Thames Valley Like a Lake

Welcome to Venice-on-Thames: some resourceful Berkshire locals defy the floods and take to the gondolier, while others 'walk the plank'.

Topical Budget's newsreel cameraman was granted special permission to shoot these pictures from Windsor Castle's Round Tower, documenting the effects of the mighty gales that wreaked havoc across the Thames Valley in the first few days of 1925. Note how Maidenhead locals negotiate the makeshift pavement with exemplary orderliness and patience. Does this fortitude characterise the people of Maidenhead today?

The bad weather wasn't confined to the Thames Valley. Gales swept right across Britain and claimed several lives in this period.