EAST READING Festival returned once again to Palmer Park to celebrate the diversity and communities in the town on Sunday.
It was among the first events to fall under Reading Borough Council’s new environmental scheme which sets out a standard and facilities to share green initiatives between regional authorities, organisations, and events.
It featured a main stage, which saw the likes of the Rock Choir, The Newtowners, Clubbercise, and the Newtown School Choir, as well as performances from the Nepalese community and a Bollywood showcase.
Meanwhile the spoken word stage saw showcases from Kathy Tytler’s Storytellers, Caversham Writers, Dreading Poetry Slam, Two Rivers Press and Poet’s Cafe, and Progress Theatre.
Liz Josif, fundraising manager for Babies in Buscot Support, said: “This is our first year at this festival and it’s so nice to meet the local community.
“It’s a privilege to also meet some of the Buscot families, learning people’s stories, with babies who passed through the ward and have grown up.
The charity provides an array of support to the Buscot neonatal Ward in the Royal Berkshire Hospital, which treats premature or unwell babies.
The charity provides equipment and facilities through its work, as well as raising awareness of the needs of the ward and promoting child safety.
This includes incubators, ventilators, and breast pumps, among other equipment, as well as providing spaces for parents and patients’ siblings in nurseries.
They also provide staff training, including for paramedics.
“Not only are we raising funds today, but we’re also here so that people can engage with us a bit more.
“The last four years in particular have been a struggle for us as a charity, as with many– donations especially dropped significantly and fundraising events just stopped.
“And of course we understand, so coming to events like this helps people stay aware of our work and chat to us about what we do.”
More information about Babies in Buscot Support, including how to donate, is available via: facebook.com/babiesinbuscot
John Booth, one of the campaigners attending with Reading Friends of the Earth, said: “We’re here to inform people about environmental issues, including global warming, which is more urgent than many people think.
“Plans like net-zero for 2050 has people thinking we don’t need to do anything until 2045, but to really make that difference we need to start bringing emissions down now.
He explained: “We have started to bring them down, especially here in the UK, but not so much globally; we need to get international efforts to influence others.
“This perhaps includes facilitating investment for green energy for developing countries, grants to help people use heat pumps, and inform people how it can be done.
“And we try to do as much as we can to engage with people at events like this, and that can be as simple as helping people with choices about replacing boilers or similar.
“But we also understand that people are worrying about how to put food on the table, so it’s very much down to government–at every level–to help show people what can be done and how.”
Among those providing demonstrations at the festival were teams from Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service.
Mike, one of the members of the Wokingham Road Fire Station, was helping give the public an insight into RBFRS’ operations and equipment at the event.
He said: “We’ve been giving fire prevention advice and showing people what we do.
“Kids come over showing interest in our fire truck, and many people are unaware of half of the jobs we go to.
“We show them what we do and what we’re capable of as a team, and the response has been really positive and quite full on; it’s been a lovely day.”
Vic Pickup, of Two Rivers Press, said: “It’s a great event because there are so many things here which people may not think about doing usually.
“It gives them a little taste of things, and they stop and listen, which is great for us getting out into the wider community.
“We have quite a varied and diverse output at Two Rivers, as well as events like the open mic poetry events with all sorts of different kinds of performances.
“And we want to show that all are welcome.”
