July Update
There were 18 of us present yesterday as we found out about the history of immigration to Slough and also looked at the current situation regarding percentages of different groups that live in Slough by different criteria. According to the latest census, of Slough's population according to their place of birth, we learned that 55% were born in England, 11% in India, 9% in Pakistan, 6% in Poland and 2% in Romania. Others were born in Bangladesh, Somalia, East Africa, Nigeria, Sri Lanka, Ukraine and Lithuania.
For followers of religion, 32% identified as Christian (down from 41% in 2011), 29% as Muslim, 11% as Sikh, 8% as Hindu, 0.5% as Buddhist and just 0.1% as Jewish. Interestingly, 13% identify as having no religion.
Ethnic groupings are as follows: 47% Asian, 36% White, 8% Black/Caribbean/African, 6% Other (e.g. Arab) and 4% Mixed race.
We heard the stories of people who had immigrated to Slough and it was particularly interesting to hear the story of Qaiser's husband and his experiences of when he came to the UK, which was where he met Qaiser.
THERE IS NO LOCAL HISTORY MEETING IN AUGUST.
Looking ahead-on 21st September we will be welcoming back Richard Emerson as our guest speaker-subject to be announced later. On 19th October I have arranged a visit to Slough Baptist Church.
So enjoy the rest of the summer and I look forward to seeing you in September, if not before.
June 2026 update!.
Last week 17 of us met for lunch at The Red Lion, Iver. This historic pub was originally built in the 16th century by the local parish council serving their own ale to the faithful community. Inside are original wooden beams that are over 400 years. The church (St. Peter's, Iver) owned the pub until it was sold in 1948. This was a mainly social occasion but everyone who attended thoroughly enjoyed the food and good company.
Our next meeting will be on Monday 20th July at St. Laurence's Church, Upton at 2pm. I thought we could look at Immigration to Slough over the years-especially since World War 2. I would like you to do a little research into this subject please. I will give a general introduction to the topic but then I would ask you to share any research or informal interviews you will have made to family, friends and neighbours who migrated to Slough after the war. e.g. I have a Polish neighbour in her 90s and I hope to talk to her about how she came to Slough and how she found life here. You may also find out about the history of certain communities from the Internet and history books about Slough.
Lots of Poles arrived in Slough after the war as did a number of Italians and then a number of people arrived from the Caribbean and more recently from Asia-especially from India and Pakistan.
So I hope that if you can, you will be able to do a little research into this topic and come along ready to share your findings with the group.
Remember that to park for free in Upton Court Park you need to register with Ringo-but it is still free to park in Lascelles Road around the corner.
There were 11 present when Beverley and Teresa kindly led the meeting on 18th May when they did a quiz all about people and places connected to Slough.
March 2026.
There were 18 of us present today to hear Harvey Whittam give a very interesting talk about the rise(s) and fall(s) of Sir John de Molyns who was a 14th century Baronet and Knight who owned the land of many parishes including Stoke Poges, Ditton, Fulmer and Denham, to name just a few.
Feb 2026
18 of us gathered at St. Laurence's Church this afternoon to hear Sue Cumming share about the history of Girl Guiding and about her many experiences of being a Guide and a Guide Leader in Slough over the years. Other members also shared their experiences and there were plenty of uniforms, photos, badges, certificates, handbooks etc. that people brought along to display. Thank you Sue for a very interesting talk.
September Meeting 2025.
There were 22 of us at this afternoon's meeting, plus 10 guests from St. Laurence's Church, who gathered to hear a very interesting talk/presentation about William Herschel given by Richard Emerson. We also welcomed two new members of the group-Anne and Martin.
Many of us will be familiar with William's work as an astronomer but we learned a lot more about William before he became famous in the scientific field. He was an accomplished musician and composer and we learned a lot about his personal life as well as his accomplishments as a scientist and an astronomer.
The model of William Herschel’s 40-foot telescope, also known as the Great Forty-Foot telescope, constructed between 1785 and 1789 at Observatory House in Slough. This is kept on public display at St Laurence Church
October 2025
Despite the extremely wet weather and many apologies that had been sent in, there were still 20 of us who gathered at St. Paul's Church this afternoon to hear me give a talk about the history of the church and parish and to show people around. The church was built in 1906 and re-ordered and modernised in 2020 so it now looks very different inside compared to what it looked like in the 20th century.
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