{"id":616,"date":"2026-01-13T18:41:54","date_gmt":"2026-01-13T18:41:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bradfieldhistoricalsociety.org\/?p=616"},"modified":"2026-08-07T14:01:23","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T13:01:23","slug":"29th-june-2026-more-than-beer-bulbs-and-biscuits-readings-other-industries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bradfieldhistoricalsociety.org\/?p=616","title":{"rendered":"29th June 2026 &#8211; More than Beer, Bulbs and biscuits &#8211; Reading&#8217;s other Industries"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h1 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center add-remove-bottom-space has-larger-font-size\" style=\"text-transform:none\">More than Beer, Bulbs and<br>Biscuits \u2013 Reading\u2019s Other<br>Industries<\/h1>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center add-remove-bottom-space has-large-font-size\" style=\"text-transform:none\">Speaker: Jo alexander-Jones<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center add-remove-bottom-space\">Monday 29th June 2026<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">(Doors open from 7:00pm)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-9d6595d7 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-center is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:40%\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"164\" height=\"123\" src=\"https:\/\/bradfieldhistoricalsociety.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/placeholder.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-265\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-center is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>While Reading is rightly renowned for its baking, brewing and seed businesses, the town had many lesser-known industries that brought with them prosperity and, just as importantly, jobs for the wider population. In a time when most companies were privately owned, we will explore four of these companies and the people who owned them \u2013 Huntley, Boorne &amp; Stevens (iron and tinsmiths), The Reading Ironworks, Poulton (brickworks) and Serpells (biscuit manufacturers).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jo Alexander-Jones has a passion for local history and especially our industrial heritage. She is active with the Berkshire Industrial Archaeology Group, The History of Reading Society, Berkshire Local History Association and Reading Civic Society.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-9d6595d7 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center add-remove-bottom-space\">Bradfield Cricket Club Pavilion,<br> Heath Road, Bradfield Southend, RG7 6HH<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">(Car Parking Available)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">There is no entry fee, but a donation of \u00a34 per person towards expenses would be appreciated. No advance booking required.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:0px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">Organised by Professor Martin Parsons, Dorcas Ward, Bob Lyon, Chris Curry, Barnaby Bucknall and Gordon Patterson. For further information, contact Gordon on 07764 476361 or <a href=\"mailto:gnpatterson@btconnect.com\">gnpatterson@btconnect.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>More than Beer, Bulbs andBiscuits \u2013 Reading\u2019s OtherIndustries Speaker: Jo alexander-Jones Monday 29th June 2026 (Doors open from 7:00pm) While Reading is rightly renowned for<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":265,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-616","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pastevent"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/bradfieldhistoricalsociety.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/placeholder.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bradfieldhistoricalsociety.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/616","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bradfieldhistoricalsociety.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bradfieldhistoricalsociety.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bradfieldhistoricalsociety.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bradfieldhistoricalsociety.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=616"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/bradfieldhistoricalsociety.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/616\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":627,"href":"https:\/\/bradfieldhistoricalsociety.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/616\/revisions\/627"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bradfieldhistoricalsociety.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/265"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bradfieldhistoricalsociety.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=616"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bradfieldhistoricalsociety.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=616"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bradfieldhistoricalsociety.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=616"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}