MEMORIES OF MAIDENHEAD

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The pub is prominently located on Gringer Hill, in a densely populated residential suburb, approximately one mile north of the town centre and mainline station. Our pupils have really enjoyed making their clay pigs in a wonderful variety of forms and colours and are looking forward to seeing Maidenhead's new pig statue in all its glory. Mr Bayford from the Public Health team is seen talking to the owner of Steventon’s Stores (“Phone 386”!)

Daniel Gillespie, headteacher at Beech Lodge School, said: "We at Beech Lodge School are delighted to be involved in this lovely ‘pig celebration’. When they were formed, The Home Guard had little or no equipment – they armed themselves with shotguns and pistols and wore armbands because there were no proper uniforms.My parents seemed to enjoy eating cooked hearts, I ate them but not if I could help it! They were horrible but no choice. We modelled the sculpture in a style that we felt conveyed the animal's appealing nature. Hopefully it will be enjoyed by those who encounter it for years to come.” It was also reported that of 100 samples of milk taken for quality assessment by the public health department, 97 were assessed as Grade 1.

The return of peace time gave the local Town Council the opportunity to start redevelopment of Maidenhead. There was a desperate shortage of housing and one of the first tasks was to build a new estate at Pinkneys Green. The new roads were named after RAF aircraft. There was little choice of clothes, if you wanted to wear anything different we had to make do and mend. Chocolate, sweets and ice-creams were a rarity. I saw it quite clearly and stood trembling with fear waiting for an explosion. An explosion never came. Maidenhead was a dreary place, there were three cinemas, the Rialto, Plaza and the Ritz but few people ventured out at night.

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The pub is the ideal venue for many activities and strong working relationships have been developed and established with a wide cross section of local clubs, societies and organisations in the local community. An air raid siren on top of the Broadway Police Station was frequently sounded to warn of the approach of bombers that were heading for London 26 miles away.

In 1960, Maidenhead was home to 30,000 people (it was just over 70,000 in 2020), and was a very different place to today. What he didn’t realise was that in 1967 the new Town Hall’s frontage was to feature as the Hospital in Carry On Doctor, with Barbara Windsor pictured filming a scene there. Christie added: “It has been our pleasure to welcome the children of Beech Lodge School to Waterside Quarter to unveil this fabulous new sculpture. I continued to do my paper round and discovered that one of my customers was George Allison, the manager of Arsenal Football Club. Although German bombers could be heard nearly every night, Maidenhead never interested them. There was nothing worth bombing.For the duration of the war, White Waltham Airfield was the HQ of the Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA).