A NOTORIOUS ‘rat run’ on the Uxbridge Road in Slough was causing concern for local residents in 1979, but Slough Council officials had refused to accede to their demands - made on safety grounds - as it would only be of “marginal benefit.”

The service road, parallel to the main highway, was enabling drivers to avoid waiting at the nearby traffic lights and would (if closed) cost £1,800 to close off.

Speaking to the Observer Cllr David Bridge voiced his frustration: “This small stretch was never intended to be a ‘rat run’, so let’s get rid of this obstructive attitude, and get the road closed.”

Placard waving protestors gave the thumbs down to a performance by a Russian musical troupe at the Fulcrum in Slough 41 years ago.

Fifty demonstrators, all Ukrainians, added a discordant note to the first UK appearance of the Moscow Balalaika Orchestra, by protesting about Ukrainian political prisoners in the Soviet Union.

The protesters thought they had breached the security cordon when they surrounded a coach-load of performers, only to realise they had ‘scared the living daylights’ out of the Maidenhead Musical Comedy Society, arriving to perform “Annie Get Your Gun.”

A glass bottle stuffed with over £330 worth of pennies and notes, went under the hammer at the North Star in Langley, with Alan Ball and Peter Osgood on hand to smash open its contents.

The gallon bottle, which had been used to collect customers loose change in the past three months, was collecting for Wexham Park Hospital children’s ward, who would use it to purchase a drip monitor.

Local bands were being invited to send in their ‘demo tapes’ to the Cat Club in Slough with the promise that every tape will be carefully vetted.

Julie Whitehouse, the club’s manageress told the Observer’s Sounds ad lib column: “We will always give them a listen, we want to give local bands a chance, there is a great need for a rock place in Slough that is willing to promote them.”

Stoke Poges Player’s production of ‘Look No Hands’ suddenly lost one of their cast with only three weeks until ‘curtain up’ in 1979, but eleven-year-old Katherine Taylor stepped in to save the day.

She landed the role after the producer, George Burford, contacted her mother, Sandra, who was a member of the Iver Heath Drama Group.

A nervous Katherine admitted to the Observer: “I know my lines now (she had been playing them on a tape recorder constantly) but I’m frightened they won’t be able to hear me at the back of the hall.”

The Oak and Saw pub in Taplow attracted a rather strange breed of customers for a charity fancy dress party, to raise money for guide dogs or the blind.

Amongst the ‘celebrities’ were, Miss Piggy (escorted by Kermit of course), a Mexican and a one-eyed bunny girl.