Wargrave Village Festival - 2024

Wargrave Village Festival 2024: Society events - Historic Village Walk and an Evening with Simon Williams

Polehampton School - Twyford’s New Library

Edward Polehampton left his significant wealth to the village of Twyford, establishing the Polehampton
Charity about 300 years ago, which built the old Polehampton Boys’ School there. For Wargrave Local
History Society’s May meeting, Andrew Cardy and James Fort recounted its history through to the present,
when it has been adapted to form Twyford’s new library

Maiwand: The battle and the Great Game

The Maiwand Lion in Forbury Gardens, Reading commemorates a battle fought in Afghanistan in 1880. The lion is posed snarling defiance to the north – towards Russia
Mike Cooper’s talk looked at the Battle of Maiwand against the background of Anglo-Russian rivalry in Asia – The Great Game – and the history of the lion itself

The Annual General Meeting - 2024

The AGM and review of the year, Di Evans recounted more of her Reminiscences of Wargrave in the 1950s and 1960s, following on from her presentation in December

A History of Woodley

Woodley grew from a village to a suburb of Reading in the 20th Century. It is famous for Miles Aircraft and the Aerodrome. Ann Smith told us about this and also revealed the earlier, hidden history of Woodley

Chalk, Caverns and Commandos

Rob told us of 100 million years of Reading’s underground history, from the creation of chalk in the area, to the opening of Emmer Green chalk mines in the 18th century, and the later uses of these underground chambers

Reminiscences of Wargrave (1950 - 1969)

Di Evans told us about Wargrave through the eyes of a fourth-generation villager with stories of school and work in the village during the 1950s and 1960s. It's the place she will always call home

Brunel and the Great Western Railway

Lionel Williams charts the years from the railways’ inception to the British Rail era. The talk looks at Brunel’s forward-thinking ideas and the legacy that he left, enabling the GWR to be one of the most progressive railways of its age

Royal Blue coach services

Peter, the archivist for the Thames Valley and Great Western Omnibus Trust - who is also the society secretary - recounted the history of Royal Blue - from horse drawn carriages to the express coach services which ran to the holiday areas of the south and west of England

History of Greyfriars Church, Reading

Originally part of Reading’s Franciscan Friary, the church building has had a ‘chequered’ career, including being town hall, poor house and a prison. Starting with the medieval foundation, Malcolm Summers told the story of one of Reading’s oldest buildings

Local History Visit

In July, Wargrave Local History Society members made a visit to a place of local history interest, and this
year this was to the Chiltern Open Air Museum, near Chalfont St Giles

Wycombe Unmasked

The June meeting of the Wargrave Local History Society was William Reid’s presentation on Wycombe
Unmasked. William is a trustee of The High Wycombe Society, and he enlightened us about many aspects
of the town’s past