Remember When: Farewell to Berkshire College of Art and Design campus

This week's Remember When features the end of an era as the Berkshire College of Art and Design's base in Raymond Road closed.

James Preston

jamesp@baylismedia.co.uk

05:00PM, Monday 07 July 2025

1980: Work on Cookham’s day centre was set to begin after contracts for the building work were signed.

Plans were in motion to convert the old police station in Cookham into a meeting place for elderly residents. It would later become known as Elizabeth House.


1985: The Gardeners Arms in Moorbridge Road served last orders for the final time.

After 26 years behind the bar in one of Maidenhead’s older-style pubs, landlady Mary Woodhead poured the last drinks for regulars before retiring from the trade.


1985: Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) supporters sang protest songs outside the emergency operations centre in Maidenhead Town Hall – while district councillors met inside the bunker to discuss ‘emergency planning’.

But having been refused permission to enter the meeting, they did not take up the offer to tour the bunker afterwards and left about 45 minutes later.


1995: Holyport Primary School’s summer fair raised £2,300 for school equipment.

The annual fair was organised by the school’s parent-teacher association and had a books theme.

Children were invited to dress up as their favourite book characters.


2000: Students and staff from the Berkshire College of Art and Design gathered to say goodbye to their base in Maidenhead – breaking a link that had lasted more than a century.

The college in Raymond Road was closing down, to be replaced by more than 30 detached houses and flats.

Nearly 200 teachers and students were preparing to make a move to a new campus at the Reading College and School of Arts and Design, following a merger.


2000: Motorists queued along Oxford Road in Marlow after a petrol station slashed the tax off its prices for a TV stunt.

In a link-up with Channel 4’s The Big Breakfast, Platts of Marlow, in West Street, brought the cost of fuel down from 85.9p per litre to just 21p.

Drivers had just half an hour to enjoy the tax cut, but within two minutes of the reduction being announced on TV, motorists were already queuing.


2000: Pupils at Desborough School were assured of a bright future in the performing arts following the opening of a new drama block.

To mark the occasion, the drama and music department at the school produced an evening of special performances, the centrepiece of which was a sci-fi show called Out of this World by year seven boys.

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