It's October - the month of Halloween. Whilst it sits at the end of the month, the lead up these days often involves much promotion of Halloween costumes, sweets, decorations and gatherings. Whilst it may perhaps be more commercial than ever today, it is not a new thing to get together with friends and have a party. Indeed, the local Roman Hill Residents Association (RHRA) [ref. D/EX2677] of Bracknell put on a Halloween disco in 1980.
The event was held at the Birch Hill Community Centre and offered attendees supper, beer and wine at the disco. According to minutes of the Association, the disco was a great success although sadly many of the decorations were apparently taken by those at the disco when they were not supposed to be. Presumably they got carried away with the fun of the disco!
The RHRA was formed in the 1970s, when the Roman Hill estate was first built and was active until 2013. The area covered comprised four roads in the South West of Bracknell, south of Ringmead and to the east of the A3095 Crowthorne Road. These roads were: Orion, Octavia, Qualitas and Quintilis. It facilitated the Neighbourhood Watch Scheme and represented residents on issues of interest to the whole estate.
The association provided regular newsletters to its members and as the above example from March 1981 shows, they organised many social events such as barbeques, sports days, fundraising activities for charity, parties and discos for certain times of the year such as Christmas and of course, Halloween.
Do you remember being part of this or another local residents association? Maybe you belong to one now and will be off to your own Halloween Disco!
If you are interested in finding out more about Bracknell New Town we have a dedicated webpage about it as part of a project to catalogue the records of the Bracknell Development Corporation, 1949-1982. You can read all about the project and the town online.