Tickets for Troops is a charity whose aim is to provide those who serve in the Armed Forces, those medically discharged post 2001 and the next of kin of those who have passed as a result of their service with the opportunity to attend events with their friends and family when they are not deployed. Since July 2009 Tickets for Troops has distributed over 1.9 million tickets to members of the Armed Forces, to attend a variety of sporting, musical and cultural events all around the UK.
Just like Tickets for Troops we want to show our brave service personnel how much their service is appreciated by their country and allow them to make lasting memories, especially as they often miss out on so many other key moments with their loved ones, that’s why anyone registered with Tickets for Troops will receive free entry to our home games*
*Excludes Emirates FA Cup, FA Vase and FA Youth Cup matches.
To register for Tickets for Troops visit www.ticketsfortroops.org.uk
Reading has a long-standing connection with the Armed Forces as Brock Barracks, which is a short distance from the club has stood proudly for over 140 years. It remains a military establishment to this day with Army Reserve Units Headquarter Company, The 7th Battalion The Rifles & 135 Geographic Squadron Reading Detachment, Royal Engineers operating from the historic site. It’s also home to Reading Sea Cadets, Royal Air Force Cadets & Headquarters for the Royal County of Berkshire Army Cadet Force. You can find out more about Brock Barracks here.
Elsewhere in West Reading, No. 1 Reading War Hospital was one of Britain’s main First World War medical centres, housing casualties sent to recover from the frontline. A Hospital Depot was also opened in Reading producing specialised equipment such as artificial limbs. Before the war the Oxford Road hospital had been a workhouse aiding the town’s poor and sick. Later it became the Battle Hospital which closed in 2005. You can find out more about Reading’s War Hospitals here.
Reading’s connections to the Armed Forces don’t stop there. You’ve probably heard of Huntley & Palmer’s, Britain’s most famous biscuit company which was originally founded in 1822 by Thomas Huntley and George Palmer who ran what was once the world’s largest biscuit factory in East Reading. But biscuits weren’t the only thing they made as Huntley and Palmers’ engineering department started to manufacturer munitions during WWI and produced 60,000 shell cases between 1915-1918. Find out more about Huntley & Palmers here.
The VC is Britain’s joint-highest award for gallantry. It was only equalled in status in 1940, when the George Cross (GC) was instituted for acts of conspicuous bravery not in the enemy’s presence, since its inception in 1856, there have been 1,358 VCs awarded. One of those recipients was a soldier who was born and lived in Reading called Frederick William Owen Potts VC, more commonly known as Trooper Fred Potts.
Potts was hit by machine gun fire at the Battle of Scimitar Hill while racing towards the summit and he fell into a patch of scrub where he recognised a man who lived just a mile away from him in Reading – trooper Arthur Andrews.
Both men were badly wounded and left out on the battlefield after their squadron retreated. They waited in the scrub for nearly three days while suffering dehydration, hunger and intense pain from their wounds before Potts decided to drag Andrews to safety.
Potts sat Andrews on the blade of a shovel and dragged him for more than 48 hours until they reached a sentry of the Royal Iniskilling Fusiliers.
Potts was then recommended and endorsed by senior officers for a VC, to this day he remains Reading’s only Victoria Cross holder.
Potts was commemorated in 2013 in the name of a new road, Trooper Potts Way, created during construction of the Reading Station north entrance.
In 2015, a permanent memorial to both Trooper Potts and to the 426 men of the Berkshire Yeomanry who gave their lives in the wars of the 20th Century was unveiled outside Forbury Gardens opposite Reading Crown Court, The Forbury. Information Boards situated close to the memorial tell the story of The Victoria Cross, The Berkshire Yeomanry and Trooper Potts VC.
In 2016, Greene King opened a new pub/restaurant along Basingstoke Road, to the south of Reading called The Trooper Potts. It featured two very large displays which tell the story of the rescue and Fred and Arthur’s lives. In 2019 the name was changed to The Victoria Cross in a rebrand and the décor now features information about the VC winners from across Berkshire.
You can find out more about Trooper Potts’ VC and the two memorials here.
The club has it’s own connection to Reading’s rich military history as the Maiwand Lion, more commonly known as the Forbury Lion is the centre point of our club values.
The iconic monument was built as a war memorial and takes its name from Maiwand which is a small village in Afghanistan where 328 men from 66th (Berkshire) Regiment died on the 27th of July 1980 in the Battle of Maiwand. This was a military operation and part of a British campaign to stop Russian influence in Afghanistan, as this threatened British control of India.
Our Marketing, Communication & Community Engagement Executive, Ryan Sheehan had this to say:
“As a club we have always shown our thanks to the Armed Forces Community by frequently offering Armed Forces & Veterans free entry and in 2019 we held a commemorative fixture against Fairford Town to coincide with the Berkshire Branch of the Royal British Legion’s Poppy Appeal launch. This fixture also saw a performance from Arborfield Military Wives in our Clubhouse before kick-off.
There are number of military establishments in the Reading area and across the wider Thames Valley Region, so we’re thrilled to partner with Tickets For Troops and look forward to welcoming members of the Armed Forces Community to the Rivermoor.”
Evie Blades, Director of Operations at Tickets for Troops had this to say:
“Tickets for Troops are delighted to embark on this new relationship with Reading City FC, offering our members the opportunity to attend games with their loved ones. We hope our Troops can join in the fun as the football season starts, cheering on Reading City in this year’s competition. We firmly believe in the bonding and quality time that comes from attending matches together and are grateful to the club for providing this opportunity.”
