Advertiser review of the year 2020 - October

With the future of popular Sonning theatre The Mill under threat, unlikely heroes George and Amal Clooney stepped in to save it.

The Hollywood actor and his human rights barrister wife, who call Sonning home, were regular attendees pre-lockdown and donations from them, along with other supporters, meant the theatre could re-open at the end of October.

Another unlikely star popped up in Maidenhead too, Liverpool Football Club manager Jurgen Klopp.

After 11-year-old Maidenhead schoolboy Lewis Balfe wrote to Klopp about how he was feeling nervous about starting at a new school, his idol wrote back with a heartfelt letter, giving him some advice for dealing with anxiety and revealing how he handles nervous situations.

But Maidenhead also lost a star in October. Frank Bough, beloved host of Grandstand and Breakfast Time in the 1960s and 1980s. His son Steve Bough, chairman of Maidenhead RFC, paid tribute to his father.

He said: “He did not put on a front to present any programme. He was who he was. He came up from the working class and never changed.”

In more positive news, Berkshire College of Agriculture scooped a Tripadvisor award for being ‘travellers’ choice’, and Maidenhead Foodshare recieved bags full of donations following footballer Marcus Rashford’s national campaign.

With trick or treating ruled out for COVID-19 reasons, Twyford resident Rebecca Meeuwissen encouraged all her neighbours to dress their homes up with spooky decorations so Halloween could stll be special for the area’s youngsters.

Meanwhile, former Holyport Primary School headteacher Johanna Raffan was appointed president of Soroptimists International federation of Great Britain and Ireland.

‘Near’ Marlow, the remains of a 1,400-year-old Anglo-Saxon warlord were discovered by archaeologists, a find considered to be of great significance by experts.