Programme
2026-2027
Thursday 8 October 2026
Talk – The Lodden Garden Village Project.
by Nigel Frankland, Land Management Director.
Building L24, Room G06, London Road Campus, 7.15 pm
2025-2026
Dylan Parkes – Director of Strategic Engagement (Climate & Environmental Sustainability) – University of Reading
Building L24, Room G06, London Road Campus, 7.15 pm
The University of Reading is the Times/Sunday Times Sustainable University of the Year 2025, recognising the University’s leading role in addressing environmental sustainability through its research, teaching and operations. Hear about the University’s key areas of progress, award winning activities and a look forward to how the University will further strengthen its work to help ensure a sustainable future for all: www.reading.ac.uk/planet
Britain's Bayeux Tapestry - Reading Museum - image courtsey of Reading Borough CouncilA Guided tour of the Bayeux Tapestry .
Further details will be circulated to members.
Acacias London Road Campus, 7.15 pm
Further details will be circulated to members.
Image: Wokingham Theatre (2025)Wokingham Theatre’s Christmas production.
Further details will be circulated to members.
(Photo Apu, Gomes, Getty Images)Dr Stephen Jury
Building L24, Room G06, London Road Campus, 7.15 pm
We are experiencing more than just warmer winters and hotter summers: we have to endure our winters with much more and heavier rain and summers with more periods of drought. Many distinctly tender plants are now surviving in our gardens without protection, many damp-loving species are needing to be watered at times to survive and dry and gravel gardens are becoming more common after being popularised by the late Beth Chatto.
Please see: https://www.rhs.org.uk/science/gardening-in-a-changing-world/climate-change for a report and further information on this topic.
Dr Margaret Simons
Building L24, Room G06, London Road Campus, 7.15 pm
As we celebrate 100 years since the University received the charter, this talk considers the birth of adult education in the borough and how the coming together of various organisations and individuals laid the foundations for Reading becoming a university town.
The chosen charity 2025-26 is Berkshire Women's AidBuilding L24, Room G06, London Road Campus, 7.15 pm
We will be joined by a speaker from this year’s chosen charity Berkshire Women’s Aid.
Annual General MeetingBuilding L24, Room G06, London Road Campus, 7.15 pm
Further details will be circulated to members.
Please join us for this annual celebration.
Further details will be circulated to members.
2024-2025
Professor Sir Brian Hoskins (both images courtesy of the Japan Prize Foundation)Jackie and Brian Hoskins
Building L24, Room G06, London Road Campus, 7.15 pm
Thames Valley Police Training Centre (Wikishire)The Thames Valley Police Museum is located in the Thames Valley Police Training Centre, Sulhamstead (near Reading, Berkshire).
Further details will be circulated to members.
Image: Wokingham Theatre (2024)Visit to Wokingham Theatre to see ‘The Game’s Afoot’; danger and hilarity are non-stop.
Further details will be circulated to members.
Christmas PartyAcacias London Road Campus, 7.15 pm
Includes carols with musical accompaniment.
Further details were circulated to members.
Cheese & WineBuilding L24, Room G06, London Road Campus, 7.15 pm
There will also be a speaker from this year’s chosen charity Smart Works ‘Helping Women Back to Work’.
The History of the Halls of the University - Ian Burn and John Grainger (Wantage Hall, The University of Reading: photo Ian Burn)John Grainger and Ian Burn
Building L24, Room G06, London Road Campus, 7.15 pm
Photo - Voluremuseum - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0The Ure Museum is located on the Whiteknights Campus, at the University of Reading.
Further details will be circulated to members.
Building L24, Room G06, London Road Campus, 7.15 pm
The meeting will be followed by a performance from the Tony X Barbershop Singers.
Summer PartyPlease join us for this annual celebration.
Further details will be circulated to members.
2023-2024
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAPeter Must, former Sub Dean of Letters at the University of Reading.
Building L24, Room G06, London Road Campus, 7.15 pm
Wikimedia Commons (Image: Alf Van Beem, Own Work)Anne Garrison, Volunteer at the Museum of English Rural Life.
Building L24, Room G06, London Road Campus, 7.15 pm
Image: Wokingham TheatreVisit to Wokingham Theatre to see ‘Christmas at Grimly Hall’.
Further details were circulated to members.
To be held in Acacias, London Road Campus.
Further details were circulated to members.
Ploughman’s supper with a speaker from this year’s charity ‘Children Heard and Seen’.
Building L24, Room G06, London Road Campus, 7.15 pm
'Bletchley Park - well I just did this and that'Dr Stephen Jury
Building L24, Room G06, London Road Campus, 7.15 pm
An Iron Lung from the 1960s. Image courtesy of BRO.Further details were circulated to members.
- Annual General Meeting
The meeting will be followed by a Quiz, details to follow.
Please join us for this annual celebration.
Further details were circulated to members.