Back by demand - Castle Hill, Old & New Coley Heritage Walkabout

Name: Back by demand - Castle Hill, Old & New Coley Heritage Walkabout
Start: 2026-01-22T10:10:00+00:00
End: 2026-01-22T12:30:00+00:00
Location: Meet at Junction of Castle Hill & Coley Place, Reading, RG1 7ST

Schedule

Thu Jan 22 2026 at 10:10 am to 12:30 pm

UTC+00:00

Location

Meet at Junction of Castle Hill & Coley Place, Reading, RG1 7ST | Reading, EN

Wow 2 People booked in so far (10/1/25)
We will explore the history of Castle Hill, Old and New Coley over 150 years. I Will show images of the area as it was. Do you know there a Whitbread pop-up Pub was & what about where the Coley steps? Illustrations will be used to explain the history and the changes to the area (from Mansions to courts), the lost industries, people and some fascinating facts.
The tour will last approximately 2.15 hours, with a few short inclines & descents.
The tour is close to Reading Town centre. We meet at bottom of Castle Hill (junction with Coley Place) and will finish on Castle Hill junction with Field Road.
The tour will depart at 10.10am sharp but please arrive by 10 for a Safety brief, etc. There are no loos on the route.
Please bring a cash donation of £5-£10 per adult and £1 per child over 5. Proceeds will be split equally between my causes for the year. From 6 April 205 - 5 April 2026 these are:
Proceeds from April 6th 2025 - April 5th 2026 - will go to 1st a main charity – ‘The Ways & Means Trust’ - A Great local Charity, helping adults with learning or physical disabilities, or mental health disabilities. They provide social and practical skills for independent living, training, socialisation and work experience opportunities to assist adults to lead rewarding lives, realise their potential and to build their confidence.
Their objective is to bring a wider understanding of disability to everyone.
They provide a safe, empathic environment where people may learn about the routines of work in preparation for a wider role. The benefit of this is a safe, secure and friendly environment where people are able to make mistakes, but learn and grow from them, thereby gain confidence and the experience to take with them, either into the workplace or at home or living in the community.
In addition to working with the individual, they also include the person's support network in all decisions, providing the person gives us them authority; this might include parents, carers, social workers and or other government agencies. Their aim is always to deliver a ‘person-centred approach’, thereby creating a comfortable, non-judgmental environment which encourages each person to discover their own aptitude and skills. For more details, please go to - https://www.waysandmeans.org.uk/what-we-do/
And - 2nd - main charity – ‘Camp Mohawk - Who are they - The Woodland Centre Trust CIO (registered charity number 1202580) operates a single facility, Camp Mohawk. In their own words, the charity exists to provide support for families who have a child, or in many cases multiple children, who have special needs. We have over 700 families who are actively using our services, together with groups from special schools, respite services and care facilities. We welcome over 1600 individual children and young people plus their parents / carers, totalling over 17,000 visitors a year. The families we support reside primarily in the South of the UK with the majority living within Berkshire and it’s surrounding counties but we do have significant numbers of families coming to us from as far afield as Southampton and South Wales.
Camp Mohawk history goes back to the late 1970s, being a day centre since the early 2000s with the current senior management team in place since 2006. It is situated in an area of woodland near Wargrave, Berkshire. The 5-acre site gives the children and young people the opportunity to experience safe, stimulating and fun activities in a natural environment they are often unable to access. The team of dedicated and experienced staff support our families in a variety of ways, most significantly during their visits to the centre but also as they navigate the often complicated and time consuming systems of application for support at school, financially and in other areas of their lives.
We run 2 main projects; Family Support and Short Breaks. Family Support offers facilities and activities to families on Saturdays in term time, and 6 days per week during school holidays. Many of our families find it extremely difficult, and in some cases impossible, to attend mainstream or public activities, parks, leisure and play facilities. As with all families, even if both parents are actively involved in caring for their children, there will be significant periods of time when one parent is at work, undertaking essential household duties, or finding a bit of time to themselves, leaving the other parent attempting to safeguard and occupy the children single handed which, for many of our families, is almost impossible. The ability to access our facilities with the support of our staff is therefore essential in giving families a safe, fun, positive and social activity option that provides for children of all ages and abilities on Saturdays and during school holidays.
If anyone would like any further information about them please do not hesitate to get in touch, via https://www.campmohawk.org.uk/
For more details about what my walkabouts offer please see my Reviews :-
https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attraction_Review