Remember When: Benny Hill, Ernie Wise and a toad crossing

1978: A grand country house in Kiln Green was invaded by a 40-man television crew filming the new series of the Benny Hill Show.

The lane and drive at Linden Hill was packed with lorries, Land Rovers, vans and cars as filming took place.

1983: Altwood School pupils took part in their annual cross-country race.

The course, which covered a maximum of four miles, varied according to the age of the runners.

The overall winner in the senior boys category was 18-year-old Phillip Wells and the overall winner for the senior girls was Priscilla Croudace, 15.

1988: The year’s Comic Relief campaign started as comedian Ernie Wise and the Mayor of Windsor and Maidenhead, Cllr Bill Cooley, donned red noses when they met at the Trevi Restaurant in High Street.

The proprietors of the restaurant donated £1 to Comic Relief for every customer buying a meal there.

1988: Maidenhead Venture Scouts scaled the equivalent of Mount Everest in a marathon fundraising event, staged in Maidenhead High Street.

More than 100 boys and girls from the nine local venture scout units climbed a scaffolding tower no fewer than 1,935 times to equal Everest’s 29,028ft.

The climb raised £1,800 through sponsorship and a street collection, with money going to Sir Edmund Hillary’s schools and
hospital project in Nepal.

1993: One of Maidenhead’s busiest roundabouts was set to be turned into a nature reserve.

It was hoped that, in three years’ time, two acres of land in the middle of Braywick roundabout would be home to water voles, bats and barn owls.

1993: Children at Ellington County Primary and Nursery School collected items for youngsters in war-torn Bosnia.

The pupils were asked to bring in blankets, warm clothing, baby food and other useful items.

Some of the children made up gift boxes for a boy or a girl, while others wrote letters.

1998: The call went out for volunteers to man Maidenhead’s new official toad crossing and help toads across the road along a stretch of Ray Mill Road East.

Over past years, toads had been run down in their hundreds by fast moving traffic as they hopped across the road on their way to breeding grounds.

But new warning signs were put up and the spot was logged internationally as a Toad Migration Route.