Category Archives: frontpage
Membership
Besides helping the University, through the grants financed from subscriptions, members enjoy a programme of events. Twice-yearly talks from eminent members of the University are acompanied by tea at which members have time to meet old friends and make new acquaintances. At our Yearly Meeting members are invited to visit areas in the University not usually accessible to the general public. In addition we arrange trips to external venues with University of Reading connections.
The Friends run guided walks around the University for both members and the public and have published a series of pamphlets on the history of the campuses.
Members receive: the eConnected magazine for alumni and Friends and all the generous benefits available to alumni such as discounts on University Library and Sports Centre membership.
Membership, open to anyone, is by subscription of £20 p.a. for individuals, £30 for two people living at the same address, although we welcome larger subscriptions from those who feel able to contribute. New members are always welcome. If you would like to know more please e-mail thefriends@reading.ac.uk
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
Contact
Phone: 07401 282717
Email: thefriends [usual at sign] reading.ac.uk
The Friends of the University of Reading
c/o Campaign & Supporter Engagement Office
University of Reading
Whiteknights House
Whiteknights
Reading
RG6 6UR
Events
In place of the visit which could not take place last year Martin Kaufman is offering a combined mini Royal Docks tour- with half the amount of walking and half the number of times getting on and off the coach – followed by a trip to Tilbury to see the container Docks and Tilbury Fort, a double visit which Martin says would be “a fitting end to our Docklands tour.” Details have been sent to members.
An informal get together over a cup of tea from the MERL cafe to chat about the booklet The Friends’ funded with Ian Akhurst, previous Director of Sport at the University.
Just come along between 3pm-4.30pm on Sunday afternoon and look for us in the Museum of English Rural Life cafe. Parking is available. Non-members welcome. No need to book but letting us know you may be coming by emailing thefriends@reading.ac.uk helps with the organisation.
We are again taking part in the National Trust’s Heritage Open Days with a tour of Foxhill House and through the meadows to Whiteknights lake.
Please see: https://www.heritageopendays.org.uk/visiting/event/tour-of-foxhill-house-and-walk-through-meadow-area-to-whiteknights-lake for details. Booking essential.
Visit to Downe village and Down House with Professor Peter Worsley, Wednesday 6 September 2023
Following his talk at last year’s Annual General Meeting about Charles Darwin and the Voyage of the Beagle, Professor Peter Worsley, Friend of the University and Professor Emeritus of Quaternary Geology, has kindly offered to lead a coach trip on Wednesday 6 September 2023 from Whiteknights to Charles Darwin’s home at Down House, now an English Heritage property, in Kent. After visiting the house it will be a short guided walk to nearby Downe village, from where the coach will return members to Whiteknights. Details have ...
We will be looking at how our grant for improvements to the MERL garden worked out. We will be joined by Chengcheng Guo, a postgraduate student who helps with the Friday Fledglings in the Garden.
Just come along between 3pm-4.30pm on Sunday afternoon and look for us in the Museum of English Rural Life cafe. Parking is available. Non-members welcome. No need to book but letting us know you may be coming by emailing thefriends@reading.ac.uk helps with the organisation.
The Friends will be taking part in the East Reading Festival, Palmer Park, 12noon – 6pm alongside a small display from the Cole Museum of Zoology with hands-on exhibits.
The Whiteknights Studio Trail will be open from 11am to 6pm on Saturday 10 and Sunday 11 of June. Venues include the University’s Museum of English Rural Life. The Studio Trail map can be obtained in May at studiotrail.co.uk
The book celebrating the Trail’s > 20 years which a Friends’ grant helped to publish can be bought from https://tworiverspress.com/shop/the-art-history-of-whiteknights/
This Festival, hosted by the University and the Students’ Union, will take place between 10.30 am and 3.30 pm on land behind the Students Union. The Festival, based on the theme of Agriculture and Food, is designed to give the people of Reading a free, local day out and to bring some vibrancy to the heart of Whiteknights Campus. The day will be action-packed with live performances, workshops, competitions and much more. The Friends of the University will provide a stall or two at the event. No booking required.
In association with Reading’s Economy and Destination Agency (REDA), and at the request of the University’s Events Team, Mr Chris Rayner and colleagues among The Friends have volunteered to lead guided walks round Whiteknghts on Saturday 13 May at 11 am and 2 pm, and round London Road on Sunday 14 May at 11 am. There will also be a nature walk by someone else on Saturday 13 May at 4 pm. The complete programme of walks, and the arrangements for booking to join a walk can be found at: https://whatsonreading.com/venues/reading-walks-festival/whats-on-events or obtained from REDA, The Library ...
