The area of South Reading, which encompasses Whitley and Whitley Wood, is the subject of this week’s Bygones, as this column has been sent some intriguing old photos of the area.

For many years trolley buses criss-crossed the whole of the town, and one photo (probably taken in the late 1950’s) shows the No15 service heading in a southerly direction along Northumberland Avenue, before stopping near the leisure centre. Another trolley bus photo is very easy to date, as it shows the Savoy cinema in 1956, which was showing the legendary Norman Wisdom’s latest film release, “Up in the World”.

Reading had many theatres and cinemas until the advent of television, but as their popularity waned many of these picture houses were known as “flea pits”. A snapshot taken outside South Reading Youth Club was probably taken in the 1950’s, we do not have any other information with this snapshot.

The building looks very similar to the community centre in Whitley Wood, which dates from the same period and is still in use to this day.

Another group of youngsters, probably at Ashmead School, are clearly delighted to be members of their cricket team, posing for a photo whilst proudly holding two bats with the words “B team, 1956”.

Queen Elizabeth II’s Coronation was in 1953, and all the country celebrated this moment in history, including the residents of Whitley who held street parties and school celebrations.

One local school had gone to the trouble of constructing a royal coach, complete with a “Queen” seated inside and no less than 11 bridesmaids, two police officers and various attendants.

An impromptu street party photo, somewhere in South Reading, captured a delightful moment in time as dozens of hungry children waited patiently to tuck into a ‘right royal spread’ whilst enjoying the crowning of their new sovereign queen.

Whitley Wood Post Office was the subject of a postcard photo in the 1930’s and the photo has been given the number 943 in the series.

It was a lucky circumstance that many ‘ordinary’ buildings were used as a postcard because many of these lesser structures would have been deemed ‘not worthy’ of a professional picture at the time.

The postal service at the time delivered at least three times a day, so it was entirely possible to get a message to a friend or relative across town on the same day, this was often in the form of postcards such as this.

Bygones would like to thank Trisha Bennett, curator at the Whitley Community Museum who sent us these wonderful old photos.

Many of their 2,000 Facebook Group members regularly use the drop in Café in Northumberland Avenue to talk about the old days, so if you have any old photos or memories of Whitley and Whitley Wood, they would love to hear from you.