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Arborfield
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Memories
  Related sites:
St. Bartholomew's new church Centenary Celebrations, Sunday 23rd June 1963 Arborfield and Newland Centenary celebrations, 9th - 10th July 1994 'Arborfield & the September 49ers' web-site Fatal Accident of 7-year-old Esme Hiscock on 14 February 1950 |
Do you have any memories you would like to share with the Local History Society? Any photographs? Over the years, people have written about the village. In 1922, the Women's Institute combined history with reminiscence in their History document There's a lot more in their History than it seems, because it was compiled by Beatrice Simonds of Newlands, who had access to many ancient written records. This document appears to have been started at least 40 years earlier, and it was subsequently updated with hand-written notes as late as 1946.
The Bentley family have been connected with the village for at least 200 years. Photographs of John Bentley's funeral procession shows Arborfield from a gentler age. Click here to see details. Miss A.M. Edwards grew up in Arborfield in the 1910's at Grange Cottages, on the corner of Greensward Lane and Reading Road. Her reminiscences were published in the 1973 'Your Village' booklet. Click here to read her article. A local journalist, Anthony Walton, lived in Walden Avenue. He was better known as 'Agricola', writing a series of articles on agricultural matters in the 'Reading Mercury'. Click here for more details of his life and work. He was used the pen-name 'Rustic' to write his weekly 'Country Cameo' articles in the 'Berkshire Mercury' from 1965 to 1975. Harold Ravenscroft farmed at Bartlett's between 1931 and 1939, and after his death, his family moved to the centre of the village. Click here for details.
Many people have served on the Parish Council over the years. We have a photograph showing the members at the 1994 Annual Parish Meeting. Click here to see it. July 1994 was the Centenary Year for Parish Councils - and Arborfield and Newland celebrated over the weekend of July 9th - 10th.
The Park was opened in 1974 with the crowning of the Village Queen - read the background here. There are also photos of the Fete held at the Park in 1976.
Old newspaper articles evoke the celebrations of Christmas 1925.
Stan and Daphne Bennett have lived in Arborfield for many years. Their cottage on Eversley Road was pulled down in the late 1960's after they had moved to Melrose Gardens. Click here to see the cottage as it was.
Geoffrey Carr was Rector from 1963 to 1976. He noted his memories in 1976.
The Garth Hunt and Point-to-Point Races involved many villagers until local meetings ceased in the 1960's. Click here for more on the Garth Hunt.
Herbert Lee was a sheep farmer in the middle and late 20th Century. Read about him here.
Empire Day, 1926, was celebrated at Arborfield, Newland and Barkham School. See how the Reading Mercury recorded the pageant.
The Reading Mercury also featured a Missionary Day at Arborfield Grange in Summer 1920, and a Women's Institute fete in September 1920. By the Autumn of that year, there was a Rabies scare in Reading, and Arborfield became part of the "dangerous area" where dogs had to be muzzled. In 1931, Arborfield featured more often than usual in the Reading Mercury, but for the wrong reasons. Several stories concerned fatal accidents, both road and air, as well as the normal fare of garden fetes plus the opening of the Village Hall. Click on the links for the air crash at Cross Lanes Farm, the motor-cycle crash near the River Loddon, and the car crash near the Remount Depot. Cross Lanes Farm appeared in the news again in 1931 when the farmer was charged with selling sub-standard milk - though he successfully defended his case - click here for the article. Local newspapers in 1930 and 1931 carried stories about the Newland, Arborfield and Barkham Cottage Garden Society. The 1930 'Cottage Garden Show' was held at the Remount Depot, while the 1931 'Three Villages Show' moved to the grounds of Newlands, and featured a Gymkhana. For a newspaper report of the 1953 Coronation celebrations, click here. There are a few web-sites on the Garrison, including 'Arborfield & the September 49ers' (reviewed here), and the 'Arborfield Old Boys'.
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