Tofu & Vegetables Noodle Pot
After our first foray for shopping at Fidget & Bob on Kennet Island we decided that we should try out their noodle pots. Three flavours are available and we have now tried all of them. Our two favourites are Won Ton Dumplings and Tofu & Vegetables especially with extra chilli.
Fidget & Bob behind the Kennet Island water feature
Unlike some of our fellow Whitley Pump contributors, we have been a bit slow to visit Fidget & Bob at Kennet Plaza. It is on one of several possible routes to or from the Madejksi Stadium and we have usually rushed past in the blur of getting to the game on time. It was time to drop by; we need our local businesses more than ever in these times of social distancing and lockdown.
Surplus food at the Whitley Community Development Association
Supermarkets Marks and Spencer, Morrisons and Aldi and wholesaler Bidfood are now donating their unsold produce to the Whitley Community Development Association (WCDA) at 252 Northumberland Avenue in Whitley, Reading. The food is available for free; this is not a formal food bank, so neither social services nor any charity has to refer anyone. People do not have to fill out any forms or identify themselves to take the food they can use.
The Fringe team with Simon HARTMANN and Daniel Ernesto MUELLER (third and fourth from left)
The Reading Fringe Festival 2020 is open for applications from performers. This year’s festival will take place from Friday 17 July to Sunday 27 July.
Coley pedestrian bridge over the IDR
Graham Turner presented a film about the route of the Inner Distribution Road (IDR) before it was built, at the History of Reading Society (HoRS) on 15 January. The venue, the Abbey Baptist Church, was almost full and the audience were entranced as changing scenes of the streets of Reading in the 1960s and 70s appeared before their eyes.
Parade of shops on Christchurch Road
Northcourt Avenue Residents’ Association (NARA) chair Simone Illger told Reading Borough Council (RBC) that the Christchurch Green in Reading was being “devastated” by unsympathetic development, at the planning applications committee on 15 January. RBC nonetheless approved the change of use of the ground floor 60 Christchurch Road from a dry cleaners into a restaurant, saying that their own local plan didn’t allow them to choose otherwise.
Reading Borough Council (RBC) have refused permission for two giant illuminated LED advertisement hoardings on Whitley Street and the Basingstoke and Surrey Road junctions. These would have replaced the existing hoardings, both of which until recently were non-illuminated.
Entrance to Waterloo Meadows allotments
Reading Borough Council (RBC) will carry out a statutory consultation on the introduction of double yellow lines at the entrance to Waterloo Meadows allotments and the Makro delivery entrance on Elgar Road South. The proposals were among additional waiting restrictions proposed at the council’s Traffic Management sub-committee on 9 January.
The MERL’s new yarn bomb
Thank you to all our readers and regular and occasional contributors for making it a wonderful year on Katesgrove Hill. We hope that you continue to enjoy reading or contributing to the Whitley Pump in 2020.
There are certain places in Katesgrove where rubbish likes to congregate. We continually pass the same spots blighted by dumped rubbish and fly-tipping on our daily routes to work, shops and schools, or just going out .
The Age UK charity shop on Whitley Street, currently sporting a festive window display, will be open until about 12 noon on Christmas Eve. It will be closed on Christmas Day and Boxing Day and re-open on 27 December.
Reading’s Alzheimer’s Society (AS) on London Street is recruiting more volunteers to help with their Side by Side service. This service aims to combat social isolation by pairing a volunteer with someone with dementia.
There were five new planning applications in south Reading this week. They may be discussed at one of the next Reading Borough Council planning applications committees.
Christchurch Road parade, Reading
I’ve occupied my present home in Northcourt Avenue, Reading for 30 years, but I’ve lived in the Whitley area my whole life. In that time, I’ve witnessed a lot of change as Reading has grown and the number of people living and working in the town has followed suit. Traffic and parking issues appear to be an inevitable part of this growth.
There were eight new planning applications in south Reading this week. They may be discussed at one of the next Reading Borough Council planning applications committees.
There were 17 new planning applications in south Reading this week. They may be discussed at one of the next Reading Borough Council planning applications committees.
Matt Rodda, Labour MP for Reading East and shadow minister for transport (buses), took part in the Active Travel debate in Parliament on 9 July. The Whitley Pump called “house!” at the end of his speech, having completed at least one line in any direction as well as all four corners of our political buzzword bingo card, with a bonus prize for the mention of Reading.
The Flyover on 28 May 2019
Reading Borough Council will start repairs on the Inner Distribution Road (IDR) flyover crash barriers on Monday 8 July. A Parcelforce lorry broke through the barriers in May and landed on the Oracle roundabout at the bottom of Southampton Street.
The Reading Fringe Festival programme 2019 is out and there are lots of events south of the IDR, including those at the new-to-the-fringe venue, the After Dark club on London Street. Other local venues are the Rising Sun Arts Centre, South Street Arts Centre, Reading International Solidarity Centre (RISC) and the Museum of English Rural Life (MERL).
Reading Kindness Rock at the Tank
Have you seen painted stones appearing in random places in Katesgrove and wondered what they were?
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