For this week’s Bracknell Nostalgia, we are going back to the summer of 1975 when new activities were being created in the town to helps its residents.

It was argued that the leisure offerings in the area were quite restrictive due to the options.

Whilst people were going to the theatre, cinema and libraries to read books, there were a group of individuals that felt isolated in not having any forms of entertainment for themselves.

Up stepped local resident Dick Wellstod, as he organised numerous events for those in town so that they didn’t feel left out during the summer holidays came along.

He told the BBC 47 years ago: “Bracknell is a reasonable diverse community and the district surrounding it has peculiar characteristics of its own.

All of the research that we have done so far indicates that most of our usage comes from Bracknell “Town.

“The other half comes from equal proportions from surrounding areas and other catchment areas which go as far as 25 miles, depending on the activity that we are putting on.

“The first thing that I am really interested in doing is to have a far wider cross section of the population doing something that is within creative leisure.

“Our brief is anything that the sports centre up the road does not touch.

I also want to bring an attractive social ambiance to it all.

“Something that is welcoming but it’s the activity side that I am keen on.

“We offer courses in silversmithing jewellery amongst others.

“This is help people feel welcome as this is a public place and that they can come and visit us without being a member.

“They can come in and use the coffee bar and restaurant.

“They can treat it as a day out.”

Shots of the six-minutes news clip reveal how Mr Wellstod had arranged events in the town’s South Hill Park Leisure Centre, was based in a large country house

The aim was to provide facilities for many different activities from creative art to music concerts.

He continued: “This summer is very important to us.

“Two weeks ago, it started with a Victorian country fair and it saw 6,000 people attended.”

The summer events turned out to be a huge success as tens of thousands of spectators arrived at each activity.