STAR News

Wendy Cheer Unveils Plaque to Commemorate Opening
of the Garden of Remembrance

Tony Cheer had been a Reading FC supporter for about 60 years.  Tony was a fan of Reading since he was a little boy, in fact his first match was with his father at the age of 3.  On the 1^st January 2003 Tony was walking up to the stadium to watch the football match Reading v Leicester City, when he suddenly collapsed and died.  It was a terrible shock to his family and all that knew him.  Since that day his wife Wendy had wanted to have something at the ground to remember Tony.  It wasn’t until April 2011 when Wendy attended the official opening of the Garden of Remembrance by Sir John Madejski that she asked me if there was anything she could donate for the garden.  It was several days later when I realised that we had not marked the opening with a plaque.  When I suggested this to Wendy she was really pleased with the idea.  Finding a supplier to produce the plaque we wanted proved very difficult so after many weeks we decided to find craftsmen that could make different parts of the plaque.  The end result was worth waiting for. 

The plaque was finally unveiled on Friday 2^nd December 2011 by Wendy.  With Wendy were her family, Dr Alan Budd who was the Reading FC doctor who attended Tony when he collapsed, Reading FC Chaplain Steve Prince and members of the pastoral team.  Wendy said “I have waited 8 years for this moment and the Garden is such a fitting place to have the commemorative plaque”.

Above right, from left to right, Wendy’s son and daughter, Gary and Michele, Wendy, Barbara (Tony’s sister) and Dr Alan Budd.  

Autumn Reading Matter - Did You Receive Your Copy?

Did you receive your Autumn copy of Reading Matter? The Autumn issue includes the Fans' Forum with Brian McDermott from August and an interview carried out with Brian as well as other articles on the new Memorial Wall at the Mad Stad, our AGM and the Lifetime Membership Awards.

Reading Matter is available to members by download or for reading in book form online and details are sent to the email address registered at the time of their application. For those members without email, a printed copy is sent to their home address. 

As with our regular EStar email circulations, some of you may not have been received due to spam blocks or full mailboxes (especially the web based accounts such as Hotmail and Aol) or you may have simply changed your email address and not let us know. To maintain an efficient email service we regularly check undelivered addresses and remove those that are repeatedly returned as no longer available. If you are not receiving your EStar circulations or the recent Reading Matter and have checked your 'spam box' (all circulations are sent using e-star@star-reading.org so if you add this as a 'friendly' email) or if you change your email address, please let us know at info@star-reading.org.

Memorial Wall Completed

Following our trip to the Somme at the end of last season STAR felt we needed a more permanent memorial to Reading players who gave their lives for their country. As a result there is now a brick and marble panel  in the wall at the corner of the South Stand of the Madejski Stadium. These bricks display the names of the 9 Reading players killed in World War I and the 3 Reading players killed in World War II. Take a look next time you visit the ground.

Pictured are Carol Bucknell, Darel Melhuish and Gail Lowes with the bricks that bear the names of their relations before being placed in the wall. 

You can read more details on the RFC players in the Footballers Batallion, view photographs and a video of the trip on our RFC Heritage page.

Reading Museum - Our Sporting Life - Appeal To STAR Members

STAR is working with Reading Museum on a major exhibition called ‘Bikes, Balls and Biscuitmen - Our Sporting Lives’ which will run from May to December 2012 – the year of the Olympics.  The exhibition will feature many sports and football in Reading will play an important part within it.

In order to give freshness and interest to the displays the Museum is seeking the loan of Reading FC-related objects for the duration of the exhibition and is asking supporters, via STAR, if they can help out.

We’re particularly interested in items that relate to the following periods which are likely to be featured in the exhibition:

-  The mid 1920s when Reading were first promoted and reached the FA Cup semi-final
-  The 1939-45 war years when Reading won the London War Cup
-  The attempted take-over by Robert Maxwell in 1983
-  The Simod Cup run and final in 1988
-  The ‘106’ team, the Championship and first season in the Premier League 2005-06 and 2006-07

But 3-D unusual items (trophies, regalia, shirts, souvenirs) from any era would be of interest too.  So if you’ve got something from grand-dad’s cupboard that hasn’t seen the light of day for decades here’s the chance to share it with your fellow supporters.

All items will be curated under strict security at Reading Museum and returned to owners at the end of the exhibition in December 2012.  If you can help please contact STAR by calling into the STAR Base on a matchday or email us on info@star-reading.org or go direct to Stuart Kennedy at Reading Museum on 0118 937 3057 or  email to Stuart.Kennedy@reading.gov.uk

Free match Day Parking At Welcome Break Services

Once again this season STAR Exiles co-ordinator Trevor Mossman has negotiated FREE matchday parking (usually £8) for any STAR members at all UK Welcome Break Service Stations. This can be useful for those many supporters who live outside the area who may choose to meet others at a Welcome Break service area and travel to the match together.

You can download information on the Welcome Break parking here.

The parking permit can be downloaded here.