A REVOLUTIONARY new system to aid milk production, called the “Lactonic”, was unveiled to agricultural journalists at Lower Bowden Farm in 1966.

The device was designed to wash, sanitise, rinse and drain the pipes involved during the milking of cow herds, by using extremely hot water.

The wider farming community would have a chance to see the cleaning procedure at the Royal Dairy Show later that month.

The Royal East Berks Agricultural Association staged its annual ploughing match at Shottesbrooke Park 53 years ago.

The winners, including two ploughmen from Berkshire, posed ‘happily’ with their trophies beside the winning tractor and overall champion, Mr. E.W. Comley, who won the Richard Haddon cup.

Reading’s first toy fair invited three special VIP guests to open the Save the Children’s fundraiser in the Broad Street Congregational Church in 1966.

The Mayor and Mayoress of Reading entered the church hall with a Dalek (arch enemy of BBC TV’s Dr. Who), which had been lent to the organisers by Colonel Lister from the REME’s Arborfield Garrison.

The Dalek proved so popular that visitors had to wait outside for a while, as the hall had become uncomfortably overcrowded.

Luckily, the Chiltern Nursery Training College had sent some nurses to help organise the fair, and they were joined by members of the St. John Ambulance Brigade.

A car with a revolutionary form of propulsion which needed no oil, petrol or water was undergoing tests at the home of its inventor, Harry Kenworthy, of Stanford Dingley. His prototype unit had been fitted to the chassis of a 1953 Ford Anglia, reaching a top speed of 46 mph, using a “cylindrical power unit”.

After numerous similar experiments, Mr. Kenworthy had developed an engine unit that drew its power from a cylindrical shaft, fitted with weights and aided by a small electric motor.

Didcot Power Station was taking shape 53 years ago, and because most of its readers would be supplied with electricity by the new generator, the Chronicle paid a visit to the site to check on its progress.

During the early stages of construction, over 1.5 million tons of excavated material had been moved, 2.5 miles of roadway laid down and 270,000 tons of concrete poured into the foundations.

The £84 million complex would, when completed, generate 2,000 megawatts into the National Grid and employ over 400 permanent staff.

When an accident in her mother’s kitchen scalded Maria Jubber’s right arm her parents feared she would never be able regain total use of it again.

But when doctors suggested she should take up ballet lessons, the plucky youngster defied the odds and by the age of five in 1966 she passed her first preliminary grade certificate with flying colours.

Dance teacher June Grundy told the Chronicle:” When I first saw her the arm looked awful, now she is really brilliant for her age.”