Would anyone have an old picture or two of town centre pub Blagrave Arms that they could share with me (please)?
The reason I ask is because an email arrived in my inbox from somebody in the US, who shares the Blagrave name, requesting information on the history of the pub.
My attention was drawn to another charity event recently: Reading’s Alive/Mongolia Benefit Gig, held at the 3Bs after the Reading Half Marathon (more travelling back in time here). I didn’t take part in the morning run. I stood pathetically at the bottom of Kendrick Rd, watching, as wave after wave of participants ran past. It was a marvellous sight.
The 3Bs was packed when I got there in the early evening, much to my surprise (I say this, because it was Sunday).
There was a strong mix of people, including families and teenagers (but no runners), many churchgoing. They were chatting away quite happily and enjoying the five-pound curry. A group of performers - Jeremy Rishworth, Stuart Dooley and the Foolish Galatians (a biblical reference, rather than something out of Star Trek) - was setting up.
Pint in hand (an ale of some sort, can’t remember which), I struggled to find somewhere to sit. I eventually found a seat, sharing a table with three charming students from Peru, Venezuela and Chile. I didn’t catch their names. The location also offered a reasonable view of the band, so I was very fortunate.
Leaving the table for a moment, I approached a couple of the band members, who then introduced me to Susanne Koch, who has left a comment on this blog before and who’d reached out to me about the event.
Susanne explained the purpose of the event, that is, to bring live entertainment to the Sunday afternoon slot in Reading (a typically quiet time) and raise money for the Khuslen Education Centre in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.
I agreed that such an event, held on a regular basis, would be a great addition to the town’s culture. The location, right in the heart of Reading, is ideal, and it offers another alternative to going out during busier times on Friday and Saturday.
With the band playing, I relaxed more and made repeat visits to the bar. Unfortunately, immediately after one bar visit (as I turned away), I struck my temple against one of the supporting columns.
Thwack!
It hurt, and I immediately thought of poor Natasha Richardson. I was focused enough, I should add (I mean, I wasn’t wobbling about). The 3Bs is a great little place, but it’s somewhat annoying having poles (I don’t mean our Eastern European neighbours) inside the bar area.
Head throbbing, I was introduced to performer Matthias Scheja. He and I had a chat about Brazilian music, among other things, and then it was time for me to go. All in all, a great evening (though my head hurt the next day!).
I was recently contacted by a lovely group of students about a charity sky dive that they were taking part in a little more than a month ago, on Sunday 5 April, in Bicester. The sky dive was held in aid of a new one-day festival, Rise and Shine Festival, planned for Reading’s Kings Meadow in September this year.
To find out more about both events, I sat down with Kayleigh Fung and two of her Rise and Shine Festival partners at the Slug & Lettuce.
Listening to the students speak, I was struck by how young (early twenties), professional, committed and caring these talented organisers were. On occasion you read about university students going on drunken rampages in our town centre. This group was a reminder that there are young people who do very good things and make a positive difference in the community.
The WOMAD-style Rise and Shine Festival, I was informed, aims to bring together fresh local talent (such as bands and artists) in a bid to increase awareness of depression and suicide amongst young people.
We aim to reduce the ‘self pity’ stigma and promote effective therapies, with an open mind to alternative therapies. The forum will be available as a social network for people to gain access to reviewed information and to discuss issues amongst themselves, or with current students in contemporary psychology. Research shows that ‘happiness is contagious and spreads through social groups like a virus’. In a time of combined economic and environmental challenge, the country is facing a period of depression, as young people, it is our goal that the community work together to prevent suffering and maintain good spirit!
The organisation was set up after Jaime Smith, Andrew McGurk and Eva Dobrayzyk very sadly took their own lives after suffering from severe depression. Both the University of Reading’s Psychology Society and Psychology department are deeply involved with the running of the running of September’s festival.
The jump the following day, I’m told, went well. A video of the event, professionally produced, reveals a somewhat nervous-looking Kayleigh sitting in the aircraft with face daubed in paint. In addition to the video, about 50 photos were taken.
The Rise and Shine Festival initiative is an admirable one, and great for the town. I will be adding a Rise and Shine badge to this blog to show support (I personally don’t expect to be jumping out of planes any time soon) and intend to promote the charity as much as I can to others.
