Reading Nostalgia - What was going on back in 1999?

One of the nicer stories from that year focused on Caversham teenager Charmaine Gooding.

The 17-year-old, who attended Reading Theatre College, won funding for a scholarship programme at the London Studio Centre.

Berkshire teen Charmaine Gooding

Charmaine won the place after scoring a 90 out of 100 in her audition, where she performed two songs, a monologue, a dance piece along with getting through an interview.

The course lasted for three years.

Speaking back in 1999, she said: “My mum always wanted to do something like this but never got the chance to take it anywhere and I have three uncles who were the same.

“It’s what I’ve always wanted to do, but, I never had the confidence until I was 15 when I told my mum I wanted to do dancing and drama.”

The course lasted for three years and ended in 2002.

Round about the same time, poetry enthusiasts at a Caversham school joined more an a quarter of a million children across Britain to break a record for charity.

Pupils at Caversham Park Primary School read Wordsworth’s ‘Daffodils’ in unison with youngsters at 1,100 schools to form the world’s largest poetry reading.

Pupils from the Caversham Park Primary School

Headteacher, Sarah Parish, said: “The pupils read the poem with such expression.

“The versus are a wonderful part of our heritage, and this has also improved their literacy.”

That same year, the Reading Chronicle did a feature on a Tilehurst mum who opened up on an illness that nearly took her life, as well as one of her sons.

Lesley Stares revealed that when she gave birth to her first child, Jordan, in 1993, the new mum was put in intensive care as her ‘liver and kidneys were failing’.

The condition was diagnosed as preeclampsia, which is caused by a defective placenta, and kills hundreds of mothers a year, along with their new born babies.

Lesley, with her son, Jordan (left) and Luke (right)

Speaking 22 years ago, she said: “What happened to me is not common, but it does happen.”

Thankfully, she and Jordan pulled through.

Other news stories from the year saw Katesgrove campaigners do their bit to try and save several of Reading’s oldest buildings.

This came after several plans were revealed to try and transform some of the historical landmarks into new developments.

In order to show their dismay, some residents performed Victorian-like productions outside the buildings, to teach passers-by the history of the landmark’s history.

The aim of this was to save the buildings.

A play taking place outside one of Reading's oldest buidlings

Also in 1999, doctors at the Mortimer Surgery were given nearly £200 to buy medical equipment for children, with the money being raised by the youngsters themselves, whilst the family-fun tale of Peter Pan, arrived at the Reading’s Hexagon that pantomime season.

The students raised money for doctors in the area

Peter Pan was the panto in Reading back in 1999

Reading resident, Bill Gulliver, abseiled down the Renaissance Hotel in a swimsuit and women’s underwear to raise money for the National Institute for the Blind.

Bill Gulliver doing his bit for charity

Incredibly, around £25,000 was donated through the cause.

That same year saw Lucy, a five-month-old Jack Russell puppy, break her leg after she dove from her dining room table, and a new classroom was officially opened at the Earley School following a long development.

Lucy was injured following her jump from the dining table

The school in Earley