TWYFORD born, Alice Pearce, celebrated a lifetime living and working at the Waggon and Horses public house in 1964.

To mark her anniversary, Courage brewery district manager presented 82-year-old Alice with a giant bouquet of flowers and read a telegram congratulating her on achieving a “wonderful 80 years.”

Many customers gathered in the ‘lounge bar’, paid tribute to her wonderful memories of life in the village years ago, which had brought much pleasure to those on the opposite side of the bar.

Delegates at the River Thames Society gathered in Reading in the autumn of 1964 to discuss plans to save the river becoming completely overcrowded by recreational boats and pleasure craft.

Michael Dower, from the Civic Trust, explained to the conference that:” Three factors, such as increased leisure time, affluence and social mobility, were leading to an explosion from urban areas at weekends and holiday periods.”

Mr. Dower revealed that over 20,000 craft were currently using the Thames and the future opening of “a pretty shabby” Kennet and Avon Canal, could potentially ease congestion.

The first British International Drag Festival (having a different meaning in 2019) attracted thousands of motor-racing fans to Blackbushe airfield 56 years ago.

The American-based sport involved ‘dragster’ machines accelerating from a standing start to nearly 200 mph over quarter of a mile, burning clouds of smoke from their tyres.

Stirling Moss, a British motor-racing legend, who was working for the sponsors, interviewed two of the USA’s leading drivers, Tommy Ivo and Don Garlits.

The 1964 Henley Agricultural Show marked the end of an era when the original organisers (for 27 years), Simmons and Sons, would officially hand over to Lt-Col C. Ward.

The exceptionally dry summer of ’64 posed a bit of a problem for the show’s horse jumping programme, as the course was too dry.

The new organisers applied 1,200 gallons of water around various jumps, ensuring that there would be no danger to equine legs.

A two-page historical feature shed light on the history of Mapledurham House, an Elizabethan mansion occupied by the Riddell-Blount family since 1588.

In recent years the house had been empty, with the nearby church and timbered mill seemingly destined to further decay and ruin.

But with government grants, the estate trustees were making determined efforts to restore the entire village, hoping to open periodically to the public as soon as the work was completed.

The motoring section of the Reading Mercury (later to become the Chronicle) travelled to “The Smoke” to attend the Commercial Motor Show at Earl’s Court, London.

With new regulations relaxed, restrictions on the size and weight of lorries on Berkshire’s roads, the industry was going “pedal to the metal” to produce more “superheavies.”