Winnersh) – Sunday, 2nd December, 10am – 4pm
Waitrose – Friday, 7th December,
2 - 6pm
“Please support our Christmas Collection by purchasing an extra item of shopping and donating it to the Wokingham Lions Club.
We are looking for canned soups/vegetables, canned fish/meat, biscuits, non-perishable food, mini Christmas pudding and treats. We appreciate the generosity of Wokingham residents, as well as the volunteer efforts of our Lions Club members,” says John Cleary, organiser of the Christmas Collection.
Lions Club members separate the food and assemble them into parcels. They are then delivered to private homes and care homes before Christmas.
For more information on the Wokingham Lions Club, please visit the website, www. wokinghamlions.org.uk or call 0845 833 7384.
Emmbrook Residents Association
THE Emmbrook Residents Association has just published the sixth booklet in the series of Emmbrook – Unfinished Histories written by P.R. Shilham, retired Chemistry teacher from The
It contains items on Matthews
Green House (replaced by Cantley House), an inventory of its contents in 1831 and shows its social importance nationally in 1892 with a Grand Band Contest.
There is detail of the development of Emmbrook and a commentary on the history of a house in Emmbrook Road revealed by a series of sales from development of the land in 1905.
There is further information on the Vendors of the Village Hall site in 1867.
There is more petty crime including poaching which involved a member of the Emmbrook Cricket Eleven.
Both the football and cricket teams feature in reports of their matches in the early C20th .
Both the owner and occupier of Bill Hill feature at the time of an incidence of Tractarianism at Hurst in 1855 and 1856.
It resulted in the burning of an effigy on the annual bonfire on November 5 .
This year being the 65th
Anniversary of the ending of the Korean War in July, there is a record of an Emmbrook man who fought with the “Glorious Glosters” at Imjin River.
This book was distributed free to paid up members of the Emmbrook Residents Association.
Copies are available for purchase from Embrook Post Office in Reading Road and from the ERA Chairman.