I moved into my house, as the paint was still drying, fifty years ago. My husband and I were eligible to rent the property in Vandyke because I was a primary school teacher. Vandyke was the final road to be built on Great Hollands at that time. The surrounding land was green belt, fields, trees and farms.
The houses and gardens were divided up by low picket fences and there was dust and rubble everywhere. Great Hollands estate was vast and exciting to me and I got lost quite often in those early days.
The only shop was in a house and so was the doctors’ surgery. One telephone box only! Not everyone had a landline and certainly not a mobile. In 1970 there were fewer cars and the parking provision was quite adequate, in the designated areas, not in the road as we see nowadays.
The beauty of the trees on the estates of Bracknell is the result of initial careful planning and maintenance. Very few were here in 1970.
Over the years schools, shops, pubs, health centres and community buildings have all developed the neighbourhood and these are surrounded by a sea of houses, gratefully occupied by an increasing population. How lucky we all are!