AUGUST was yet another month of summer celebration throughout the town, with Reading Mela, Here Comes The Sun, The Carnival of the World, and Reading Festival all taking place in the searing heat.
Reading Mela, the annual south Asian festival, returned to Palmer Park on Sunday, August 7, with headliners Hunterz, Sonia Chohan, H Dhami, Amrit Saab, Vish, and Sonia Walla.
A celebration of the culture, music, and art of south Asia, it featured live bands, dance performances, activities, and events.
Among those on show were the Haji Ameer Khan Brothers, who performed Qawwali, a type of religious devotional singing.
Joining them were Compound Radius, an alternative rock duo hailing from London, The Rajasthan Heritage Brass Band, and Shoonya.
The stage was also lit up with dance sequences from the Kalakunj Bharatnatyam Group, the Drishhti Kathak Group, the Rachel Bennette School of Belly Dancing, My Dance Land, and Yoga Natyam.
Street dance, Bollywood, Bhangra, belly dance, and classical dance were all shown in demonstrations.
Here Comes The Sun finally came back after a two-year hiatus on Saturday, August 6, returning to its home of the Rising Sun Arts Centre to shine on audiences once again.
This year’s festival was once again packed with live music and entertainment, all raising vital funds to support the venue.
Among this year’s offerings were the Rising Sun Drag Showcase, led by Reading drag royalty Big Jay, the Dreading Poetry Slam Poets, folk musician Jamie Larbalestier, Jen Berkova, and Ellis Ballard.
Damien Passmore, one of the organisers, said: “It’s a real team effort and we did have to pick up a little bit more this year.
“This was the most diverse lineup we’ve ever had, which is always a challenge to find performers outside of your usual,
“Everybody loved steel percussion orchestra, which was just the perfect sound to be drifting out in the sunshine, and The Mark II also really brought the party atmosphere, so it felt like everybody just had the best time.”
Jamie Larbalestier, who performed at the Tree stage, said: “There was a lovely ambience to the whole thing–it’s the kind of place where wherever you go you’ll find someone doing something interesting and fun.
“My highlights would be watching Aden Pearce’s last-minute set, including a banging tribute to Lee Switzer-Woolf, who couldn’t make it due to COVID.
“Dakorra were great, as well– it was good to finally see them live– I’d play every year if they let me.”
The Carnival of the World brought influences from across the globe, celebrating culture, arts, music, dance, and performance of all kinds, as well as food and activities.
Through EKO, the 4m-high giant of the sea puppet, the story of Out of the Deep Blue was told, along with a dancer playing the part of Violet.
As well as EKO, crowds were treated tom performances from OSP, Kayda May, and Julia Tituts, who compered
The Reading All Steel Percussion Orchestra performed with traditional instruments such as steel pans to bring the sound of west Africa to proceedings, and will be reopening steel band workshops in September.
They were joined by ACE Percussion, a troupe of traditional African, Caribbean, and Rastafarian singing, as well as drummers and a trombonist.
Krystle’s Soca Dance Workshop combined dance and fitness to help carnival-goers keep fit to the sound of reggae, calypso, and afrobeat music.
The event also featured a parade along Broad Street, including dancers, drumming, and members of the Soca Massive masqueraders, before the acts took to the live stage.
Mary Genis, the artistic director and founder of CultureMix Arts, said the performances were “So thought provoking, and so much creativity, Out of the Deep Blue was the most spectacular dance theatre show, and the weather was amazing.”
“We had such an eclectic array of performers– thrilling fire-eating, cultural drumming, Akin Dread with ACE was very profound, joined by a trombone player who was just sublime.”
In August, India celebrated 75 years of independence, and on Monday, August 15, with residents in Reading organising a mass bike ride to commemorate the landmark occasion.
More than 100 cyclists young and old took to the streets of the town dressed in green, white and orange, the colours of the Indian flag.
Commonly known as the Tiranga, the Hindi word for tricolour, the flag set the theme of the event, which was aptly named the Tiranga Ride.
Starting at the University of Reading’s Whiteknights campus, the group made their way across the grounds and through the streets of Earley.
They completed the ride at Carnival Fields Park in Maiden Place, where over 200 spectators greeted them waving Indian flags and singing traditional songs.
The event was organised by resident Ritesh Nigam, who was keen to celebrate the occasion and garnered interest through social media.
He said: “India’s independence day celebration recognises the importance of freedom, freedom to live, love, express our thoughts and freedom to have a free mind and move forward.
“With many people settling in our community from Hong Kong and unfortunately displaced from Ukraine and Afghanistan, the importance of freedom can’t be stressed more.”
As ever, Reading Festival dominated August, with this year’s event seeing a major band dropping out just weeks before it was due to begin.
With Rage Against The Machine having to pull out due to medical reasons, The 1975 stepped in to join Arctic Monkeys and Dave as headline acts.
Frank Carter kicked the festival off to an unruly start as he stripped naked, and the event saw Dan D’Lion, originally from Twyford, perform an assured closing set at the BBC Introducing stage.
Standout sets followed from AJ Tracey, Loyle Carner, The Sherlocks, Arctic Monkeys, and Pendulum, and headliners Arctic Monkeys stole the show on Saturday night.
The 1975 closed the festival with a stellar set, as lead singer Matty Healy proclaimed it was the band “at their very best.”
This would become the tagline for the band’s subsequent tour.
In August, Reading also said goodbye to Hilary Scott, who was behind some of the town’s proudest enterprises—not least the Pride of Reading Awards themselves.
Born in Glasgow, her career started in Dundee in the 1970s. She worked on national magazines such as Woman, as well as Fleet Street newspapers, before coming to Reading in 1998.
She worked as deputy editor of our predecessor, the Reading Evening Post, until 2014, before going freelance journalist, writer and editor, and continuing to mastermind the town’s most prestigious awards.
She had a great love of food, launching Food Monthly and working with many famous chefs including Chris Barber, Jamie Oliver, Antony Worrall Thompson and Daniel Galmiche, as well as Paul Clerehugh from The Crooked Billet and London Street Brasserie.
This spilled over into Reading events, including hosting Eat Reading in Broad Street, and being a judge on Has Reading Got Talent?
She also spearheaded many campaigns across Reading including The Giving Tree Christmas appeal, the Royal Berkshire Hospital’s bid to fund Robbie the Robot, and the SeniorSafe initiative, and worked with the Theatres and Arts Reading CIC campaign to save Reading gaol and turn the site into an arts hub for future generations.
In 2018, she was honoured with her own Pride of Reading gong, presented to her by Christ Tarant.
Following her passing, Tarrant paid tribute to Hilary, telling ITV Meridian: “It’s a terrible, tragic loss, and we’re all just gutted.”
Journalist Sangeeta Bhabra said she was a “fantastic journalist who was absolutely passionate about where she lived”.
The Pride of Reading team posted to social media to say that: “Hilary has been an inspiration to so many people both in her journalistic career and working on campaigns and events in Reading.
“Our heartfelt condolences are with Hilary’s family and friends.
“We will miss her so much, with love from the Pride of Reading organising committee, patrons, sponsors and supporters.”
Reading Today editor Phil Creighton was a trainee when he first started working at the Reading Post, with Hilary as his boss.
He said: “She was a wonderful person, full of the joys of life despite the pressures that journalism, especially at a local level, brings.
“Hilary taught me so much over the years and was more than just a boss.
“It was a privilege to know her.”
