Category: Talk

In 2025, we celebrate the 250th anniversary of the birthday of Jane Austen. So how better to start the year than with a talk by local historian and dedicated Janeite Joy Pibworth, exploring Austen’s connections with Reading. Reading’s Abbey Gateway was then home to the Ladies Boarding School which Jane Austen attended from 1785-6. With…

From 1233 to 1538 Reading had two religious foundations, Reading Abbey and the Reading Franciscan Friary. This talk tells the story of the medieval friary, its friars, and their relationship with the town. It ends with the dissolution under Henry VIII, leaving us just the Greyfriars Church building as a remnant of the past. This…

Prior to the advent of buses, there was a different mode of transport. A group of innovative local businessmen launched a horse bus service, which, though rudimentary, marked the town’s first foray into public transportation. Then in 1878 the Reading Tramways Company was established, which provided what we would now call an urban mass transit…

This all series ticket covers all three talks in the “Reading Heritage” talks series, for the discounted price of £12.50 (members £10.00). You may also book each talk individually – see each separate event page. All three talks are on Thursdays at 2pm in The Centre for Heritage and Family History, Reading. They last about…

This is a stunning section of the Thames as it meanders its way through the countryside and past villages and towns with particularly interesting histories including Oxford, Abingdon, Wallingford and Pangbourne.  Many of us will have ancestors who came from this area and were very familiar with the river, perhaps even dependent on it for…

If you like maps – this is one not to miss. John will talk about the history of mapping with particular emphasis on Berkshire, beginning with Matthew Paris’ map of Britain c. 1250 and finishing with Google and modern mapping. He will explore the various reasons why maps were commissioned and how best to interpret…

We are delighted to welcome the acclaimed and popular author and speaker Helen Baggott to lick-off our online talks programme for 2025. This talk explores the lives of our ancestors through the messages that they wrote and the postcards they sent. Mill workers in Yorkshire, families affected by the first national rail strike, visitors to…