Heritage Talks Series
This all series ticket covers all three talks in the “Heritage” Talks series, for the discounted price of £12.50 (members £10). You may also book each talk individually – see each separate event page. All talks are on Thursdays at 2.30pm. The venue is the Abbey Baptist Church, Abbey Square, Reading (next to the back of Reading Central Library). They last about an hour with time for questions and discussion afterwards. Tea, coffee and biscuits is included in the price.
Thursday 15 January 2026 – The story of Woodley Aerodrome with Dr Richard Marks
From Grass Runways to Aviation Legends. Join us for a captivating journey into the skies as we explore the remarkable history of Woodley Aerodrome. Once a quiet field, later a powerhouse of British aviation. Discover how this Berkshire airfield became home to Miles Aircraft, trained wartime pilots, and even hosted secretive test flights that shaped the future of flight.Â
Thursday 19 February 2026 – Reading Buses with Dave Hall
This photo-rich talk will look at Reading Corporation’s motorbus services from their introduction in December 1919 up to the turn of the century at the end of 1999. We will see how the design of the vehicles progressed. From the days when Reading Corporation bodied their own vehicles to the more modern up to date fleet. The growth of the town and the many routes that were introduced over the years will also be covered with many nostalgic photos documenting the story.Â
Thursday 19 March 2026 – Signs of the Times: Reading’s Memorials with Malcolm Summers
The stories behind Reading’s memorials bring the people and events of Reading’s past to life. This talk will describe aspects of the town’s history by considering some of its, often not well known, plaques, statues, and monuments. Even the better-known memorials have secrets to yield in the tales of their origins.
Find out more in these fascinating face-to-face talks.Â
Pre-booking is preferred, but you can pay on the door for this series ticket at the first talk, if there are spaces available. Â
Image: Pathway through Reading Abbey, Ethan Doyle White, CC-BY-SA-4.0 (cropped)
Scroll down to book.
Date
- Thu 15 Jan 2026
Tickets
- £12.50
Location
- Abbey Square, Reading RG1 3BE
Category
Organiser
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The Centre - Berkshire FHS
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Email
booking@berksfhs.org.uk -
Website
https://berksfhs.org/branches/
Speakers
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Dr Richard MarksIndustrial, Military and Railway HistorianRichard is a published historian based in Berkshire who specialises in industrial, military, and railway history and also the history of science. His current areas of research are industrial development in the Victorian period, the development of the railway and canal systems in Britain in the mid to late 19th Century and the history of British Rail. He has a PhD in economic history. Richard’s books on British Rail Engineering and the Wantage Tramway Company were both both published by Pen and Sword in 2024.
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Malcolm SummersMalcolm Summers is a retired maths teacher and Deputy Head. Originally from Birmingham, he has lived in Reading for forty years, and is married with two grown up children. He wrote “History of Greyfriars Church, Reading” in 2013, and “Reading’s Grey Friars” in 2020. The latter book describes the Franciscan friary from 1233 to 1538, while the former book tells the story of the friary’s sole visible remains. In 2019, Two Rivers Press published his book “Signs of the Times: Reading’s Memorials”. Malcolm has also written two biographies: “Henry George Willink” (after whom the school in Burghfield Common is named) and “Nicolas Appert”, the French inventor of the process of preserving food by canning (and who is also his wife’s great great great great grandfather). He is researching and writing a biography of Thomas Noon Talfourd.
Malcolm has been a member of Greyfriars Church since 1981, and is currently its PCC secretary. He is also the treasurer of the History of Reading Society and of Kisiizi Partners, a UK Charity that supports a Hospital and community in south west Uganda.
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Dave Hall