Talk on Wednesday 5 April 2023 about The Origin and Development of Halls of Residence at the University by Mr Ian Burn and Dr John Grainger in the Meadow Suite at 4.15 pm.
Mr Burn and Dr Grainger have recently issued a brochure describing and illustrating the History of Halls of Residence at the University and their talk will expand on the information in the brochure.
Tea/coffee with cakes, will be available from 3.00 pm in the Meadow Suite, Park House, and will be followed by the talk at 4.15 pm.
Please see the enclosed letter for further details and use the enclosed ...
‘An Ephemeral Encounter’ at the Department of Typography, Tuesday 28 March 2023
The Department of Typography & Graphic Communication at Earley Gate RG6 6BZ, invites twenty Friends to visit on Tuesday 28 March 2023 to look at and discuss examples of Reading ephemera, with an opportunity to print from a block made by a Reading printer.
The exhibition illustrates everyday life in Reading and work on this collection has been partly funded by a grant from The Friends.
Arrival is 2.15 pm for a 2.30 pm start. Tea will be provided.
Places are limited to 20 and will be allocated on a ‘first-come, first-served’ ...
The University Boat Club invites The Friends of the University to join them from 2 to 4 pm to watch the afternoon division of the RU Head of the River, and enjoy tea and cake provided by the student rowers.
The event is hosted at Reading Canoe Club, The Warren, Reading RG4 7TH (parking available), which has fantastic views of the final stages of the Head of the River, and provides the comfort of being in the warm and dry.
There is no need to book; just turn up to cheer on the crews and enjoy the afternoon speaking to some current ...
A talk by Dennis Wood and colleagues on the Huntley and Palmer families in celebration of the 200th anniversary of Joseph Huntley’s founding of his biscuit business in Reading. Members are welcome to bring guests. Further details will be circulated to members in due course.
Members and their guests are invited on this tour with our guide Martin Kaufmann. Booking essential. Details will be sent to members.
Weather observations commenced at the university in London Road in 1901, and today there are over 100 years unbroken daily records of temperature, rainfall etc. Most of the instruments are fully automatic, and logged by computer every second of every day, 365 days per year. The wide range of observatory instruments and their records provide a valuable teaching and research resource to the Meteorology Department as well as continuing the long climate record. Please click to find out more and access the booking form.
Members and their guests are invited to a talk by Professor Peter Worsley on Darwin’s Voyage in the Beagle and tea in the Palmer Building preceding an update from the Vice-Chancellor on University strategy and our AGM.
The Friends will once again have a stand at this Festival 12noon-6pm Palmer Park. All welcome, entry free. This time we’ll be showing an exhibition relating to the history of the Palmer family and the University to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the founding of Huntley & Palmers.
We helped fund the publication of the Art & History of Whiteknights celebrating 20 years of the Whiteknights Studio Trail which was co-founded by Friends’ member Jenny Halstead. Other members contributed articles to the book and created video tours of the based on some of the book’s artworks. Learn more and order the book on the publisher’s website: Two Rivers Press Whiteknights and come to this year’s trail.
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
About
The Friends of the University of Reading was formed as a charitable association in 1927. In 2017 it was registered with the Charity Commission for England and Wales as an Association Charitable Incorporated Organisation (number 1173347). In July 2017 The Friends was inducted into the University’s College of Benefactors in recognition of 90 years continuous support of the University.
Membership of The Friends is open to anyone with an interest in supporting the University.
The Association thrives with a membership of around 250 drawn from the neighbourhood and the wider community as well as from former and present members of the University. In this way we provide a companionable means of cultivating contacts between the University and those interested in its educational goals, history, current activities and future development. Membership of The Friends gives access to an array of social and cultural events. The subscription income that we generate is applied to grants, financing various amenities and activities throughout the University.
- Brochure
- Code of Conduct
- Complaints procedure
- Conflict of Interest
- Constitution
- Data Protection Policy
- Financial Policies and Procedures
- Grant Making Policy
- Health and Safety
- History of the Friends
- Membership application form (.docx for use with Microsoft Word)
- Membership Application Form (.pdf)
- Officers and Trustees
- Public Liability Insurance
- Volunteer Management