Christmas Party - 2021

The Christmas get-together continued with a look at ways such presentations might have been given in time past - for example the History of the Magic Lantern

A potted history of the Society on its first forty years

To mark the 40th anniversary, the November meeting took a look back over that time span, starting with what the village was like 40 years ago

The Home Front in Reading 1914-1918 - an illustrated presentation on Reading in World War 1

Dr Margaret Simons, a much-respected local historian, gave an illustrated presentation on 'Reading in World War 1: The Home Front 1914-18', sharing the results of her research into the effects of the war on the local area

The Hidden History of Wargrave Hall

Terry revealed the results of his research into the house in a presentation made using Zoom

The Upper Thames Patrol

The Society does not usually have a presentation in July, but were fortunate that as meetings were being held using Zoom this year it became possible to hear Bill King tell us about the Upper Thames Patrol

The life and work of Stanley Spencer

Keith gave a Zoom presentation about the life and work of Stanley Spencer

Royal Weddings

Catherine gave her presentation on Royal Weddings, using the internet Zoom system, with even more members joining in

Prospect Park Mansion in West Reading

The history of the Mansion House and its families

The Annual General Meeting - 2021

The AGM followed by an overview of the Society's Archive of documents, photographs and historic objects

Reading's 'Smelly Alley'

Kevin Little spoke on 'Smelly Alley and other things of Reading interest'

Hobbs Boatyard

Simon Wenham who has recently published a book about Hobbs of Henley Boatyard, gave us a presentation on that topic

Christmas Party - 2020

The Christmas get-together was followed by a presentation by Peter Halman on 'The History of Christmas'