If you are taking part in the Reading Half Marathon this Sunday, and looking forward to a treat at the end of the punishing trot, there is a Mongolia Benefit Night kicking off at 5pm in the 3Bs.
Mongolia Benefit Night, Susanne Koch tells me, will feature indie acoustic/funk musicians Stuart Dooley and The Foolish Galatians, and a curry meal can be had for a fiver. There will also be an opportunity to show your support for the Khulsen Education Centre in Mongolia’s capital Ulaanbaatar during the evening.
I will be there, but I don’t deserve any curry: I will not be taking part in the run as I simply Genghis Khan’t do 13 miles.
I’m disappointed, but I understand the decision. There is still the Reading Festival to look forward to (we are blessed, aren’t we, in Reading) and I believe that the original global gathering, WOMAD, will go ahead as planned in its new Wiltshire site (which, dare I say it, is a far better location than Rivermead).
With the recession expected to continue into next year, in the UK at least, I suspect that we may not get to see the festival until 2011.
But why not organise our own fun? You occasionally see bongoes and the like in European cities. So how about a flashmob in Forbury Gardens?
A blog has been launched by the DrinksinReading.com team: drinksin Blog.
Their first, and so far only, entry is an entertaining writeup of a Friday night pub crawl, with the itinerary looking something like this: Global Cafe, Oakford Social Club, Afroba, Malmaison, After Dark and Mix Bar.
Would other local bloggers be interested in taking part in a similar crawl? We can attempt the Ale Trail(remembering to drink responsibly, of course), then write about it.
Sometime mid-morning on Friday 13 March, a number of social media enthusiasts talked Twitter tactics over coffee as bemused Workhouse Coffee punters looked on. It was the inaugural Thames Valley Social Media Cafe, held in Reading.
I’m not a great counter, preferring words, but I estimated there to be a dozen or so of us, including heavyweights (not literally) Neville Hobson and Drew Benvie, who both co-founded the event, skateboarding Steven Lamb from Microsoft, copywriter and friend John McGarvey, podcaster Andy Piper from IBM, and local PR business owners Nicky Davis and Catherine Warrilow. It was quite a crowd.
Even Workhouse Coffee’s Greg Costello (who literally is a heavyweight) joined in the fun, showing interest in my BlackBerry and asking for my thoughts on the iPhone/iPod Touch. According to Drew, Greg also had a Twitter account set up for him on the spot that morning. Marvellous and marvellously simple. You can follow Greg’s tweets here: www.twitter.com/itsridiculous
I chatted at length with Nicky Davis, who is at the helm of online news release distributor NeonDrum and consultancy EvokedSet. Topics covered included Reading, refuse collections and Readipop CDs, as well as online PR. As I finished my Brazilian (coffee) and downgraded to a cortado, I began another enjoyable conversation, with Catherine Warrilow, who runs Oxford-based company Warrilow PR.
I’d also spoken briefly with Steven Lamb (who led my kayaking lessons when I was at Microsoft), Andy Piper (who can teach me a thing or two about podcasting) and Adrian Moss (ditto).
For other (better) perspectives on the event, read the following posts:
Cllr Tony Jones said of local newspapers in Reading, “Whether we always like what they say or not, they are important to our community.”
He’s right, of course. I’m a firm believer that pubs are also important to a community, and the carnage in the countryside that I have seen recently has not exactly filled me with joy. Take the brilliant Lamb Inn (Satwell), for example, now closed. Another traditional country pub has become an Italian restaurant. Another still, an Indian restaurant.
Pubs are an important part of our national culture. They bring people together. They are the so-called “third place” (in Starbucks parlance) that we have enjoyed for centuries. Then there is the beer itself…
I clicked on the Reading Chronicle headline “Pub’s new lease of life” within a nanosecond of it appearing on my screen. A Southcote man, Steve Ellis, has reopened the Claddagh Ring pub, shut for more than a month, and brought back its original name, The Kennet Arms.
After five Oscar nominations over the years, Reading’s Kate Winslet finally fufilled her childhood dream of winning the Best Actress award for her role in The Reader (as I correctly predicted).
At the Vanity Fair party afterwards, speaking to GMTV, Kate impressively mentioned one of my favourite Reading pubs, The Retreat, not once, but twice:
My mum won the pickled onion competition at The Retreat pub in Reading just before Christmas and they sent me a picture of her with her prized pickled onion. So, to The Retreat - here’s another Winslet picture for you, ok?