To Wokingham

And so to Wokingham, our local market town, for some messages.

Wokingham means ‘Wocca’s people’s home’. Wocca was apparently a Saxon chieftain who may also have owned lands at Wokefield in Berkshire and Woking in Surrey (thank you Wikipedia).

Wokingham was named one of the top places for families to live in England, apparently, in a survey, once.

With a long history, Wokingham was raided by both sides in the Civil War but was most famous for its bull-baiting in the 17th century.  It was prohibited 200 years later, thankfully.

From my childhood, I mostly remember the Victorian town hall, the market, and traipsing endlessly around the shops with my mother.

The town now seems smaller than I remember but I like the old buildings, the architecture and the small independent shops struggling to stay alive. They too live with the constant threat of the big shops out of town luring their customers away.

We went to a superb local family run business in Wokingham town centre specialising in wool, fabric and haberdashery.

Well, you can imagine the fun we had getting ideas and looking for stuff for my films.

Tomorrow, I travel home to Shetland.

 

 

 

3 thoughts on “To Wokingham

  1. Louise Stopford

    Thank you for sharing your days that you are spending with your mother. I always think when you go back somewhere it looks smaller than you remember. I bet it has all brought a lot of childhood memories back for you and how nice to be able to spend some quality time with your mum. Have a safe journey back to Shetland tomorrow – I bet the gang have really missed you. Safe travels.

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