Category Archives: formembers
Map for Ure Museum visit 20 April 2016
Chairman’s letter to the Friends February 2016
Dear Members,
Over the past few months we have been in discussion with the Campaigns and Supporter Engagement Office (CSEO) to agree on the way ahead for us at a time when the University is reshaping its management structures so as to make best use of its resources.
As a result, we as an Association have largely taken over our own administration, while still making use of the University as our base and as provider of practical assistance in matters of managing our finances and of printing and circulation of papers.
We now manage our own membership database, which we think will actually make communication easier in the future. We have also re-designed our website and hope that this will assist us in making it more timely and informative.
Importantly, members of your Executive Committee have stepped forward to take over those functions needed to run the Association, the new officers being:
- Peter Must: Hon. Secretary, looking after the Executive Committee and the Yearly Meeting;
- Brenda Morris: Membership Secretary, dealing with subscriptions and arrangements for events;
- Annette Haworth: Grants Officer, inviting applications for grants and presenting them to the Executive Committee to select cases for recommendation to the Yearly Meeting. She is also our IT mastermind.
This is still a learning curve for all of us and I know you will bear with us if further challenges arise. Indeed, the new arrangements envisage others joining in to help: we will be most grateful for any further assistance offered. Meanwhile, I trust you will accept that our measures have been necessary to keep the Friends’ Association alive and well, with a solid platform for future growth and activity. As evidence of this I have pleasure in enclosing our programme for 2016. We hope to see as many of you as possible at these events, starting with the visit to Classics on 20 April, and including some really special treats – notably the Vice-Chancellor’s invitation for 29 June.
Andrew Palmer (Chairman)
Grants
THE 2024 GRANTS ROUND IS NOW CLOSED.
Here is the calling notice from the 2024 round for info:
Do you have a project which would benefit from a Friends of the University grant?
If so please send a short email describing your project and the amount requested to: thefriends@reading.ac.uk as soon as possible and in any case by Monday 8th April 2024.
We are particularly interested in helping to fund projects which will enhance University-community relations and/or help student or staff extra-curricular activities.
We will be in touch shortly after receiving your email to let you know if your project is eligible and whether we need further information. The final decisions will be made towards the end of April and applicants will be informed immediately of the outcome.
If you would like further information see below where there is a list of our previous grants. However, please note that while we traditionally mainly funded physical “things”, we will consider funding towards other projects, online work, events etc.
Note that we give grants only to organisations, not to individuals. Students are welcome to apply but should ensure that a member of UoR staff agrees with the application and can provide information on the University account that the grant is to to paid into. An alternative route would be through another associated organisation such as RUSU.
Below is information on our normal grants procedure.
Each year we give out around half a dozen grants normally ranging from a couple of hundred to a couple of thousand pounds, responding to applications for projects which would not normally be funded from University academic resources. In this way we enrich students’ experiences, provide additional social and cultural amenities, enhance the University’s landscape and support its outreach into the community.
Students across University life benefit from contributions. Examples range from materials for an Art/Archaeology outreach project to help towards purchase of an engine for the Scuba Diving Club.
Donations to departments have ranged from models of fossilised creatures to paintings. The ceremonial furniture seen in the Great Hall at London Road at Graduation ceremonies was among our earliest grants; we have since since contributed to the refurbishment of its organ.
Our funding has enhanced University landmarks, including The Friends’ Bridge over Whiteknights Lake, wildflower meadow planting, and the cloisters that characterise London Road campus. The fine stained-glass window at the Museum of English Rural Life and music stands for concerts by Music at Reading are other examples.
The Friends are particularly interested in projects which support the University’s outreach into the wider community. Past examples of such grants include a 3D model of a DNA molecule which can be used both for University teaching and in schools, support of community events such as May’s Community Festival and completion of an African Drum circle to enable workshops to be held outside the normal curriculum with local schools and at community events./p
Events
An invitation to members of the Friends from the Alumni and Supporter Engagement Office to attend a Supporter Engagement Evening as a thank you for our help to the University and to hear about two of the activities that alumni and supporter contributions have assisted. Please click to book.
