NEWSLETTER                                     AUTUMN 2011

You are invited to the

Annual General Meeting

of the Friends of Reading Abbey
on
Saturday 29th October 2011
at 2.30pm
(doors open at 2pm)
in the
Silverthorne Room of Reading Town Hall, Blagrave Street.
(Please see the Agenda below)

The AGM will be followed by a talk
by our Chairman
Julia Boorman
on the Medieval Chapels of Reading & Caversham

Agenda for Annual General Meeting

1. Welcome and Apologies for Absence
2. Minutes of the last Annual General Meeting of 30th October 2010
3. Matters Arising from the Minutes
4. Chairman's Report
5. Treasurer's Report
                                           As noted at the AGM of 30/10/2010 the members are                                                               asked to approve the raising of the Life Membership                                                                rate from £50 to £75 per annum
6. Secretary's Report
7. Election of Officers and Committee members
8. A.O.B.

Our Chairman reports
Since our last newsletter, the Abbey Ruins Stabilisation Project has been given a completely new focus by the plans, supported by all parties, to develop an ‘Abbey Quarter’ in Reading. Rather than just address the conservation needs, the idea is to put in a bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund for a project which ‘has the potential to make a real difference to the town centre, creating an even more welcoming and inviting environment for people to visit, and contributing to our aspiration to drive up civic pride’, in the words of Councillor Andrew Cumpsty, Leader of RBC, in the Media Release of 30/3/11. The ‘Abbey Quarter’ is approximately the area of the original abbey precinct and the project would not only encompass several conservation projects - such as the ruins themselves, the abbey gateway, the wall round St Laurence’s churchyard - but also a range of other things including the transformation of Reading Museum so it could be an orientation point for the Abbey Quarter with in-depth information, improved street and directional signs, and education, training and community participation aspects. This all chimes in well with points made by FORA over the years, and fits very well with the five key suggestions outlined in the last newsletter which have been forwarded to Reading Museum (no adverse comment having been made on them by any FORA members!) and the Museum would be happy to meet a FORA group to take ideas further. The Federation of Cluniac Sites people have said that they wish to visit Reading - this is currently on hold (one of those hoping to come has broken his foot) but there should be more information forthcoming on this, perhaps by the time of our AGM. The next meeting of the renamed ‘Abbey Quarter Board’ is this month, so there will be certainly be more to report from that at the AGM.

Dr. Tony Freeman explaining the ruins of Lewes Priory to the Friends of Reading Abbey

Despite the unpromising forecast of inclement weather 15 members of the Friends of Reading Abbey assembled at the Rivermead Leisure Centre and travelled in comfort in a coach provided by Stewarts of Mortimer to Lewes in East Sussex. Arriving in light rain we were greeted by Dr. Anthony Freeman outside St. John's Church, Southover where we began our tour in Gundrada's Chapel. This chapel though 19th Century in date contains the remarkable sarcophagus of the foundress of the Priory. The Church had been part of the hospice facilities of the Priory and from there we proceeded to the Priory Ruins themselves. Dr. Freeman gave us a truly fascinating, engaging and full description of the ruins and the work that has been undertaken by the Lewes Priory Trust to enable visitors to enjoy and interpret them. The ruins are similar to those of Reading Abbey albeit missing a substantial amount due to the predations of the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway Company who drove their line from Brighton to Lewes right through the remains of the Priory Church! We were privileged to have Dr. Freeman's erudition at our disposal for three and a half hours and were fortunate that the weather that had threatened to spoil our trip relented. The afternoon was free for us to explore the historic County Town of East Sussex and the sun even made a brief, but welcome appearance. As we settled back into the coach and the driver pulled out to negotiate the narrow lanes of the town the rain came and accompanied us all the way back to Reading where it stopped just before we regained the Leisure Centre