Remember When: 'Queen Elizabeth I' visited the Bear

1977: You’ve heard of the Two Ronnies, but it was the three Ronnies who shared a joke at the East Arms Hotel in Hurley.

Television star Ronnie Corbett visited the hotel to entertain employees of Abacus Electronics Ltd at their annual office party.

While he was there, he posed for photos with two hotel directors – Ronnie Beer and Ron Watts.

1982: A Victorian school was torn down to make way for a new parish centre.

The old St Mary’s Roman Catholic School, next to St Joseph’s Church, opened in 1892 and became a primary school after the 1944 Education Act.

It was used by social services after the new St Mary’s opened further along Cookham Road, but was vacated after being damaged by fire.

1982: Maidenhead Rugby Club won the Berkshire Ansafone Cup Final in a low-scoring victory over holders Newbury.

Maidenhead outplayed Newbury in front of 2,000 people at Braywick, and ultimately a 51st minute penalty by Phil Alder sealed the victory.

1982: Queen Elizabeth I and her court stopped Maidenhead’s Saturday morning traffic as they rode down High Street with Lord Burghley.

They were on their way to join the Mayor and Mayoress at the Bear Hotel – all part of Maidenhead’s 400th anniversay celebrations.

The Bear was putting on a special medieval menu to commemorate the granting of Maidenhead’s first royal charter by Queen Elizabeth in 1582.

1992: Front gate rubbish collections got off to a shaky start with half of Maidenhead’s households and three quarters of villagers failing to put out their wheelie bins.

Town hall chiefs said 60 binmen had collected all the rubbish, but warned they would stop emptying bins soon unless people wheeled them to the front gate.

Tory member Cllr Glenn Draper called the new system ‘total chaos’ and demanded a return to the borough’s ‘Rolls-Royce’ back gate collection system.

1992: A party of budding newspaper reporters from Lowbrook School visited the Advertiser’s premises in Bell Street as part of a project on newspapers.

The children were producing their own paper.

1997: Beryl Clayton retired after 32 years as founder-principal of Birdwood Nursery School.

Mrs Clayton and a partner started the school in the St Mark’s Methodist Church hall not far from her home in Birdwood Road, and it was still flourishing with 30 children attending every morning.