Incredibly, there are more than sixty different pieces of street art recorded in Reading and as three new murals are unveiled in Newtown, here's a look at where you can see vivid images on the walls of Reading.

A small corner of Reading has seen a transformation, thanks to a collaboration between a church, a school and a college. 

Three new murals were unveiled in a community garden in Newtown on Wednesday, June 18 – the culmination of two years of hard work. 

Thanks to its tranquil nature and handy benches, the space outside St John and St Stephen’s Church in Orts Road has housed a space used by residents as a meeting point, particularly by parents dropping their children off at the neighbouring school of St John’s. 

Just over the way from the church is the rear entrance to Reading College. 

All three institutions came together for the project to replace the previous murals which had come to the end of their life. Updating them was a lengthy process that saw the college work with pupils from the school, while the final designs received the green light from the church members. 

Ian Maynard is the churchwarden and also a governor of the school and helped with the preparations. 

“The gardens were in need of rejuvenation,” he says. “The area is an open space and is used by the community.

“The students took on the project and liaised with the school to find out what their favourite Bible story is, and they chose Noah’s Ark.”

There are two other panels: one dedicated to iconic images associated with the Church, while the this features pictures related to the community. 

The College students worked hard to create the designs and the end result, Ian says, is panels devoted to past, present and future.

“We are very happy with the designs,” he says. 

The unveiling saw a decent turn out from the church members, and people from the college. Due to the summer heat, the church’s vicar, the Revd Clare Alcock, spoke for a short time about the murals and the purpose of it before unveiling them. 

The school will benefit from the learning opportunities, and the church is part of a project called REInspired, which helps with the delivery of religious education lessons in schools. Ian says the church hopes the murals can be used for sessions during the summer. 

And there is another use for the communal gardens: weather permitting, the church holds Sunday services in the space which is immediately outside the church’s main entrance.

“The reaction to the murals have been positive,” Ian says. “And we will keep the area spick and span, so it is a space where people want to visit, use and be comfortable. They can come here, eat their lunch, chat, and drop their children at the schol. It’s a nice, comfortable space.”

And the church does indeed welcome the Newtown community – it is used across the week in a range of events including a drop-in cafe on weekday mornings from 9am to 10am. This is aimed at parents who have just dropped their children off at the school,  while during term-time there are craft sessions, toddler groups, discussions and a  women-only study group. 

The church has also benefitted from a volunteer from the gap year vocational scheme Time For God, and they have helped launch a group for teenagers: “It’s been going very well,” Ian says. 

Of course, for many it will be the church’s mural that will be their first – and possibly only – encounter with St John and St Stephen’s. So the end result is something that makes Ian happy. 

“There is very much a sense of pride about it,” he says. “As they used to say on The A-Team, I love it when a plan comes together. I’m proud of what the students have done and the end result. 

“It’s wonderful to have produced a space people want to be in and it forms part of our general emphasis: you don’t have to belong to be part of or involved with the church. It’s seeing where we are and being a good partner in the community, whatever that entails.

“We are trying to be useful for all, faith or no faith … it’s a starting point.”

For more on the work of the church, visit its website or Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/StJandStSOrtsRd

 

Other must-see murals in Reading

 

Station Hill

The newest kid on the block is also the most high-tech. Called Royals, Residents and a Rock Festival, the 51m artwork in Station Hill celebrates some of the most famous people connected with Reading. There are also landmarks such as The Purple Turtle, Caversham Skatepark, Reading Rams, the SCL stadium, and The Oracle. As dusk falls, it lights up and there are unique touches that add to the fun. The work was a collaboration between Kev Munday and Stuart Melrose along with 12 schools in the Reading area. It forms a great gateway to visitors to the town. 

 

The Banksy on Reading Gaol

Create Escape was painted on the side of Reading Gaol one night in December 2021. The artwork shows a prisoner escaping using knotted sheets coming out of a typewriter: a witty reference to Oscar Wilde, the author and playwright is the gaol’s most famous prisoner. Banksy said that he was a on rail replacement bus that went through Reading when he first saw the gaol’s walls and was determined to paint something on them. In the end, he did it to show his support for the council’s plans to turn the site into an arts centre. The gaol is now owned by Ziran Education Foundation and will become a hotel, a museum, and an art gallery.

 

Heather Small from M People on Haslams in Friar Street

Look up to see this one. In 2023, a painting of M People’s Heather Small was unveiled on the wall of Haslams Estate Agents in Friar Street. The venue was chosen due to its proximity to the start of the St James’ Way, a pilgrimage route that goes all the way from Reading to Santiago de Compostela. The route is also called the Camino Ingles, and Heather walked part of it for a BBC TV programme called Pilgrimage.

 

The Reading Black History Mural 

A landmark that is visible from the IDR, the 36m mural depicts a range of moments in black history including Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks and Bob Marley. It was unveiled in June 1990 and dedicated to the memory of CLR James and anti-apartheid demonstrators who were massacred in Soweto by the South African regime in 1976. 

So important is the mural that in September 2020, Reading Borough Council declared it an asset of communal value, protecting it for years to come. 

 

Peachy’s Forbury Three memorial

Reading’s answer to Banksy created the tribute to David Wails, Joe Ritchie-Bennett and James Furlong who were stabbed to death in Forbury Gardens terror attack in June 2020. This memorial features the Maiwand Lion and three cherubs, and was painted on Reading Bridge in Christchurch Meadows. 

 

According to the website Street Art Cities there are more than fifty more murals to see in and around the town. It has collated a map showcasing each place where you can find them, making quite a trail to follow (see below):