Rotary Club of Reading Maiden Erlegh Press Release

30 September 2009

The Reading Art Exhibition and Sale organised by the Rotary Club of Reading Maiden Erlegh was held at the University of Reading over the weekend of 25/26/27 September and was a resounding success for the second year running. Thank you to all you Artists and Art Lovers who exhibited and bought paintings.

Hundreds of people visited the exhibition over the weekend, formally opened by John Redwood MP for Wokingham on the Friday evening at the preview opening attended by over 150 people.

Many of the pictures exhibited were offered for sale and over 50 pictures were sold which helped to raise just over £3000 for Rotary charities.

During the preview event John Redwood presented a cheque on behalf of the club for £2500 to James Bryon of the Shaw Trust, which will be used to support the Trusts work in the Reading and Wokingham areas assisting disabled and disadvantaged people into the workplace.

All the entries were viewed by a panel of expert judges including Alun Rowlands head of the Fine Art Department of the University of Reading along with Jenny Halstead and Julian Mitchell, two local well known artists.

The first prize in the professional artists section was shared between Carole Stephens for Passion Flowers and Howard Birchmore for Seascape 2 and in the amateur section by K W Wright for the Forgotten Ones.

Plans are already in hand for next year’s exhibition. Make sure you are invited to participate either as an artist or visitor by sending your name, address and email address to RotaArt1090@yahoo.co.uk.

The photo shows John Redwood MP (left) and Tim Thorpe, President of the Rotary Club of Reading Maiden Erlegh (right) presenting the cheque for £2500 to James Bryon (centre) of the Shaw Trust. Here is a link to the 2009 web-site.