Ensemble prepare for April concert

timber-framed building stood on the site. It was built over and remodelled in the early 18th Century, though the original was incorporated into the plans, of which the roof’s timber frame is evidence.

Hong Kong protest planned

READING Hong Kongers and their supporters will take part in a worldwide protest on Saturday, April 15.

APRIL DATE: The Whiteknights Ensemble will raise funds for First Days Children’s Charity at its next concert

POPULAR music group the Whiteknights Ensemble is charging ahead with a new sound to help raise funds for the First Days children’s charity.

The talented musicians are well known as a wind quartet sound but this latest concert will include a number of invited string players.

Since 2017, the Whiteknights, who are based in Earley, have raised more than £3,000 for a number of good causes.

Wokingham-based First Days aims to reduce the long term effect of poverty on children by equipping them with the essential items they need for their early years and at school.

This year marks the charity’s tenth anniversary and it now recycles 40 tonnes of donated baby essentials, school uniforms, equipment, furniture and toys to Berkshire families who need them the most.

Next month’s concert will include clarinettist Sarah Barrett, and a pianist, oboist Mildred Burchett-Vass, to perform four diverse pieces by Brahms, Finzi, Connesson and Hurd.

Sarah said: “I first heard the Brahms Clarinet Quintet live while at University. The richness of the sound of clarinet with strings and the passion of the music had me hooked and I’ve always wanted to perform it myself.”

Sarah will also be playing the fun-filled Disco Toccata by Guillaume Connesson with her cellist husband Chris. This is a piece that the pair discovered during lockdown, when they hugely missed being able to make music with their friends around Reading.

To provide even more woodwind loveliness, Whiteknights Ensemble oboist Mildred Burchett-Vass, and pianist John Sayer, will perform British composer Michael Hurd’s Concerto da Camera for oboe and orchestra.

Tickets are: £10 adults, £5 under-18s or students.

The concert takes place on Saturday, April 22 at 7pm, in the Main Hall, Michael Malnick Centre, Leighton Park School. n Full details at: www. whiteknightsensemble.org.uk

It was originally a private household, and associated with “significant families and figures” in Reading until around 1845 according to the Heritage Statement submitted as part of proposals.

A maltster from Henley by the name of Tyler Cleeter is the earliest recorded owner, in whose family name the property was registered for several generations.

In the centuries since, it has been the site of a saddler’s shop, a glass works, and has been used in the business of Reading Medical Society and Harris and Hewett, who brewed with the Victoria Brewery in nearby Chain Street.

It became a listed building in the late 1970s while it was under the ownership of the West Berkshire Health Authority, and has been disused since it was bought from them in 2004.

Current proposals to expand the Purple Turtle into the premises were submitted back in January, and Reading Borough Council has made public notice of the plans.

Public consultation is currently open, and will form part of the Planning Committee’s considerations.

The Purple Turtle has been contacted for comment.

Organisations across the country will be coordinating a silent protest, coordinating with those in the US, Canada, Taiwan, and Australia.

Reading will be one of nine locations in the UK taking part in the protest against a number of rights abuses and raise awareness of the Hong Kong 47.

It follows the arrest of 47 people in Hong Kong back in 2021, who had been detained up until the beginning of their trial in February this year.

They were arrested after organising or taking part in unofficial elections for a prodemocracy candidate in council elections, and subsequently charged with “conspiracy to commit subversion.”

Protesters are arguing that they were unlawfully detained and will be subject to an unfair trial without a jury.

They also allege that the Chinese Communist Party has breached the Joint Declaration between China and the UK through “crackdowns” on democracy and human rights.

A number of those arrested hold British National Overseas status, and several have family who are UK citizens.

The Silent Protest takes place in Broad Street, Reading, from 11am-noon on Saturday.

SEED TALKS is bringing neurodiversity into focus for its latest event at the University.

The Science of ADHD: Navigating Neurodiversity in a Neurotypical World will explore the rise in levels of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, or ADHD, in adults following the formal recognition of the condition.

Dr James Brown, co-founder of UK charity ADHDadultUK, will speak.

It takes place in the Edith Morely Lecture Theatre at the University of Reading, Whiteknights Campus, on Thursday, May 4, from 7pm. Tickets cost £12.80 via: www.eventbrite.co.uk.

Focus on the science of ADHD Cemetery tour

THE Centre for Heritage and Family History is offering a tour of Reading’s Old Cemetery on Tuesday, April 25, at 2pm.

Liz Tait will guide participants through the cemetery at Cemetery Junction in East Reading, providing insight into its origins and the famous and not-so-famous people interred there.

Pre-booking is essential due to limited numbers. Places cost £5, or £4 for members of the Berkshire Family History Society.

n For more details, log on to: berksfhs.org