What's On
Our Sporting Life - Reading
12 May 2012 to 28 Oct 2012
NOW OPEN! Cheering on Reading at the Madejski Stadium,
running in Palmer Park or watching Anne Packer surge to Olympic
gold on television in 1964 - sport gives many of us great
enjoyment.
Reading Museum will host "Bikes, Balls and Biscuitmen - Our
Sporting Life" exhibition from 12th May to
28th October 2012 in the Sir John Madejski Art Gallery.
The exhibition examines the wide-ranging sporting life of Reading
and will also cover the Olympic Games.
The Museum has worked with local clubs and stars to produce an
exhibition that examines the wide-ranging sporting life of Reading.
From Olympic gold medals to sports club trophies, a sculling boat
or pre-war bikes, there will be something to inspire everyone.
The exhibition provides an opportunity for Reading's sporting
communities to join the Museum in celebrating the story of local
'sporting lives' through stories, objects and photographs. It is
unique to Reading, and features a huge variety of sporting
activities linked to clubs, societies, schools, local personalities
and unsung heroes. Local people and sports organisations have been
working with us to create these displays by putting forward their
objects and memories to tell the story of sport in Reading from
grass roots to Olympic podia.
The exhibition includes stories from all kinds of sports, for
example: swimming, running, rowing, cycling, motorsports, martial
arts, snooker, hockey, and of course football, rugby and cricket.
Did you know the first British triathlon took place in Reading,
that there was a cycle race on the IDR before it opened, that the
West Indies played Berkshire in a charity cricket match at
Kensington Road, or that championship-winning go-karts were built
in the town? These are just some of the many sporting stories to
discover in Bikes, Balls & Biscuitmen - Our Sporting Life. You
may be surprised to find out just how many world-famous sports
personalities began their careers in Reading!
Highlights on display include a torch from the 1948 Olympic
Torch Relay through Reading and on of the last go-karts made by
Barlotti.
You can keep up to date with all the latest news and events by
becoming a fan of our exhibition
facebook page.
Our exhibition will complement a display on rural sports being
developed by the Museum of English Rural Life.
Reading Museum,
Blagrave Street,
Reading,
Berkshire
RG1 1QH