POLICE officers training for school liaison work were being given a helping hand in 1986, just as pupils at Wildridings School embarked on their own project to learn more about the force.

Teacher, Bea Baylis, had already enlisted her fourth-year children into the scheme, with the aid of the Thames Valley force at its Kidlington headquarters. A camera crew visited the project, led by Inspector Dick Smith, and filmed the pupils talking to their school liaison officer, Constable Dave O’Neill.

Inspector Smith told the Bracknell News:” This has been running since 1982- with considerable success, each year the number of youngsters referred to our department for crime has dropped.”

Firefighters from Bracknell Station’s Red Watch posed for a’ chilly snap’ 34 years ago, as the area suffered its lowest temperature for four decades.

As the firefighters posed with their snowman mascot, an overnight temperature of minus 16c had just been recorded and an icy blanket had caused chaos to drivers and pedestrians.

A spokesperson for the London weather centre told the News:” There is a possibility of more snow on the way, and it is not going to thaw yet, it could be staying for quite some time.”

A maths teacher, Dinah Player, from Charters School, Sunningdale, became Weight Watcher of the Year in 1986, by losing 98 lbs.

Dinah went from 16 stone to 9 stone 6lbs and told the Bracknell News:” My biggest challenge was entertaining guests and cooking stodgy pudding, I was a chocoholic but with support I won through.”

The new-look Dinah also announced she wanted to drive a formula one racing car and join a sub-aqua club, to learn how to dive underwater.

An 11-year-old musician from Crowthorne found the key to success when he came first in a talent competition held in Reading.

Johnny Brogden beat off strong challengers to triumph, by playing a selection of Beatles classics on his Yamaha electric organ to the panel of judges in Oddfellows Hall.

He just pipped country and western singer Suzanne Greenwood into second place and took home the trophy plus a cassette recorder for first prize.

Bracknell youngsters Robert Mitchell and Sam Kompfner proved their knowledge of prehistoric animals by winning the News “Name the Dinosaur Competition” in 1986.

Robert, aged eight, and seven-year-old Sam, correctly named twelve scale models manufactured by Invicta Plastics of Leicester and were presented with the same ‘dinos’ as their prize by News Editor, George Tuckfield.

A team from Warfield Guides were victorious in the Bracknell District Crime Prevention quiz 34 years ago, beating four other local teams.

The competitors were quizzed on their knowledge of topics such as property marking and Neighbourhood Watch.