Reading Blog Cityvisitor.co.uk blog

Official buildings in Reading have gone solar.

Generous donors have been praised for helping a charity reach a record-breaking milestone of £1 million.

Football fans are on cloud nine after Reading Football Club was promoted to the Premier League after four years away.

The University of Reading has gained good grades in an independent league table.

Savvy mum Maria Oliveira knew how to start up her new shoe design business – she created a catwalk on ice. The mum, from Lower Earley, came up with the novel way of promoting her first collection of shoes because she is such a big fan of ice hockey.

Reading Festival audiences have been thanked for their generosity, after 800 food parcels were handed out at Christmas. Crowds were asked to donate any leftover non-perishable food and drink items at the end of the festival in August 2011, to go towards needy residents in the borough at Christmas.

Royals players made 10-year-old fan Matthew Pike’s Christmas when they visited him for a second year in a row in hospital. Matthew, who is a big fan of the Reading football team, is being treated for leukaemia and met the players during their visit to the Royal Berkshire Hospital children’s ward.

Five people from the Reading area were named in the New Year’s Honours List. Prof Dianne Berry, 56, of Steeple Walk, Lower Earley, has been awarded an OBE for her work as director of postgraduate research studies and researcher development at The University of Reading.

A health worker has been nominated by her daughter for a Pride of Reading Award.

IT professionals are planning to swap their laptops for sleeping bags for the night in an annual event to raise money for the young homeless.