Remember When: Hurricane-force winds hit Maidenhead

1975: Former world junior chess champion Alexander Belyavsky took on 30 members of Maidenhead Chess Club simultaneously at Maidenhead Rugby Club.

The Russian, who was in Britain to take part in the Hastings Congress, beat most of his challengers and lost just one game.

His conqueror was Dr Mike Bruton, secretary of Maidenhead Junior Chess Club.

1980: Moves were made to make sure the old toll house alongside Cookham Bridge stayed part of the riverside scene.

The Cookham Society was urging Berkshire County Council, which owned the two-storey octagonal cottage, to renovate the building.

The tiny, four-room toll house was home to a toll bridge keeper until 1947, when a jubilant group of locals marked the dawn of a new era of free passage across the Thames by hurling the heavy oak gate into the river.

1990: Widespread damage was caused as hurricane-force winds – the worst since 1987 – hit the Maidenhead area.

Trees were uprooted, tiles and roofs torn off buildings, roads blocked and electricity and telephone services disrupted.

Five planes were destroyed at West London Aero Club in White Waltham, with two blown into neighbouring gardens.

1995: The Terrace Dining Room at Cliveden reopened to reveal much of its original splendour, marking the end of a nine-year programme to restore all the public rooms.

Cliveden Hotel Ltd, in partnership with Annabel Astor and the National Trust, had spent £100,000 on recapturing the grandeur and intimacy of the magnificent dining room.

1995: Progress continued at Maidenhead’s Castle Hill youth centre, where youth worker Carole Hair’s challenge to Maidenhead businesses to transform a dingy cellar into a gym and fitness room had already achieved spectacular results.

A number of firms had contributed to the scheme, giving items including concrete blocks and sand, and providing discount skip hire.

Construction students from East Berks College were also getting stuck into the project.

2000: Writers at the Maidenhead Writing for Pleasure Group had been keeping the words flowing to mark the millennium with the release of their booklet, Rivers.

The 40-page publication featured poems, pictures and stories based around the theme, ranging from the sad to the humorous, science fiction to travelogue, and children’s stories.

2000: Children at Cookham Youth Club tried out their new ping pong table, donated by the Cookham Nomads.

The charity gave the youth club £1,500 to buy a new shed and equipment, as well as the ping pong table.