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Lewis Waters Remembered – A community that shows up

THE EMMER GREEN and Caversham community showed what it’s made of when hundreds of people came together for the Lewis Waters Memorial Cup on Sunday 7 June. This was a football tournament organised in little over a week to honour Lewis, who tragically lost his life recently to meningitis.
The event was the brainchild of Lewis’s coaches, Clive and Adi, from Caversham AFC. What started as an idea for just Lewis’s age group quickly snowballed. Caversham Trents wanted in, Rotherfield joined, as did Reading City: eight teams in all…Read More

‘ Summertime, and the living is easy…’

SANG ELLA Fitzgerald. July is the perfect time to be making the most of the many open spaces in and around our area. From the ready access to the Oxfordshire countryside to our parks, gardens and the River Thames, we are spoilt for choice.
The benefit of time spent outside is the subject of our contribution from Roslyn Weaver this month (p10), but there is a warning for those who are tempted to cool off in the river (p8). Our Wellbeing article from Ami Roy this month considers the benefits of engaging in artistic pursuits (p15), and two of our regular contributions feature paintings of local buildings…Read More

Annual Summer Exhibition of Art

READING GUILD of Artists is this year holding its 95th Annual Exhibition celebrating the work of the area’s artists – including several well-known names who are based north of the river.
The exhibition is once again being held in the Art Department of the Institute of Education, which can be found on Reading University’s London Road Campus. Set in the charming Edwardian-era campus, the original home to Reading’s university, it is well worth a visit to see this hidden gem – as well as a chance to enjoy the extraordinary range of art on display…Read More

RG4 FC Underdogs

WELLER CENTRE-based RG4 FC Underdogs has been awarded a £1,000 grant to help expand access to community football sessions which support men’s mental health and physical wellbeing. The funding, from the John Sykes Foundation, was given to help the club reduce financial barriers for participants. It will make it easier for more local men to take part in regular sessions and benefit from the positive impact of football, routine and trusted support. RG4 FC Underdogs was created to provide a welcoming and supportive environment where men can improve both their fitness and mental health through football…Read More

Cutting Out Success

THE 2026 CAVERSHAM Arts Trail once again saw hundreds of ‘arts trailers’ visiting venues across Caversham, Emmer Green and Sonning Common over two weekends in May. With around 50 participants displaying their creativity, it was a feast for art lovers, and a great opportunity to chat with the artists about their work. Silhouettist, Charles Burns, decided to capture images of some of the visitors to his studio in Emmer Green in a concertina book (see above). Each silhouette was cut freehand with scissors in a couple of minutes. At the time he sent this photo, it was work in progress, with more silhouettes to add!…Read More

The 85th Royal Agricultural Show, Caversham

ONE HUNDRED years ago, the land between Caversham Park and the Henley Road was mostly farmland and an old gravel pit. But in the preparations for the Royal Agricultural Show from 6-10 July 1926, it was transformed into what the Reading Standard called a ‘monster prairie town of wood and canvas’. It covered 150 acres, with thousands of animals, several show rings, and nearly 500 exhibition stands, including Heelas, Jacksons and Suttons Seeds – whose exhibit included a Tudor-style pavilion, a bowling green and a croquet lawn. A popular exhibit was the Cottabunga – a three-bedroom prefabricated home manufactured by local company Browne & Lilly, and which was completely furnished, down to the last teaspoon, by Heelas, for a cost of 200 guineas…Read More

Roll of Honour

LAST YEAR Francis Serjeant, churchwarden of St Peter’s Church in Caversham, reported on the centenary of the construction of St Peter’s Lady Chapel as a memorial to those who died in the First World War. Inspired by this anniversary, Shirley Scola and I began to look more closely into the lives of the men who appear in the Roll of Honour. We began by consulting the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) website to identify as many as possible of the over 200 names. The information provided by the CWGC shows each person’s service number, regiment or ship, date of death, and site of burial or commemoration. Occasionally, there is additional information regarding the individual’s date of birth, and the name and address of a relative…Read More

For Your Bookshelf

MY CHILDREN’S BOOK pick is a baby board book, Astrophysics for Babies by Chris Ferrie and Julia Kregenow, PhD. This book is proof that you’re never too young to be introduced to big topics, and who knows, it could well be the start of a lifelong fascination for your baby. Ferrie and Kregenow are scientists with a passion for inspiring the very young, and their book helps with grasping the most fundamental aspects of astrophysics with bold, minimalistic and vibrant pictures.
For the adults, we have Five by Ilona Bannister, an exciting new novel published in May of this year. What’s special about this book is that all the action takes place between 07:01 and 07:06 on a seemingly ordinary weekday morning… but just how can five minutes fill 304 pages? Bannister’s narrative choice here is brilliant: we are told from the beginning that, at the end of those five minutes, one of five characters will be dead, but first we must meet them…Read More

Three Centenaries

ONE HUNDRED was the central theme for the Caversham and District Residents’ Association (CADRA) open meeting following their AGM on Tuesday 19 May, marking three centenaries. One hundred people were in Caversham Baptist Church to watch three newsreels from 1926 and Caversham 100 Years of History, produced in 2011. Nick Haskins, CADRA Chair explained CADRA’s involvement in helping to launch the new charity, Olly’s Work, as it seeks to promote hope and happiness and prevent hate and harm in our community. On the planning front, the CADRA team had just completed a substantial amount of work as a ‘Rule 6 party’ to the appeal for 70 houses in South Oxfordshire on Reading Golf Club land…Read More