Members and their guests are invited to join students and staff for tea and cake at the Reading Canoe Club from 2pm to watch the afternon’s racing. No booking required.
Join a small group of us in the MERL cafe for a cup of tea and to look at the result of one of the Friends’ grants – the stained glass window.
The trustees have decided to conduct the AGM by email where possible and by post where not. Agenda papers for the Meeting hzve been sent to members who are invited to contact the Secretary if with any issues they would like to raise.
THE TRAIL HAS BEEN POSTPONED TO JUNE 2021.
A book entitled The Art and History of Whiteknights celebrating the founding of the Trail 20 years ago can be purchased through tworiverspress.com . The Friends have not only given a grant towards the cost of publication but also, through some of its volunteers, provided chapters on the Southern Hill area round Christchurch Road, and about Whiteknights Park derived from their work on its history that has resulted in a series of published Friend’ Heritage Trail Guides.
Event postponed due to Coronavirus restrictions
Martin Kaufman will follow up his visit to Limehouse, Shadwell and Wapping last year with a proposed guided tour of the Royal Docks, the Thames Barrier and Tilbury Docks. Details will be sent to members nearer the time with an itinerary, timings and cost.
Update July 2020: in view of the continuing uncertainty over the safety of holding events and the timing coinciding with the University welcoming students on campus we are postponing our participation in this event until 2021
The Friends will be collaborating with other local organisations in these National Trust-coordinated Heritage Open Days, the theme of which is Hidden Nature. We hope to co-ordinate something around the Grotto in the Wilderness on Whiteknights. Details will be sent out later in the year.
The AGM will take place via email and snail mail this year. The Secretary will be in touch with members in June.
Our Annual General Meeting will start with a visit to the Library at 2.30 pm to be shown the changes made as a result of the recent renovation programme. Tea will be available in in the Meadow Suite from 3.45 pm followed by the Annual General Meeting at 4.30 pm, at which the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Robert Van de Noort, will talk to us about University’s activities and plans
THIS EVENT HAS BEEN CANCELLED. THE UNIVERSITY’S SILCHESTER FIELD DIG WILL NOT TAKE PLACE THIS YEAR.
Professor Michael Fulford has invited Friends to return to Silchester again, for what may be his last season there, to be shown the results of further excavations of the Roman Baths. Details and a booking form will be sent out later this year
This event has been cancelled.
The Friends will once again be taking part in this local festival on Palmer Park. If any members would like to help man the Friends stall please get in touch (thefriends@reading.ac.uk).
This event has been postponed until further notice
Friends are invited to join members of the University and the local community at this fifth annual Big Band Big Lunch Event on the London Road campus. You can take lunch, listen to music from the University Big Band and take part in a range of activities, including a guided tour of the London Road campus.
Food and drink will be available to purchase, or feel free to bring along a picnic and enjoy the festivities! No need to book. Just turn up on the day from 12 noon. Parking available.
Food and drink ...
The Whiteknights Studio Trail celebration book is being offered at a pre-publication price of £10.50 per copy. This is valid up until publication date of 21st June when it will return to £12.00. Friends’ member and editor of the book Jenny Halstead can hand copies over at the front door (wearing a glove) on SATURDAYS (6/13 /20 June) between 12noon – 4pm – cash only in an envelope please at 85 Christchurch Road, Reading
POSTPONED
A guided walking tour, starting at 2.00 pm from the Earley Gate lodges, of Earley Gate and The Wilderness offered exclusively for Friends. The tour covers the history of the wartime TOBs (Temporary Office Buildings), the Cold War ‘citadel’ (Region 6 War Room), ‘The Woods’ (Marquis of Blandford era) and the site of ‘The Wilderness’, one of the six Victorian houses built in the Park.Please dress for the conditions – solid footwear and rain wear (if necessary). The tour may include some walking on uneven surfaces. Disabled access might be restricted; it is therefore not recommended for wheelchair users. Parking ...
Palmer Building Room 109 at 4.15 pm.
Mark Fellowes, Professor of Ecology in the School of Biological Sciences and Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Academic Planning and Resource, will give an illustrated talk about Urban Wildlife.
