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 2025 GRANT ROUND OPENED ON 26 FEBRUARY AND CLOSED ON 2 APRIL.
The next round is scheduled to open in February 2026. The calling notice for 2025 is left here as a guide to our normal process.
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 2nd April 2025.
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 RSU.
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.
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
The Reading 2050 project is holding open lectures to which members of the Friends are very welcome.
THE RUBC HAS HAD TO CANCEL THIS EVENT DUE TO WEATHER & RIVER CONDITIONS
University choirs (Campus Voices, Academic Voices, and Chamber Choir, plus the Institute of Education’s Universal Voices children’s choir) will be performing in an advent concert on Thursday 7 December, at Christ Church (Christchurch Road, Reading, RG2 7AJ). The concert is free, but there will be a retiring collection for Nordoff Robbins, a music therapy charity. All welcome.
Friends are most welcome to the University Carol Service which is taking place on Monday 4 December at 6pm in the Great Hall featuring the Chamber Choir and readings from University members.
The Big Band have their annual Swing Ball taking place on Saturday 25 November. This promises to be a great evening, with fantastic entertainment from the University Big Band and Reading Boys School Big Band, plus a swing dance taster session and performances from the University Swing Dance Society. This event has sold out in the past, so you are advised to book tickets in advance as soon as possible.
https://www.reading.ac.uk/internal/music/Events/SwingBall.aspx
Professor Farrelly Head of the University’s new School of Architecture has invited us to visit. Further details will be available in August.
A guided tour of the area. Further details available in August.
Inspired by Reading’s Victorian Turbine, All of a Twist is an exhibition of the science and technology of twisty-turny stuff under, on, above and beside Reading’s rivers. Thermals, tornados, whirlpools, watermills, willow, spirogyra, towrope, wool, DNA and turbines have all affected Reading, its river dwellers, monks, red kites and now us one way or another.
Advised by Reading-based scientists, most from the University, local charity RG Spaces is mounting this exhibition at the Turbine House on the River Kennet courtesy Reading Museum.
A special viewing for members of Friends of the University & their guests will be held on ...
Professor Mike Fulford has invited us to the site of the new temple dig at Silchester. Further details will be available at the beginning of August.
The Friends will be represented at this event showing a collection of historic University photos. The Shepherds Hut which The Friends helped fund is being unveiled decorated by the Mewes Knitters alongside many other community activities.
Everyone is invited to bring along a picnic, and any family teasures you would like evaluated. See Community Treasures
This is an excellent opportunity to get up to date with the changes the Friends are helping make in the Museum garden.
The Friends was honoured to be inducted into the University’s College of Benefactors at the degree ceremony in the Great Hall on 6 July 2017. Dr Chris Gayford received the honour from the Chancellor followed by a presentation from the Vice-Chancellor, Sir David Bell in the Acacias.
Our Yearly Meeting will be held at London Road, with a visit to the Museum of English Rural Life
followed by tea and our Meeting in Room L022 G03/4. Full details and booking form will be sent
round nearer the time.
Come and see us or volunteer to help man our stall at the East Reading Festival. We will be
continuing our partnership with local charity RG Spaces to show our heritage information about the
University’s campuses, alongside activities relating to the University’s museums.
The University Events Team would like to welcome members to the third annual Big Band Big Lunch on the historic London Road campus.
They write: “Join the fun as we invite the local community to join members of the University over lunch, to listen to music from the University Big Band and take part in a range of family-friendly activities based around this year’s theme of Community and Creativity.
This event will have something for everyone, with food and drink available to purchase, or feel free to bring along a picnic and enjoy the festivities!”
To celebrate the 90th anniversary of our foundation in 1927 there will be a
Heritage Day event at Whiteknights on Sunday 7 May. Guided tours,
displays and children’s activities. Children free £5 adults (to include tea and cake) . Everyone is welcome. Please see here for further information and booking details from the beginning of April.
This talk will be given at Whiteknights by Professor Paul Hadley and Dr Matt Ordidge and will
explain the work of the National Fruit Collection, one of the largest such collections in the world,
which is based at Brogdale Farm in Kent and is co-curated by the University of Reading.Members are invited by RUBC to watch the racing from the Reading Canoe Club, The Warren, Caversham. Please contact brenda@morrisfamily.co.uk
Visit to The Cole Museum, Animal and Microbial Sciences Building at 2.15 pm and tour at 2.30 pm followed by a talk at 3.15pm in the AMS Lecture Theatre and then tea in the Meadow Suite.
The Friends Visit
Tour of Naval and Royal Greenwich (a steadily paced
walking tour, including rest stops). BOOKING ESSENTIAL.
Longstanding member of the Friends, Jenny Halstead, is curating an exhibition from local artists. Private view with wine, books, museum and optional lunch.
This year our annual general meeting and reception will be at Aberleigh courtesy of Sir David and Lady Bell.
This is a good occasion to catch up with what’s going on both within The Friends’ Association and more broadly to hear from the Vice-Chancellor about developments within the University, have your say on what the Friends are doing and consider the applications made to our annual grants round.
Oh, and there’s also a delicious tea.
Details will be updated here and sent to all members three weeks before the meeting.
The University received its charter 90 years ago. Members of the Friends were invited to join alumni at the University Homecoming event. We manned a stand at this special event – showing the wide variety of grants we have made over nine decades and our Heritage Trails.
Lord Carrington, our President emeritus, has kindly invited us again to visit his magnificent gardens at the Manor House, Bledlow. Davina Palmer will provide tea for the party at 4.15 pm. Booking is essential.
East Reading Festival 19 June 2016Everyone welcome at this University event on the London Rd campus 12 noon Sunday 5 June 2016. Bring your own picnic or enjoy a tasty treat from the BBQ grill, and try some of the beers and ciders in the Real Ale Festival at Eat at London Road. If you fancy something a bit different, the University will be showcasing some of its food science research, with a special ‘Ready, Steady, Nutritional Cook’ demonstration.
The Friends has supported the Ure Museum with several grants over the years. This visit is by kind invitation of Amy Smith, Professor of Classics and Curator of the Museum. The visit starts at 2.30pm in the Ure Museum, Classics Department, Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Science, Whiteknights campus, Building 1 on the Campus Map. It will be followed by tea at 4.15pm in the Meadow Suite (behind Park House). Please click the photo of Professor Smith for more information, parking permit and campus map.
Please email thefriends@reading.ac.uk if you would like to attend. You are welcome to bring guests ...
Edith Morley is believed to have been the first woman professor in this country. In our 2015 grants round, the Friends supported the publication of her memoirs. This will be launched in the Great Hall at this special event: In Conversation with Karen Blackett, OBE Chairwoman of MediaCom UK. Please click Edith’s photo – taken in Reading at the turn of the last century – for further details.
Come and see us or volunteer to help man our stall at East Reading Festival. In 2015 we partnered with local charity RG Spaces to show our heritage info about the London Rd campus, alongside activities relating to the University’s Ure Museum, Ladybird book archive and Harris Garden.
Reading and the Great War - a commemoration held in 2014
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