Friday 3 February 2012
Stairlifts Wokingham - Berkshire Stairlifts
If you are looking for the Castle Comfort Stairlifts
legendary website
Castle Comfort Stairlifts offers top brand stairlifts, keen prices and fast installs for all those seeking stairlifts in Wokingham, Berkshire. And all work comes with our no-quibble guarantees and famous customer service satisfaction.
Give us a call today on 01865 477 004 If however, you are looking for fascinating facts about the area then feel free to read on.
Stairlifts Wokingham - Stairlifts Berkshire
Welcome to Wokingham! We’re just 7 miles from Reading a recent destination and 3 from Bracknell. And we’re only 33 miles from London. Wokingham is the fourth largest town in Berkshire and has about 17,200 retired folks.
Wokingham’s elderly may well be in need of or already have a stairlift – well at least 190 of them - so if its something you’ve been considering for yourself or a loved one, then look no further than Castle Comfort Stairlifts.
Watch our founder Keith’s video which will explain how and why he got involved in the business. Then take a look at our range of stairlifts on our website and please call our local office with any questions you may have on 01865 477 004 .
It’s the name thing again
We said in our visit to Maidenhead that place names are fascinating, and Wokingham carries that on. Whilst Wokingham follows time honoured traditions of looking at where their names originate, this town has had a ‘blip’ along the way.
The name Wokingham means ‘Wocca’s people’s home’. The Saxton chief named Wocca owned lands at Wokefield, also in Berkshire and at Woking in Surrey. Strangely Wokingham didn’t take this name until last century. Before that the town was known as Oakingham meaning ‘town of the forests’ and it still retains its original symbol of oak leaves with acorns.
A little bit of history
In Medieval times Wokingham was well known for its bell foundry which made bells for many of the local churches – many still have them. The industry moved to nearby Reading in the 16th century when Wokingham became famous for the production of silk. This was due to Flemish weavers fleeing their homes to avoid religious persecution and settling here along with their craft. They were particularly famous for their silk stockings! Some of the houses where the silk knitters lived are still there in Rose Street. The last silk mill closed in the early 19th century.
Next came brick-making like several other Berkshire towns during Victorian times. There were two major brickyards in Wokingham.
By the late 17th century a linen drapery business opened. It was very successful and continued to flourish with its expansion almost taking over one side of the market square. A second branch opened in Reading in the 19th century and was eventually taken over by the John Lewis Partnership in the mid 20th century.
Wokingham now boasts software development, light engineering and service industries as its economic backbone.
Do you feel like you literally need a new backbone or have you got what it takes to give us a call?
Castle Comfort Stair Lifts are on hand to advise or install. Did you know that once you’ve chosen your stairlift and bought it, we can have it up and running in an hour or at the very least a half day?
Yes our friendly installation team don’t hang around.
We supply and fit straight, curved or perch lifts. We will need to assess your staircase to suggest which one is right for you. If you need a curved stair lift to accommodate your stairs it will automatically cost more as these stairlifts are custom built to fit individual staircases.
If that’s brought up any questions please give us a call on 01865 477 004 .
The two Mollys
Wokingham is famous for two Mollys. The first was Molly Millar, the town witch and is still remembered with a lane named after her.
The second is Molly Mogg. She was the daughter of the landlord and barmaid at the Rose Inn which stood in the market place. Poets John Gay, Alexander Pope and Dean Swift penned a poem to her extolling her virtues whilst staying at the Inn sheltering from a storm. Molly Mogg never married; she lived until she was 67.
Ascot Racecourse
Just 9 miles from Wokingham is Ascot Racecourse one of the UK’s top race courses which hosts 9 of the UK’s 32 annual flat races in Group 1 every year.
Ascot has many royal connections going right back to the beginning of the 18th century when Queen Anne had the racecourse built. Royal Ascot is held annually every June and sees the Queen and other members of the Royal family attend, arriving in horse drawn carriages from nearby Windsor Castle. It’s also the most talked about day outside of the racing fraternity because of Ladies’ Day where the ladies’ hats get more coverage than anything else.
The Ascot Gold Cup race takes place on Ladies’ Day and is the highlight of the meeting. There are other important races too including the Queen Elizabeth Stakes; The Prince of Wales stakes and many more with Royal connections.
Ladies’ Day
Ladies attending the Ascot Gold Cup race at Royal Ascot, especially with access to the Royal Enclosure, follow tradition and wear crazy over-the-top hats.
Famous sons and daughter with connections to Wokingham
· Crime writer and jockey Dick Francis grew up in the area; he road 350 races and wrote 40 international best sellers
· Charles Kingsley’s The Water Babies is based on a Wokingham boy sweep James Seaward who years later swept Charles Kingsley’s chimneys. Seaward had 12 children and descendants still live in the area
· Mia Farrow was seen in Wokingham in the 1971 film Blind Terror; Wokingham famously starred in an episode of Primeval and The Vicar of Dibley; Phoenix Plaza Bowling Alley was used for a scene in a Superman film
· British rower Anna Watkins who won a Bronze medal in the Women’s Double Sculls at the 2008 Olympics lives in the area; the French gentleman highwayman Clude Duval had connections with the town Pop Idol winner Will Young comes from Wokingham. He has gone on to have several hit albums and appeared in a number of stage productions too
· Actor Nicholas Hoult who played the boy in About a Boy and appeared in the lead role, Tony Stonem from the first two series of award winning TV drama Skins also hails from Wokingham
It’s that time again when we must leave Wokingham to embark on another tour. Contact Castle Comfort Stair Lifts if you have any unanswered question about stairlifts. Our local office will be happy to advise you, assess your home and take you through everything you need to know.
Just call us on 01865 477 004.
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Another interesting fact that you may not know is that at one time Wokingham had more pubs per head of population than any town in England. To do a town centre pub crawl with a little tipple in each one would actually have been likely to cause a topple.
ReplyDeleteTo avoid a topple on your stairs whether you have had a tipple or not, give us a call for a stairlift anywhere in Berkshire.
I didn't realise that Dick Francis came from Wokingham. I wonder if would have been such a top jockey if he hadn't been born a few furlongs from Ascot racecourse.
ReplyDeleteYes there is quite a horsey connection around this area. And the Queen lives nearby too at Windsor. Her grandsons William and Harry went to primary school in Wokingham which not a lot of people know.
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