Tea, with sandwiches and cakes, will be available from 3.00 pm in the Meadow Suite, Park House, and the talk will be held in Lecture Room 109 in the Palmer Building at 4.15 pm.
Please use form sent to members to say if you will be coming to the talk, and whether you would like tea.
THIS EVENT HAS BEEN CANCELLED DUE TO THE THAMES BEING IN FLOOD
Friends were invited to view the race while taking tea and cake at the Canoe Club beside the Thames.
Details of a talk by Professor Peter Dorwood about ‘Climate Services for Developing Countries: the work of the University’s Participatory Integrated Climate Services for Agriculture’ on the afternoon of Wednesday 6 November 2019 will have been sent to members. Please book.
Photo from University of Reading website
Professor Amy Smith of the Ure Museum in the Classics Department has kindly suggested that members may like to come to the launch of Annie’s Box (plus tea and cake) on Wednesday 9 October at 4pm.
Annie’s box was funded by one of our grants this year. Through a combination of postcards, 3D printed objects and a ‘smart box’ visitors can learn more about Dr Annie Ure by listening to audio recordings. The box is designed to be taken out to schools as well as for use within the Museum.
If you would like to come along on Wednesday 9th, ...
A coach trip on Saturday 5 October to the Docklands Museum to see the Secret Rivers Exhibition, and then to sights in Limehouse, Shadwell, Wapping and St Katherine’s Dock.
A4 photo montage Dockland v1.0 20191010
Members were sent a booking form in August. There will be a fair amount of brisk walking involved.
We continued our series of Heritage Days with our guided tours around the historic London Road campus. Open to all, booking was essential but the tours were free.Further information on the Heritage Open Days website
We funded some 3D printing of objects from the Ure Museum of Greek Archaeology. During the Heritage Open Days they visited the Museum of English Rural Life. Here they are in the Shepherds Hut, inspecting the DNA molecule and some heritage info about the campuses, all of which we helped to fund.
Exhibition remains open until 15 September inc. Friends member Jenny Halstead and Linda Saul invited Friends to attend for a talk and a viewing of an exhibition by 20 artists in the Turbine House, Blakes Lock (beside Bel and the Dragon).
The Museum will host a handling session/talks from 2-4pm More information on the display which is on until 10 Septermber at https://research.reading.ac.uk/curiosi/collcurcat/
Professor Michael Fulford has invited Friends to return to Silchester to be shown round further excavations of the Roman Baths. Please book.
The Annual General Meeting will start with a talk by Professor Shirley Reynolds and Dr Faith Orchard of the Charlie Waller Institute about the Institute and its work relating to mental health in young people. It will be held in Room G09, Allen Building, at 2.30 pm, with tea in the Meadow Suite from 4.00 pm followed by the Annual General Meeting at 5.00 pm.
Full details and a booking form will be sent round nearer the time.
Once again we had a stall at this popular local event in Palmer Park, showing photos from the University Special Collections on the development of the London Road campus.
Following the success of our 2017 Heritage Day, the
Friends have developed a series of guided tours of the
Whiteknights and London Road campuses. The first of
these was organised for the Berkshire Family History Society,
This year we had two stalls. One showing the history of the campus and the other in conjunction with the Ure Museum, Classics dept and a local charity with hands on activities of animal-related museum objects together with 3D prints of Palmyra which The Friends had funded.
Dr Jaqui Turner of the History Department, who recently advised the Suffrage exhibition in Parliament, will speak on early female MPs alongside a recreation of her Nancy Astor exhibit informed by the University’s extensive Astor archive. Venue Palmer Building. Please book for the accompanying tea which starts at 3pm.
watch the afternoon Head of the River Races on Saturday
9 March from the Canoe Club, The Warren, Caversham, Reading RG4 7TF, and to take tea
there afterwards (parking along The Warren).
Could those wishing to come please let Brenda Morris know by Friday 1 March (Brenda@morrisandfamily.co.uk)? Members are asked to arrive at the Club about 2 pm with the first
race starting at 2.30 pm.
Human rights, global wrongs: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights at 70
Professor Rosa Freedman. Please book to attend at: https://www.reading.ac.uk/publiclectures/
A talk by Richard van Emden.