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Cecil Culver's Wokingham. Three: Fun, Friendship, Fraternity.
Jim Bell's final instalment of the life of Cecil Culver tells us about how the Wokingham community organised its leisure and the… Read more…
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1915. Wokingham's heroes from The Great War
In this article we will take you back one hundred years to early 1915, a time when the first cinema… Read more…
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The story of The Christmas Day Truce 1914
Many thanks to Wiki for this study of the amazing tale of the human family's desire to express friendship during… Read more…
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Wokingham Families: The Purseys, Brants, Rances and Alexanders
Wokingham Families and the Great War. Recalling the 1914-18 war often involves descriptions of military strategy and the bewildering numbers… Read more…
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Cecil Culver's Wokingham. Two: On the move
Down to Business: Reeves Removals. Jim Bell continues with the magnificent series of recollections by Cecil Culver, one of the great… Read more…
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Great Uncle William Churcher killed during the Bombing of West Hartlepool
In 1989, I began my own journey of tracing the Churcher family tree. I was eventually to be introduced to… Read more…
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Thoughts on the Great War. By John Redwood MP for Wokingham
The mass slaughter on a new industrial scale in the 1914-18 war has haunted me from my childhood days. From… Read more…
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The Somme Tunnels on BBC 4. Monday 19th May 9pm
One of the Western Front's great journeys is a visit to the Lochnagar Crater in La Boisselle, a huge hole… Read more…
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Names on St Paul's Church Memorial: St Paul's Church was built by John Walter, entirely at his own expense, during… Read more…
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Visiting Germany's WW1 Centenary events
Andrew Radgick is Chairman of Bracknell Forest Society and a great friend to the Wokingham Remembers project. I thought it… Read more…
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Recent Posts
Category Archives: Jim Bell’s Wokingham History
1856: Cholera arrives in Wokingham
Flush the loo, turn on the taps and wash your hands; a simple act which came from decades of debate on the diseases and deaths which accompanied everyday life in Victorian Britain. Thanks go to Jim Bell for uncovering the … Continue reading
George Henry PRICE, Poulterer 52 Peach Street (1857 – 1925)
We’re very grateful for the article provided by Diane Johansen in which she tells us about her Great Grand Uncle’s life and his death in Peach Street, Wokingham. We so often know about the buildings and the community who lived … Continue reading
1860: Wokingham opens the New Town Hall
Jim Bell is renowned for the 30 short books he has written on Wokingham. In this article Jim tells the story of how the Wokingham Town Hall was built and a fascinating tale of an old silk weaver from the … Continue reading
The double life of Arthur Hill, 6th Marquess of Downshire
By Jim Bell. This article first appeared in ‘The Wokingham Paper’, 24th April 2015 A young man sits holding the reins of a horse drawn fire engine. He is the chief of Wokingham’s voluntary fire service and also just happens … Continue reading
Where They Lived
For me, this is possibly the most fascinating and the saddest part of the research. Once we discovered the stories of the men, we started pinning their addresses to a modern map of Wokingham. Although we suspected that they would … Continue reading
Wokingham 1914
Wokingham news throughout 1914 Jim Bell transcribes the Wokingham news section from the Reading Mercury throughout the whole of 1914. It is a remarkable insight to a small town assisting the war effort, reporting on its awful consequences, but at … Continue reading
Cecil and Ken in Conversation 1996. By Jim Bell
Jim Bell: “Cecil’s reminiscences are taken from three interviews by his old friend and historian, Ken Goatley. The first two were recorded on audio tape in 1996 when he described his life and reminisced about Wokingham during the first twenty-five … Continue reading
The local historians who pointed to Wokingham's Future
Edna Goatley passed away on Wednesday the 3rd April 2013 at the age 86 years. Her funeral takes place at Easthampstead Crematorium on Thursday 18th April at 11am. By Mike Churcher This is not an obituary, the Wokingham Times already … Continue reading
Another casualty of the Great War: Wokingham's Mayor.
Our focus on the government of the Great War tends to be at national level, but Jim Bell’s extensive research has enabled us to look into local government from a Wokingham viewpoint. His latest book ‘Memories of the Town Hall’ … Continue reading
1919 Victory ! Wokingham celebrates.
Local Historian, Jim Bell unearths this extensive coverage of Wokingham’s Armistice Celebrations: “On Saturday, Wokingham duly celebrated the peace. The proceedings commenced at 7 a.m., when peals were rung on the church bells. At 10 a.m. the town band commenced to … Continue reading