Happy Wanderer looks back at Waite, Rose… and Taylor

IT SEEMS AS though the Waitrose supermarket in Caversham has been there for ever, and that it was built along with the rest of St Martin’s Precinct. In fact this is not the case; the supermarket opened in 1984 – the year I moved to Caversham. Now I would find it hard to imagine life without it. I live so near that I don’t need to keep much in the fridge or the freezer; Waitrose is my pantry, though I will occasionally venture into Iceland to see if I’m missing anything. Plans for the precinct were first submitted in 1964. They aroused some local opposition. There were already enough shops in Caversham, and more shops would mean more traffic congestion…Read More

Keeping out of cold water

SUMMER CAME early this year, with hot weather at the end of May. Sadly, there were reports from around the country of people who had drowned as they tried to keep cool. In Caversham, we are fortunate in having the beautiful River Thames and our riverside parks. There are also many former gravel pits. But the temptation to take a dip can have deadly consequences. The Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service (RBFRS) have specialist equipment and trained teams used for waterborne search and rescue operations. They have been reminding people to take care in and around the water.
The Be Water Aware Campaign, which RBFRS is supporting, reports 40% of people who accidentally drown in the UK had no intention of entering the water…Read More

Reptile spotted basking by Thames

THE MAY HEATWAVE enticed sunworshippers to enjoy relaxing by the riverside…leading to a rare sighting of a terrapin, which was spotted sunbathing on a secluded branch hanging over the Thames, close to Christchurch Bridge.
Although terrapins have been found in British rivers for some time now, when they are in the water, they are rarely recognised. The North American species, Trachemys scripta, was introduced to Britain following the release of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles films in the 1990s, when there was a fad for owning them as pets…Read More

Methodist Church Caversham Heights

JANINA MAHER’S drawing this month is of Caversham Heights Methodist Church, in a prominent position on the corner of Woodcote Road and Highmoor Road. It’s a distinctive red brick building with elements of Gothic architecture but also the unusual features such as the square windows along the nave and the polygonal tower which is asymmetrically sited on a corner – perhaps reflecting the architecture of…Read More

Three Cheers!

I HOPE dear reader you do not expect me to know everything about the horticultural world, because I hate to disillusion you, but I am not quite that brilliant. Sadly, my knowledge of shrubs is somewhat pathetic, and that is putting it mildly. Nevertheless, as age creeps remorselessly on, I am attempting to grow a few more shrubs, hopefully to lessen the workload. Thus, earlier in the year, when I noticed an advertisement in the Saturday newspaper, I decided that the shrubs on offer sounded good. They would, wouldn’t they, because that’s what adverts are meant to do, make you buy things.
Anyway, I purchased three Philadelphus, and I am really pleased I did…Read More

The soft fascination of being outdoors

RECENT RESEARCH shows that half of adults spend less than three hours a week outdoors, yet studies suggest more outdoor time could save the NHS over £2 billion a year, thanks to physical and mental benefits. Some benefits of ‘nature’ and the outdoors are obvious. Trees and plants cool down hot temperatures, reduce flooding, dampen traffic noise, and even filter out pollution. As for mental health, it’s much more than simply feeling calm after a walk. According to an RHS ‘wellbeing gardening’ book I found in the local Caversham bookshop, it largely comes down to attention restoration theory and how nature benefits our brains thanks to ‘soft fascination’…Read More

Meadow Day 4th July

ECONET IS holding its annual Meadows Day event at Clayfield Copse on 4 July this year. Join us between 10:30 and 13:30 to learn more about the plants and wildlife of meadows and of this special area.
We’ll have information stalls (with some live exhibits) about bees, bats, slow-worms, pollinators, fossils and minerals, environmental information and volunteering to support conservation work in the area…Read More

Eco Tip – At the car wash

AFTER RAIN, a rush of often sudsy water goes down my road, forms a widening lake at the end, enters a ditch and stream system, and ends up in the river. Most houses in Caversham will have the same, separate, systems for wastewaters. The foul sewerage is connected to a treatment works before discharge to river, and a network of roadside sewers or drains discharge to local freshwater systems without treatment. The storage volume in the roadside drainage system is often restricted by silt and leaves from pressure-washing driveways, and the water quality is reduced by detergents, oils, paints and occasional biocides added by householders and their contractors. My local ditch used to have a tangle of meadowsweet in summer and a range of aquatic invertebrates…Read More

Hands Up – 3C’s Cafe

ON MOST TUESDAYS, St John’s Church in Gosbrook Road becomes the Caversham Community Café – 3Cs. The café serves a range of coffees, teas and hot chocolate, as well as sweet snacks, toasted sandwiches and baked potatoes. It is run by a team of volunteers. The 3Cs was started up around 2013 under the Lower Caversham Community Partnership (LCCP). Setting up of the café included essential tables and chairs and a custom counter and cupboard for the coffee equipment. Reading-based Kingdom Coffee helped us with the coffee making side, supplying an espresso machine and barista training…Read More

A smart way to furnish

IF YOU NEED a new piece of furniture – a chair, table, bookcase or wardrobe – and you’re looking for something well-built and stylish, here’s a tip: take a trip to the Thames Valley Hospice Superstore and check out their collection marked ‘Home Studio’. These are household goods which have been donated to the charity in need of some minor repairs and benefitting from a lick of paint. Solidly built and unlikely to have started life as a flat pack, it’s a great place to acquire just what you need – whilst also supporting this invaluable charity…Read More

Is art good for you?

NEW RESEARCH from University College London1 shows people who engage in artistic pursuits of various kinds experience a slower pace of aging. The study even suggests the positive effect of having an active cultural life is akin to regular exercise. While this study does not prove a causal relationship, the researchers believe artistic and creative pursuits can have beneficial effects on many aspects of health, including lowering inflammation and protecting brain health. Studies like this are important because they remind us that health is not shaped by medicine alone, but by how we live, connect and engage with the world around us…Read More