The bring and Share Tapas Night was a great success and will be repeated
Our Burns Night Supper raised a total of £350 for the Royal Berks Hospital Childrens Fund.
Click Here for a video by Stuart Whyte
He studied at Berkshire College of Art and Epsom College of Art and then moved to Italy where he studied violin making in Cremona before working as a craftsman in Venice.
Having got that out of his system, he went on to work in both commercial and artists' screen printing studios, untill now running his own art editioning studio making multiples for artists.
He is a member of the RGA and the Printmakers Council. Chris recently studied Fine Art at The University of Reading and is now doing an MA in printmaking at the Royal College of Art London.
Chris Mercier has already had several exhibitions this year with a further 3 this summer, but The Retreat is fortunate indeed to be hosting 'Dream Ticket' an exhibition of his most recent work never before exhibited. In this era of cutbacks it makes sense to come and see a set of really exciting work and enjoy a pint at the same time -
Carroll curates the exhibitions at The Retreat pub
for further information please contact her at: amc@clickwork.net
CRICKET LOVELY CRICKET
The historical Dove Exiles v Retreat Series will take place again this summer on Sundays June 20th, July 25th and August 22nd. Meet here at 10am for a 10.30 start. Senior members of our team are increasingly involved in international matches, so anyone who has ever played cricket is very welcome to join our illustrious side. Cricket teas will be at the Fisherman's Cottage in June and July and here in August
Great Retreat Pickled Onion Chompetition 2010
Our pickled onion competition was won by The Bees pickled shallots with Jim of Vicars Butchers in second place. W Baggaley got third place.
The Retreat's record breaking cross Atlantic web link up in conjunction with the Raconteur Bookshop, Metuchen, New Jersey The link-up is a regular feature on the first Sunday of each month and will start at about 6pm. We hope to feature singer-songwriters at approximately 3-monthly intervals, but anyone who would like to join in as welcome.
Change of Pub Company
From Admiral Taverns Phoenix division to Admiral Taverns mainstream division. Surprisingly, this new development means no budget is available to mend the Gents' roof. We had hoped for parachute and springboard financing! Lloyds Bank who own 49% of Admiral have been curiously unforthcoming on this.
Retreat Support Camra's LocAle scheme Reading CAMRA launched LocAle in this area last November. We are proud to participate and showcase beers brewed within 25 miles of Reading, not only for the green credentials that low beer miles confer, or because local brewers put money and jobs into the local economy, but primarily because our local SIBA brewers produce beers of excellent quality.
Songwriters' Sunday After the success ofNovember's event, it is hoped to organise another. All local singer-songwriters are invited to attend Further information from sarajanekim@yahoo.co.uk.
December Wine Talk Michael Pitt, gourmet and bon viveur of this parish has volunteered to do another of his interesting and informative wine talks. This will be on the wines of the Loire and will take place on Sunday 7thth December at 7.30pm.
Retreat wins CAMRA Regional cider pub of the year. We were delighted to have won this award for the second year running and held a special cider event from Friday 1st to Sunday 3rd August to celebrate .
Publicity from an unlikely source our man from the Torygraph drank beer here and lived! Click here for details. Eugene, Rachel and Agatha get honourable mention too.
New Wine List We have introduced some new wines for sale by the bottle for special occasions click here for details..
Battery RecyclingOne of our neighbours has undertaken to recycle batteries for us so we now have a jar on top of the piano for all your dead domestic batteries
Hugo award presented at Retreat
Local Reading author and Sci Fi buff David Langford is presented with the Hugo award for best fanzine in the Retreat. (The Hugo’s are the Science Fiction equivalent of the Oscars). The presentation was made by Martin Hoare (right in the picture), who had attended the presentation ceremony in America on David’s behalf (and had to smuggle a model rocket back through airport security).
