A chance to get involved...

February has been an exciting month for Read College, with the announcement of our new building and also lots of training going on for the Reading Half Marathon.  With both of these things coming to fruition in early April, we have never needed people to get involved in our work than we do now, so please read on for a moment longer...

The college became registered as a charity last year, for the simple reason that 100% of the money we take in as tuition fees is then spent directly back on training the students.  There is no profit margin for any company directors, and there are no support staff or admin staff who don't directly have an effect on training - just two very full-time Directors who deliver a large proportion of the course and run ALL of the office-based end of the college between them, and a fantastic team of expert tutors who each come in for their allotted hours each week.  In our opinion, that's exactly how it ought to be, too.

Our charitable fundraising means that we can support talented young people who, for various reasons, would otherwise be unable to afford training to get a start in their career.  Without the fundraising, some fantastic young people would be unable to access full-time vocational training and would therefore miss out on a potential career in the industry purely due to their family's financial circumstances.

Thanks to the support of the University of Reading's estates department with our new home, we will soon be able to concentrate just as much of this money directly on our students, whilst having spacious and purpose-built theatre training facilities to benefit them as well.  Fantastic!

Once we have moved in though, our fundraising mission gets even bigger.  We need to raise over £1,500 for new training mirrors for example, so that our dancers can get the most out of their classes.  We also need to fundraise for dance floors for some of the studios, and on top of this we need to make sure that we still have enough funding coming in to benefit the students who so badly need it.

If you think you can help in any way at all - anything from volunteering a bit of time or an idea, sponsoring one of our marathon runners a couple of pounds, right through to having your name attached to one of our new studios as a benefactor to the college - now is the time to get in touch.  Remember, the money that you help us to raise doesn't go to a company or an individual, it goes directly to help the talented young students who need it most.  Every single penny.

You can donate to us right now, by simply clicking here (and remember, if you're a UK tax payer you can help us even more by typing 'Yes' into the Gift Aid box so that we can claim tax relief on your donation) -

and even if you can't donate anything right now, you can still do us one favour... Could you forward this on to as many people as you know, to help them find out about the work that Read College is doing?

Thank you all so much.

Jamie & Helen Read

Our New Home

Dear Friends,

It is with great excitement that I can announce the relocation of Read Dance and Theatre College to our very own site for the first time in our history.

Our new site is very exciting for us in many ways…  It is a former campus of Reading University, having previously been their Film, Television and Theatre block know as the Myra McCulloch Building.  It is located at Bulmershe Court, about 10 minutes from Junction 10 of the M4 and on a major road/public transport link from the town centre.  The building comprises a fully-equipped drama studio, and vocal teaching room, a large storage area which will become our wardrobe department, various reception areas and offices etc, and – at its heart – a former 150 seat, 1900 SqF, studio theatre complete with sprung floors, huge windows, and a very theatrical atmosphere!  There is also an old dressing room block which will become private tuition/practice rooms for the students.

Our move will be taking place during the Easter break and we will be opening at the new site during April.  I would like to take this opportunity to thank Michelle at The Performing Arts Institute, which has been our home for the last 2 years, for everything that she has done for us - it has been a fantastic place to work!

I look forward to posting photos of the new building as we have them.

Jamie

Please Sponsor us!

On April 1st, a team of us from Read College will be running Reading Half Marathon.  Jamie Read, Neil Missing and Read student Lowri Hughes will be running the full distance, with a fantastic relay team consisting of Helen Read, Eva Blanco, Michelle Legg and Seamus Allen all running a section each.

We are running to support the Read Dance & Theatre College Student Hardship Fund (charity no. 1142899), which has been set up to support young people through their training in the Performing Arts.  These are talented and deserving young people whose talent we really want to be able to support and nurture, so please help us to help them!  All you need to do is click here -

...and don't forget that we can claim Gift Aid on your donation if you are a UK tax payer, which adds around another 25% to your donation at no extra cost to you at all!  All you need to do is say 'yes' when the donation page above asks you if we may claim Gift Aid on your donation.

Thank you for your help for these terrific young people...

Jamie, Helen, Michelle, Eva, Seamus and Neil