Night at the museum

This evening Amy, Sophie and Raymond did some cleaning at the Maidenhead Heritage Centre, to help them implement their Covid-19 policy and risk assessment. We also ran or walked 10km between us on our journeys to and from the Centre.

We were sad not to see Ana, who was going to lead the mission, but she was poorly so Amy sent her to bed. Hope you feel better very soon Ana!

Amy promised that we would learn all sorts of fascinating facts at the museum. Here are just a few of the things we learned...

• In 1972 gravel extraction works unearthed a large Roman burial site between Oakley Court and Bray Marina. Over 100 skeletons were discovered as well as burial urns and other artefacts. Some skeletons went to Reading museum (one of which is now at the Heritage Centre and obligingly posed for a photo with Sophie and Amy), but somehow many of them ended up in boxes in a nearby barn. The barn was sold some years later. Imagine the new owner's reaction on discovering the skeletons! Initially the police suspected a serial killer...
• Raymond is handy with a Henry hoover. Do you need the area around your Spitfire flight simulator hoovering? Raymond is your man.
• In 1838 it cost a whopping £18 to cross the then Maidenhead bridge.
• When Sophie starts cleaning, she doesn't stop! She will leave the kitchen sink dry and shiny even if her team-mates' sloppiness means she has to do it twice (sorry Sophie!)
• The Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA) were based in White Waltham during the Second World War. This incredible civilian organisation was responsible for ferrying new, repaired or damaged fighter planes to and from active service. Many were women, and in a first for the British Goverment they were paid the same amount as the men. Read more about these brave pilots and the terrifying dangers they faced in the photos...or better still visit the ATA archive upstairs at the Heritage Centre to see some fascinating memorabilia and get a taste of the action in their Spitfire Simulator
• There was once a Roman Villa in Cox Green. It had 18 rooms, underfloor heating and a whole wing devoted to bathing.
• The toilets at the Maidenhead Heritage Centre are the cleanest Amy has ever been asked to clean.
• The Nicholson's Shopping Centre was named after William Nicholson, who set up his 'Pineapple Bewery' on the site in 1840. Their slogan? 'Best in the Long Run'. Long run? Yes please!
• Amy likes sweeping cobwebs
• Flora, the manager at the Maidenhead Heritage Centre is a lovely task owner. She made us feel so welcome, and was really grateful for our help. Her dress also perfectly matched a cake topper Sophie made earlier for fotoDROP creations. It was uncanny!
• Large numbers of hand axes have been discovered in gravel sites in Furze Platt. They are speculated to have been left by a palaeolithic GoodGym group who chopped some firewood, then went for a run and got lost.

Many thanks to Flora for hosting us and contributing as official photographer.