Shopping for history

Annabel Williams • Published 3 Dec 2009 09:00 0 Comments

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A QUARTER of a century of feeding Caversham shoppers was celebrated on Friday last week.

Staff at Waitrose in Church Street marked the branch's 25th anniversary by inviting former colleagues back for afternoon tea.

There were also representatives from the 45 charitable groups the branch has helped through its Community Matters initiative, which started in August last year and has raised £15,000. Groups including Reading Canoe Club and St Anne's RC Primary School in Caversham.

There were food and wine tasting for customers, and manager Andi Macaulay presented the first five through the doors with a bottle of wine and a bouquet of flowers.

Tony Davies, the branch's very first manager, also arrived to see how it had changed.

Reading Mayor Fred Pugh and Mayoress Jean Pugh were guests of honour, and Cllr Pugh told of the couple's personal link to the shop.

He said: "Our daughter joined the staff and worked on the meat counter on Saturdays, before you opened on Sundays, so the meat counter had to be cleared by the end of the day.

"It was very useful, she used to ring us and say 'now's the time to come down'."

On Saturday, staff members, known as Partners, enjoyed a celebratory cruise on the Caversham Princess with a meal, music and dancing.

This article appeared in Reading Chronicle 03 Dec 09

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