All too real – but there is hope
DURING THE early part of June, there were two showings in Caversham of a film about the climate and nature crisis.
Introduced by Chris Packham, The National Emergency Briefing presented the views of leading experts to inform viewers of the threats posed to all aspects of British life by our changing climate, from national security to food supply. Crucially, the presentations included information about solutions, including what we can do as individuals. This all seems too real, as I am writing this just over a week later in the middle of a heat wave which has seen local shops close and rail services disrupted…Read More
So much to do…so many cakes to eat!
FLEET STREET hacks of old used to bemoan the ‘silly season’ – those slow/no news days of summer…Send them all to Caversham, we say, where there is plenty going on and so much to celebrate!
While nationally Manchester has been much in the news, we now have a ‘Caversham connection’, in that a group of intrepid local parents led by Nick Clark organised a 200-mile bike ride from that northern city to Caversham, as a fund-raiser for The Heights school (p11). Meanwhile, The Hill Primary has been celebrating its 75th anniversary, with a report (p11) by Phil Chatfield who fondly remembers attending the school’s 50th festivities! Even older, it appears is the 22nd Reading Scouts, who meet behind St John the Baptist Church in Gosbrook Road, and has been serving the community for more than 100 years. Offering the scouting experience to children from the ages of 4 – 14, they are always in need of volunteers. Our Hands Up feature outlines the kind of help needed …Read More
Tea and cake in the gardens
ONE OF THE many pleasures of Caversham is the choice of dining places, with multiple restaurants, cafés, and pubs on the menu. While not all of us regularly dine out, thanks to limited time, money, or access, we still probably have favourite spots when we do. Caversham’s mix of longstanding and newer options to try cover everything from independent restaurants and coffee shops to bakeries and takeaways, from British, Italian and Spanish to Thai, Greek, and more.
Indeed, there are so many options it seems long overdue to write about a food trail here, and I’m prepared to make that sacrifice and take one for the team by visiting a few. And if we were to design a Caversham food trail, the hardest question to answer might be: where to begin?…Read More
Caversham artist creates huge impact for charity
SINCE 13 JULY THERE has been a spectacular sight transforming the streets, parks, open spaces, and even car parks of Windsor, Eton and Slough, as Thames Hospice has unveiled its very first art trail with a massive herd of painted elephants, large and small. Artists, school children and community groups from across the country applied to design and paint the elephants, and among those successful was Caversham’s very own Nina O’Connell. “I am the only artist in Caversham to be picked to be involved in the project,” Nina told us…Read More
75 years of music-making
DESPITE THE hot weather, the 75th Anniversary Celebration Concert by the South Chiltern Choral Society on Saturday 27 June was a great success. A large and appreciative audience gathered in Caversham Heights Methodist Church to enjoy a programme of music which culminated in a performance of Karl Jenkins’ The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace…Read More
St John’s Church Celebrations
THE REVD Penny Cuthbert celebrated the tenth anniversary of her licensing as Transition Minister at St John’s in June. At the beginning of June 2016, she was licenced in the role by the Bishop of Reading, Andrew Proud. She later took on her current position of Associate Vicar. St John’s congregation marked this milestone with a presentation of gifts, with a photo reel backdrop of special moments from the last ten years. The Church Leadership Team led prayers of thanks for Penny’s ministry and, after the service, we enjoyed cake and bubbly…Read More
Age Related Macular Degeneration – AMD
HELLO, HOW is your macular today? If you do not know what I am talking about, it’s probably good, because it means your eyes are working well. If you have been diagnosed with AMD (Age related Macular Degeneration), you will know all too well the symptoms of lamp posts which bend, lines of print which wobble and waver or have gaps in them, blurry television, and faces which you don’t recognise…Read More
Ministers retreat in order to go forward
MINISTERS FROM Churches Together in Caversham held their annual retreat in June spending three days in rural Oxfordshire, praying and studying together. Falling during the second heatwave of the summer, we were thankful to be on retreat, away from our normal schedules. Not that being on retreat is necessarily about doing nothing, but certainly doing less rushing about.
Our study and reflection were framed around Bishop Steven Croft’s book Comfortable Words. We were surprised to learn how the meaning of the word ‘comfort’ has changed down the centuries…Read More
For your bookshelf
Welcome to Fourbears Books reviews, where we pick two books that we have enjoyed recently.
FIRST UP is Will Carver’s Bad Influence. Regular customers and readers will know we have been a huge fan of Will Carver since his first book, Good Samaritans. Will has a new book out, Bad Influence, and it still has his quirky trademark style and approach and, although the subject matter is still a little creepy, Will has applied a gentler style to his work. Bad Influence is probably one of Will’s more commercial offerings, where he plays by the ‘novel writing rules’ a little more. Bad Influence is about Alyssa, poor and desperate to be famous, and Less, rich and creative…Read More
In the News – Fourbears Books
PENGUIN BOOKS asked seven of their authors to recommend their favourite, must-visit independent book shop to mark Independent Bookshop week in June this year. And our own Fourbears Books made the list!…Read More
Number 22 bus
HIGHDOWN SCHOOL hosted a packed public meeting on 6 June to discuss the proposed ending of the number 22 – Pink – bus serving Caversham Heights.
This was the only available hall which could take the 140 people attending. The meeting was arranged by Matt Rodda MP and paid for by Parliament. It was a public meeting, not party political. It was also live streamed for those who could not attend in person after discussion with residents…Read More
Happy Wanderer gets hooked on Burdock
DID YOU ever, as a child, play with the burs or seed-heads of the burdock plant? They’re covered in tiny hooks. Where I grew up, we called them sticky bobs, and played at throwing them at one another, as a kind of competition, but sometimes we threw them when our friends weren’t looking. Perhaps these games wouldn’t work so well these days when people wear garments made from man-made fibres but, in the past, we wore outer garments of wool. Of course, the purpose of the tiny hooks was to make them latch on to the coats of passing animals and for the seeds to be transported to new sites which would prove a suitable new habitat for the plant.
In other parts of the country, burdock went by other names. In his book, ‘The Englishman’s Flora’, Geoffrey Grigson lists more than 50 different English names for burdock…Read More
A special business
GARDINER’S HOMECARE has been at the heart of the local community since it was established by Dorothy Gardiner MBE in 1968. Since then, hundreds of local people have either worked for them or received care from their staff. I met with new owner, Simon Mahoney, to find out more about his plans for the company.
Owning a homecare business might not appear to be an obvious choice for an Oxford classics graduate who set up a successful data management company. But Simon sold this in 2021 and started looking for something he felt would be worthwhile. His mother was a nurse and midwife, and his aunt ran a special needs school in Ireland. He said, “I was exposed to a lot of care as a child”. He brought Pangbourne based Q1 Care, which was a small first step, but it took a challenging first year to stabilise the company. It had a good customer base and great carers (he was pleased to say most were still with the company) but was too small to be viable…Read More
Seven on the run
SEVEN CAVERSHAM dads took part in Endure24 at Wasing Estate near Reading early in June. Often described by participants as the ‘Glastonbury of running’, Endure24 is one of the UK’s largest 24-hour relay events, attracting thousands of runners from across the country. Teams camp on site and, from midday on Saturday until midday on Sunday, attempt to complete as many laps as possible of an 8km trail course through woodland, fields and parkland…Read More