For this week’s Bygones, we delved into our archives to bring you some great archive photos of some royal and celebrity visits to the borough in the late 80s.

A beautiful spring day in March 1989 welcomed Sarah, the Duchess of York, back to her childhood home of Lowood, in Sunninghill.

The royal, dubbed Fergie, said at the time: “It’s made my day to be able to come back.”

It came after she went to her house where she lived with her mother, father and sister Jane until she was eight.

Its owners had converted the turn of the century house into a residential care home in 1984, and invited the duchess to open a new wing.

A line of awestruck schoolchildren, from Papplewick and Virginia Water schools, gave her spring flowers, after which the duchess asked staff members about their duties and how long they had been there.

Fergie’s grandmother the Hon Doreen Wright also came along and met up with a friend who lived opposite Lowood and knew the family well.

The duchess chatted with two residents and unveiled the plaque for the new wing, and also visited her old school, Hurst Lodge, where she spent time in the classes and meeting pupils.

She is said to have attended the school from 1972 until 1977, and was reportedly a school captain for a year before she left.

In other news, Coronation Street star Elizabeth Dawn, who played Vera Duckworth, lived up to her bubbly reputation when she visited Bracknell in the same month for a good cause.

She was in the town’s Princess Square to sign autographs and talk to locals.

Elizabeth was a big hit with the townsfolk as they made donations to the borough mayor’s chosen charity, St John’s Ambulance, for every autograph she signed.

Finally, a group from a Bracknell company managed to raise £836.50 for the family of a man who had died suddenly a few weeks previously.

A 16-hour darts marathon was held at Fluidrive Social Club, in Broad Lane, to raise money for Bob Fiddler’s loved ones.