Berkshire and The War: the "Reading Standard" pictorial record. Volume 1. pg81

8th BATT. ROYAL BERKSHIRE REGIMENT
WINTER STATION IN THE COUNTY TOWN

The account, on a foreg oin g page, of the 7th B erkshires'€™ early career,
can be applied almost exactly to the 8th Berkshires, who spent their first
w inter and spring in Reading, which they left on May 7t h, 1915, in order to
spend the summer under canvas in Wiltshire.
D istributed am ong houses in
Oxford Road, they were very happy during their stay at Reading, where
their needs in the way of rest, refreshm ent and recreation received such ad­
mirable attention, and their leave-taking was not without a note of sadness.
That the battalion appreciated civilian efforts to entertain them was shown
by the speeches at farew ell suppers and b y a valedictory letter from the

were c-rystalised in a resolution
passed by the Tow n Council on the
initiative of the M ayor :—
That the Council record the
pleasure which the presence of
the 7th and 8th Service Battalions
of the Royal Berkshire Regiment
has afforded to the com m unity,
and do convey to them their best
wishes for the success o f both
Battalions in the arduous duties
which they have undertaken, and
their assurance that these Bat
talions w ill uphold the honour of
their K in g, their country and
their county wherever they may
be called upon to serve.”
The behaviour of the men left
n othing to be desired.
They made
friends with everybody, and it was
with a very real sense of loss that the
burgesses bid them farewell.


Commanding Officer, Colonel William C. Walton , saying "€œ The M ayor and
Corporation and the citizens
of R ead in g, the management of the local
Y .M .C .A ., the various churches, Mr. Mcllroy and many others of this most
hospitable town have earned our heartfelt gratitude by their kind endeavour
to render our period of strenuous training more brigh t and cheerful than it
could otherwise have been. V ery pleasant memories of our stay in R eading
w ill be carried away by all ranks to wherever duty may call them in the
fu tu re. A word of thanks was addressed, too, to the landowners and tenant
farmers in the vicin ity of Reading “ for facilities for training freely granted,
and some damage, perhaps, kindly
overlook ed .”
P u blic
sentiments

[The accompanying photographs were taken in
Photo b y ]
C. E. May.

THE O F F IC E R S

M arch, 1915.]