Wokingham’s carnival had a television theme to its colourful floats in 1981, so TV’s popular shows such as Dr Who, Wurzel Gummidge, Tiswas and (weirdly) Pot Black, were given the full treatment in Cantley Park.

Despite a fire engine getting stuck in the mud, a motor-cyclist breaking her arm and no bunting or flags in the town centre, 10,000 people turned out to visit the stalls and sideshows.

40 young girls from Croydon were evacuated to Winkfield in 1940, and 41 years later they re-visited their temporary home at Ryemead, the home of the Honourable Mrs Aubrey Elliott.

While Britain was waging war with Germany, the girls from south London enjoyed the peace and tranquillity of Winkfield, receiving a decent education in Popels Hall, under the watchful eye of school mistress, Miss Evelyn Calver.

The Bracknell News was on hand to witness ladies trip down memory lane and one of the former evacuees, Dorothy Luck admitted:” We were looked after by the maids, they gave us lovely hot baths and food from Harrods!”

Anglo-Japanese relations were cemented with Heathfield School, Ascot welcoming the Japanese Ambassador, His Excellency Naraichi to open a new science laboratory and launch a scholarship of £20,000 in his name.

During the ceremony the school was presented with a neon gas laser and a hologram of a Japanese carp, and the Ambassador unveiled a brass plaque giving his name to the science laboratory.

Youngsters from Bracknell’s Birch Hill School finished a specially organised book week in style in 1981, when they held a fancy dress parade.

The theme for the school playground parade was “magic, mystery and make believe” and pupils didn’t disappoint onlookers as they arrived dressed as fairies, witches and wizards.

A £7 million electronics research complex for Hewlett-Packard was “topped-out” at Pinewood, near Wokingham 37 years ago, the first of its kind for the company in Europe.

The new centre was expected to be completed by January 1982, and would employ up to 350 people, with more than a hundred trainees visiting at any one time.

Managing director David Baldwin told the News:” Pinewood was chosen because of a need to create the atmosphere of a university for the development of software and because we wanted to continue developing in the Wokingham area.

For three weeks the Ladbrokes Hotel, in Bracknell, gave its restaurant’s customers the chance to enter a very unusual competition.

The competition entrants had to guess how many oranges would be left on the roof of a Mini Metro, after it had been pushed through the dining area, into the main entrance.

As the nation held its breath for the result, it was announced that 91 oranges did not fall to the floor during the ‘big push’, unfortunately nobody guessed correctly from the 500 entries!