THE Queen’s Guide award is the highest award a guide can attain, but three Slough girls were presented with one each in 1972.

Penny Brown, Pamela Birch and Helen Gibson of the 3rd Slough (Baptist) Guide Company were also presented with eight other badges at a ceremony by District Commissioner Mrs. Morrison.

Another fourteen guides and eleven Brownies were also presented with awards, after the ceremony everyone joined in to sing songs around an artificial campfire.

The Iver Fair committee arranged for a trip of a lifetime for their newly crowned ‘Miss Iver’, Mary Alexander, on to the set of the ITV sitcom “Bless This House”, with a VIP lunch thrown in at nearby Pinewood studios.

21-year-old Mary, was the guest of honour, getting the chance to pose for the Observer photographer with “Carry On” legend Sid James and his co-stars Terry Scott and Sally Geeson.

At the height of the troubles in Northern Ireland, an Anti-Internment march took place between Slough and Windsor with sixty police officers on hand to protect the 150 marchers.

It had been expected that over 1,000 demonstrators would turn up, but organiser Liam O’Connell told the Observer: “The Slough support was disappointing, probably because people have been confused by the new peace initiatives.”

The march did cause a few scuffles on its two-hour journey and a group of Eton College boys pelted the walkers with eggs and stink bombs as it passed by.

The “Britwell Canaries” soccer players from the local social club, proved that the old saying ‘the female of the species is more deadly than the male’ was correct in 1972, when they pitted their skills against the men of Britwell Rockets FC.

With the referee turning a blind eye to almost any infringements on the pitch, the Canaries tripped, pushed, held, rugby tackled and ran with the ball in an effort to gain any advantage possible.

One member of the Rockets squad, “Big Fred”, decided at half time to defect to the opposition by wearing a wig and a see-through nightie over his kit.

With surnames to match the spirit of the team: Hurt, Hackett and Toogood helped the Canaries win by 10-4.

A huge tanker full of dangerous chemicals careered into two vans on the Uxbridge Road in Slough at a notorious stretch of road nicknamed locally as “the gas-works dip”.

The ‘shed load’ onboard the juggernaut was called Acrylonite, which, if exposed to air, would give off a heavy dangerous vapour.

Luckily for everyone nearby, the driver’s injuries were minor and everyone in Slough could breathe more easily.

The first ever Girls Brigade group was formed in Colnbrook 48 years ago, and to mark the occasion the 22 members gathered for a ceremonial ‘birthday’ cake cutting.

The girls, aged between 11 and 14, posed with their captain Anne Stuart and Brenda Kelsey, the brigade’s Lieutenant, who was second in command.