How To Join
On this page
How Do I Join?
If you live in or around Reading and would like to join Reading Valley, you can email Cheryl or phone her on 0118 988 8973. We have members and friends who live in Earley, Lower Earley, Tilehurst, Shinfield, Woodley, Winnersh, Wokingham, Caversham and Mytchett.
Alternatively, if you prefer a group that meets on a Monday, you can email Kate or phone her on 07803 576555. Reading Circle have members in Reading and Tilehurst.
Kate can also provide information about the other nearby local circles in Ascot, Basingstoke Alençon, High Wycombe, Maidenhead, Marlow, Newbury, Twyford, Wantage, and Wokingham, or you can visit The Area 13 website to find individual contact details.
You can also visit the website of The National Association of Ladies Circles.
For the chaps, there is of course The National Association of Round Tables.
Will I Fit In?
If you have ever done any of the following you will have something in common with one of us:
- Taken part in a Charity Fun Run.
- Discovered that you like champagne.
- Signed up for an apprenticeship as an electrician.
- Breezed into Harrods carrying a balloon and a bucket and spade.
- Been depressed.
- Successfully organised a large social event.
- Wished you had a boyfriend.
- Welcomed guests into your home only to be mortified when one of them points out the Ribena stain on your ceiling.
- Eaten M+Ms by the handful.
- Looked in the mirror and thought 'I look fat'.
- Had people in your lounge dancing to 'Sounds from the Seventies'.
- Found clothes in the back of the wardrobe which you gave up wearing years ago because they didn't fit but now they do because you have successfully lost weight.
- Held a post on an important committee.
- Been nervous about standing up and addressing a room full of people.
- Gone back to work after having a child.
- Had to deal with a serious accident, illness or death of a loved one.
- Pranced into a room full of men while wearing fishnet tights, Reading football kit and a wig.
- Delivered an address to a room full of people in French.
- Moved to a new area and thought 'I don't know anybody'.
- Had such a good time at a party that you have sunk into a drunken haze by the time pudding arrives. ('You mean there was pudding?')
- Had to cope with marital breakup.
- Lived in an area all your life and thought 'I don't know anybody'.
- Got lost in Reading's one way system.
- Been kidnapped by your friends and taken for a day of luxury in a health club.
- Been 'The Wicked Step-Mother'.
- Needed an excuse to buy a hat (and then found the perfect one in the Oxfam shop).
- Given blood. (and then thrown up and passed out. You had to be there).
- Worried about telling your husband you're going to meet a bunch of mad women you found on the internet.
How Much Does It Cost?
Each year members pay approximately £60 which includes the National Capitation fees.
At each meeting we usually contribute £6.00 towards the cost of the food and drink. This covers the Host's expenses. We often have a raffle, and also collect 20p fines for silly things as a way to boost the money raised for Charity. From time to time people are asked to donate a small raffle prize.
If you are lucky enough to be voted Chairman you get a free year of Circling, the idea being that the Chairman should be able to attend every function without worrying about not being able to afford it.