In the spring of 1966 Slough got a new MP Joan Lestor and her majority of 4,663 led the Observer to speculate that the Conservatives may not be re-elected any time soon.

In fact Joan Lestor would serve as the sitting MP until 1983 when boundary changes abolished the original constituency and the Tories gained back the 'new' seat.

The election count venue also coincided with the first night of Shakespeare's Macbeth in Langley Grammar School and this 'double toil and trouble' double booking had hilarious consequences.

The Bard himself would have doubtless chuckled at this 'comedy of errors'-with countless wandering would be voters interrupting proceedings and asking the cast where the polling booths were located.

Three members of the audience fainted in the heat of the hall and when the windows were opened-the aircraft noise from planes approaching Heathrow airport drowned out many of the most iconic moments in the 'Scottish Play'.

Slough's first male traffic warden Harry Winter was unveiled to local motorists in '66 and speaking to the Observer Mr Winter revealed:”It never occurred to me that I would be the first!”.

Fifty years ago the Reading Chronicle was concerned with more celestial bodies featuring the town's only radio telescope being constructed in a first-floor laboratory at Stoneham Boy's School.

For a few weeks the pupils had been picking up solar disturbances using a complex of antennae on the school roof.

This latest project wasn't the Physics Department's only scheme-another 14 were in the pipeline-including installing a large dish similar to the iconic Jodrell Bank on the roof-along with a seismograph to record worldwide earthquakes.

A local motorist attempted to defy the laws of physics in Baker Street by jamming his or her vehicle between a wall and a lamp post-thankfully the Chronicle's photograph showed that the police were looking into it.

Times were indeed changing in the mid sixties and it was announced that two local landmarks Sindlesham and Sonning Mills were to close bringing an end to flour production that had occurred on these sites since Domesday times.

No official plans for their future were forthcoming-but they had a degree of protection a buildings of historical importance.

Tilehurst played host to an unexpected visitor at the local barn dance (this was before the disco) in St. Michael's Hall organised by the Youth Club

A pantomime cow appeared and posed for the Chronicle's camera-although it is not recorded whether the bovine gatecrasher left any 'calling cards'.

The Bracknell News back in 1966 had a couple of pages each week that appealed to the younger reader called 'Mainly for Youth' in which the latest 'poptastic' record charts were published including singles and the top five L.P's.

Another weekly feature that appeared alongside was called 'Teenager of the Week' which highlighted a local youngster and detailed what they liked or disliked about being young in the sixties.

In his TOTW article,16-year-old Ian White from Wokingham stated that the town should have its own youth club and that the BBC should fund a new radio station specifically for youngsters.

Bracknell had a new problem with abandoned 'derelict' cars being dumped behind Priestwood Square shopping centre and local residents were becoming anxious that as the old wrecks deteriorate local children will use them as 'dangerous playthings'.

There is an old saying that:”what goes around comes around” and Wokingham's town centre redevelopment plan-which was due to provide a ring road around the town-was going to be shelved,reviewed or even scrapped fifty years ago.

Although County planners insisted (in their best Yes Minister voice) that the plans were:”still on,but as with any scheme,it is always under review”.

ends

Words and archive photos: Chris Forsey