VISITORS to Wokingham will be able to learn more about its past thanks to a new booklet published by a celebrated local author.
Jim Bell has created A Short History of Wokingham following a suggestion from staff members at the Wokingham Town Hall Information Centre.
They told the local historian that people had been demanding a guide to Wokigham’s historic past but they had nothing to offer them.
The result is a booklet that charts the story of the town from its origins to the present day, something that will also be of use for pupils researching the town’s heritage for school projects.
Mr Bell said: “I wrote the book in around nine months. Peter Must [from the Wokingham Society] has helped proof read it.
“It was the idea of the people who work in the information centre, a lot of visitors came in but there was nothing to share with them about the history of Wokingham, so now there is.
“I’ve written 33 books and I’m now working on a chronology of Wokingham.”
The booklet is available from both Wokingham Library and the Town Hall for just £4.50.
Mr Bell also hosts a drop-in surgery for local history matters at the Denmark Street library on Friday mornings from 9.30am to 11.30am.
For more details, call the library on 0118 978 1368.
