Advertiser review of the year: July

Work on the new £1.3million Holyport Roundabout finally finished but debate continued to rage over whether the seven-month long project was worth it.

Drivers had to endure months of disruption while council contractors built the new compact roundabout at the junction of Holyport Road and the A308 Windsor Road.

Developer Areli outlined its vision for one of the borough’s most contentious housing schemes – the redevelopment of the Nicholsons Centre.

The company told members of the Maidenhead Forum it hoped to start demolition work on the ageing shopping centre in February 2026 – pending planning approval. But questions still remained over a lack of parking included in the plans.

Festival fever was in the air as Scouting for Girls and Feeder headlined Fi.Fest, while Eminem and Harry Styles tribute acts performed at the Maidenhead Big Weekender.

The Braywick Park event went ahead for the first time over two days on a very wet weekend.

In Cookham, there was more fascinating news about excavations at an eighth century monastery as the summer dig got underway.

Archaeologists at the University of Reading believed the site near Holy Trinity Church may have been one of the UK’s earliest hospices – where medical support was offered to the sick and dying more than 1,200 years ago.

Parishioners bade farewell to long-standing vicar, Reverend Sally Lynch, who held her last communion at St Luke’s Church.

Rev Lynch joined the Norfolk Road church in 2011 and helped set up the popular Christmas Tree Festival which attracts hundreds of visitors each festive season.

The traditional Swan Upping ceremony also returned in the Royal Borough.

The King’s Swan Marker, David Barber (pictured above), climbed aboard a traditional rowing skiff alongside his fellow Swan Uppers to carry out an annual census of the mute swan population on the River Thames.