WHITLEY WOOD residents may be living in homes once occupied by the RAF’s elite.
This seemingly innocuous photograph of Whitley Wood Road from the 1970s shows Wentworth Avenue on the right and RAF houses on the left, which still remain today.
The site also featured a NAFFI services shop and Deadmans Lake, where residents recalled seeing newts and other pond life.
Whitley Community Museum’s curator David Turner suggested it might be hard for some to believe that the ward was home to high office RAF personnel, including the flight sergeant.
The museum’s curator David Turner said: “I personally have always had a keen interest in the RAF site in Whitley as I worked at The Museum of English Rural Life at Whiteknights Park in 1967.
“The museum was housed in Whiteknights House but for storage of the farm wagons were in abandoned buildings. These buildings in Whiteknights Park were actually the original RAF site before moving to Whitley.
“Little is written about this fact but, for me, it is important local history.”
The site stretched over a large area between Whitley Wood Road, Whitley Wood Lane and the boundary with the M4.
The main camp, described as an “imposing building” adorned with cream coloured corrugated iron and a large RAF crest, can be seen from Shinfield Road.
With over 4,800 followers on Facebook, the Whitley Community Museum is an accessible online and in-person resource.
The group serves as a platform for residents past and present to share memories through photographs and comments.
It also allows group members to reconnect, with members reacquainting themselves with friends and schoolmates from decades ago.
The museum held a Whitley Way Back When event at the Community Cafe on Northumberland Avenue earlier this year to showcase its photographs and exhibits in-person.
For more information, search: Whitley Community Museum on www.facebook.com
