Bracknell Nostalgia - Continuing to look back at 2003

One of the stand-out stories from the year was revealed right at the start of 2003, when it disclosed that three women from the area had given birth on Christmas Day 2002 at the same hospital.

Heatherwood Hospital was blessed with a trio of festive arrivals as mothers in Michelle Hammond, 23, of Harmans Water, who gave birth to her daughter, Elly at 5.05pm that day.

She had been admitted to hospital at around six o’clock in the morning.

The three mums with their Christmas Day babies

Another arrival on what was a busy day at the Ascot Hospital was Sebastian Mertens.

His mother, Celine Mertens, had been due to give birth to Sebastian on December 19 at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in the capital, but, she was in Berkshire celebrating Christmas with her family when her son decided to announce himself to the world.

He was born weighing 7lb 5oz after Celine was in labour for one hour and 52 minutes.

She jokingly said: “I was really annoyed – I didn’t get to finish watching Only Fools and Horses.”

This was in reference to the sitcom’s two-part Christmas special for 2002 and 2003.

Finally, Camilla Lax-Uebel, who is originally from Sweden, gave birth on the festive day – two days after her expected date.

At the start of 2003, students at Great Hollands Junior School have one of the country’s first-ever interactive whiteboards, while pupils at Sandy Lane Primary School in Warfield planted trees at its entrance.

The students enjoying their new whiteboard

Sticking with schools, former MP Andrew MacKay, and Cllr Alan Ward, visited College Town Infant and Primary Schools in 2003, as they were the guests of honour to open the school’s new library.

The MP and councillor with the students

Sandy Lane Primary School pupils

That same year, hundreds of books were donated to Wokingham Town Library by several churches in the area.

Hundreds of books were donated to the library

One of the most heart-warming stories of that year saw a community group get involved and help the elderly.

At the back end of 2002/start of 2003, the Forest Line service, which provided the elderly in Berkshire transportation, shut down after a decade of service.

This caused several issues for families with elderly relatives, but thanks to Keep Mobile, a community bus charity, stepped in and offered their services to help OAPs in the area.

Keep Mobile helped the elderly in Berks after the original bus service ended
Sticking with transport, more than 200 bikers from across the region visited Crowthorne to embark on a new off-road track with the event being enjoyed by all.

Finally, Newbold College hosted an International Concert and Food Fair.

The bikers enjoying the new track

The aim of the event was to represent the 60 nations from which the college’s 315 students originate.

The international event was attended by hundreds of people
Numerous countries were represented at the event
 

Food and music from different nations were on show

It was attended by many people

It was enjoyed by many people

European, African, Asian, South and North American, and Oceanic food and music were all on display, with countries such as Russia, Nigeria, South Korea, India, and Australia to name just a few, being represented in Berkshire.