1st September 2026

Next club meeting Monday 7^th September 2026.

A presentation by Tim Millet on pre-1787 Convict Love Tokens

Meetings are held at the Abbey Baptist Church, Abbey Square, commencing at 7.00 p.m.

Notices:

COINEX 2026 will be on the 25^th and 26^th September. As an affiliate of BANS the club has been offered 10 free tickets for the Saturday 26^th event, which will go to the first ten members whose names are put forward by the club. BUT if you wish to take advantage of this offer, I need you to tell me of your interest by 4 p.m. Sunday 6 September latest. Note that proof of ID will be required at arrival when collecting your tickets.

The club committee also needs members. Please consider joining, as it is not fair to leave the running of the club to the same small number of members every year. If you are willing to become a member of the committee, please notify one of the current committee.

Membership cards are available from the Club Secretary at the meeting for those who are paid up for the year 2026-2027.

August Social Meeting

The late organising of this outing meant that on the day there were only three attendees. However, despite the small number we had a thoroughly enjoyable – not the least in dodging the rain showers.

Our morning at Reading Museum was spent carefully inspecting the replica Bayeux Tapestry and discussing the pictorial history represented in detail as we went along, and also in admiring the quality of the work executed by the Victorian embroiderers in 1885 and 1886. Luckily there were not that many visitors in the museum that day so we were able to take our own leisurely pace in viewing the work. [We suspect that such would not be the case viewing the original at the British Museum from 13 September to next July; nor would it be free!]

After visiting the Tapestry, we explored some of the other galleries at the museum, but those coins we could see there were limited in quantity and quality.

The Pantry which can be reached from the museum, despite it being a separate concern, provided a range of hot and cold foods and non-alcoholic drinks at reasonable prices in a pleasant ambience. It was clearly a popular meeting spot for locals as well as visitors.

Having enjoyed our visit to the museum we were more than happy to voluntarily to give a donation of £5 each.

After lunch we walked to the nearby Harris Arcade to locate a shop dealing in coins called the week (holiday) so we didn’t get a chance to gauge the extent or quality of the coins on offer. It will be worth a visit on another occasion while in Reading, but the shop has limited opening days and hours, so worth contacting it if you are intending to visit. Tony Taplin has traded in collectable items and antiques for many years and specialises in military medals, swords, bayonets and daggers, as well as coins and model trains. The shop adjoins another shop, Just Imagination Memorabilia, specialising in vintage, often long deleted Film, TV and Pop related toys and memorabilia, as well as vintage USA and British comics and annuals.

We rounded off the afternoon by visiting the substantial ruins of Reading Abbey, which had in its heyday been one of the richest and largest abbeys in the kingdom. The ruins are a landmark in the town despite being alongside a number of modern buildings (including the currently empty Reading Gaol). Founded in 1121 by King Henry I, it enjoyed royal patronage, and although the abbey was not completed in his lifetime Henry’s body was brought from Normandy to buried near the abbey’s high altar. However, the exact position of his burial remains debatable.

Following the reformation and dissolution of abbeys the last abbot of Reading was hung, drawn and quartered near the abbey in 1538. The stone of the abbey was extensively robbed over the next two or so centuries for building locally, but had largely ceased by nineteenth century by which time the church of St James had been constructed adjacent to the abbey ruins. In recent years several parts of the abbey have been restored, and the ruins are also a popular venue for dramatic and musical events.

Fittingly for such a previously important religious house, there is now a marker adjacent to the ruins that is the start point for the Reading to Southampton section of the pilgrimage route of Camino de Santiago.

When we finished at 4 p.m. we were all agreed that we had experienced a thoroughly enjoyable and informative day together. It was a shame that not more members could have joined us.

Future Events.

COINEX 2026 – Biltmore Hotel, Grosvenor Square London W1K 2HP -25^th & 26^th Sept. 2026

London Coin Fair – Shortlands, London, W6 –7^th November 2026

Midland Coin Fair – National Motorcycle Museum - 13^th September & 11^th October 2026

Noonans, Mayfair, W1J 8BQ –8^th, 16th-17^th & 29^th September 2026

Morton & Eden – October 2026

St James Auctions –23^rd September 2026

Warwick & Warwick –21^st October 2026

Club Secretary