Category: Talk

This is the first of two talks in our online Spring series. The personnel of the British Army served across the globe during World War Two, from Iceland to Australia, from the Falklands to East Russia. The army grew from the small peacetime force that went to war in 1939 to the huge modern force…

This is the first of three talks in the Houses and Estates Talks Series. The other talks take place on 9th May and 13th June. You may book tickets for individual events or for all three talks in the series for a reduced price.  In this first talk, Katie Amos, Local Studies Lead for Reading Library,…

This is the second of three talks in the Houses and Estates Talks Series. Ben Viljoen, a founder member of Berkshire Gardens Trust, has always been interested in the history of 18th century English landscape gardening. He was delighted to find that both Charles Bridgeman, father of the English Landscape movement, and Humphry Repton, who…

This is the third talk in the Houses and Estates Talks Series. This talk reveals how an estate on the north bank of the Thames was a surprising tour de force in global events from the Norman Conquest to the threat of Soviet annihilation. The Manor of Caversham was embroiled in the Reformation, owned by…

This all series ticket covers all three talks in the “Houses & Estates” 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…

Now a residential suburb, was Tilehurst ever a village as such?  Mike Cooper – who’s written Reading Libraries’ booklet on Tilehurst – looks at the history of the place and its community and how change has affected the area from the break-up of Reading Abbey lands, through the industries which took advantage of it’s natural…

Woodley grew from a village to a suburb of Reading in the 20th century. But it is not just another village absorbed by Reading. It’s famous for Miles Aircraft and The Aerodrome, and there is more history than you can see. This talk will show the hidden history of Woodley. Ann Smith researched Woodley history…