Memorial Wall

[BenReadingFC]

Having lost a dear family friend last night, I was considering purchasing a plaque to mount on the memorial wall at the stadium.

Could I ask where abouts at the stadium it is? And also how would I go about purchasing one?

East Stand, next to the Jazz club. no idea of costs though

[Coppelled Streets]

Please let me have some feed back on this subject as it may help other people.

With the second aniversary of my mothers passing, my father went to the stadium memorial wall to leave a wreath in her memory.
He noticed other people have left their own memorials to their loved ones, but some of them were bunches of flowers that had obviously been stood against the wall but had fallen over for what ever reason.
My father has since called the club with the idea of putting some rings into the wall by the side or underneath the memorials so that people can place the flowers in to them and they dont get knocked/ blown over. The club thought this would/may be a good idea and would look in to it, they were going to ask other people what they thought, so i thought i would get your thoughts and maybe speed up the proccess.

Many thanks for your thoughts

and i miss you mum love you lots

It's a great idea but I'd like to see something a little more than that, a bit like Leicester have.

I'm sure your mum would love what your doing for her!

[buggsey]

Just to bring you all up to date on this one which has gone on for far to long, after indepth discussions with the club, I have managed to find a local blacksmith, (who is also a season ticket holder) to make a protype ring holder for the club at the cost of £16, on presenting this to the club they thought it was a great idea, but disputed the size of the 4" ring although I has previously had indepth discussions with the local florist to determine the required size, they also came back to me to ask at what height I thought the ring should be fixed under the memorial plaques. Since the I have presented to the club a quotation to make the remaining 7 rings at a cost of less than £14 each which they are still considering.

I have repeatedly pointed out to the club the emotional element attached to this matter and how it should be resolved as soon as possible but it seems to be falling on deaf ears, I am finding it very difficult to know what to do next to get this resolved.

[The 17 Bus]

Well done buggsy, fans are the club, not money and business, make it all more fan friendly and more fans will feel a part of the RFC experience,

[Winchester Royal]

Good work Buggsey, if it wasn't for people like you things that are minor but important issues just wouldn't get resolved.

[Scrappy]

I notice they've moved the benches so that the people wishing to pay their respects can do so without being a pain in the arse to the person sat on the bench. Good move!

[buggsey]

I feel that I must update you on the current situation, after a considerable amout of effort I hve managed to overcome all health and safety issues and at my own expense have a prototype ring manaufactured by a local blacksmith, who has quoted a price of under £15 each for the remaing 7 ring to be manufactured.
However I was advised today by the Chairperson of STAR that the whole idea ghas been vetoed bt the RFC Chief Executive Nigel Howe, I am to say the least at a lost for words that such a decision could now be made after all the effort has been put into the project not only be myself, but by a significant number of RFC staff who welcomed the idea.

I have today writen to Nigel Howe with copy to John Madejski asking for an explanation for his veto and aslo offered to pay for the remaining ring at a cost of aprox £100 from my pension, to ensure that tributes to the dear departed can be left in a more respectful manner than strwen on the floor, i would be most interested in your thoughts on the subject, and any proposals toget Nigel howe to change his decsion.

[The 17 Bus]

Good luck with this buggsey, there can be NO reason not to allow family to place flowers for lost loved ones.

[Jerry St Clair]

However I was advised today by the Chairperson of STAR that the whole idea ghas been vetoed bt the RFC Chief Executive Nigel Howe, I am to say the least at a lost for words that such a decision could now be made after all the effort has been put into the project not only be myself, but by a significant number of RFC staff who welcomed the idea.

Was any reason for the veto given?

[Sun Tzu]

If cost is cited as a reason Buggsey please PM me and I shall donate £10 towards this.

If other reasons are given please share them.

I think small things like this are important in keeping the club close to it's supporters and i can;t think of a reason why this has been vetoed, although it's possible there is one !!

[RG30]

Good luck with it buggsey, this issue has gone on far too long.

[Scrappy]

If cost is the issue, would STAR be able to help fund this as it is a supporter issue. Speaking personally as someone who has a love one remembered on that wall, it is especially nice to have a reminder of her somewhere in Reading. She lived elsewhere and therefore her real memorial is difficult to get to.

What the club must remember is that people don't just visit that wall before match days. They often visit when they are feeling lonely and miss the person, often the wall can help them through tough times as 99% of the time the stadium is a peaceful place. If by having a handful of rings can help people when the anniversary of the death comes along, then surely its something worth doing. Very often football clubs nowadays don't care about the fans. This gesture would be something which people seriously would appreciate. How often do you walk past and see a bunch of flowers lying against that wall open to the elements? Makes you think.

Publicity is not something which should be taken into concideration here. It's not a PR excercise, its giving Reading Football Club supporters their chance to honour the dead. We pay an arm and a leg for those bricks, at least give us somewhere so we can honour the person we are remembering.

[Rex]

If cost is the issue, would STAR be able to help fund this as it is a supporter issue. Speaking personally as someone who has a love one remembered on that wall, it is especially nice to have a reminder of her somewhere in Reading. She lived elsewhere and therefore her real memorial is difficult to get to.

What the club must remember is that people don't just visit that wall before match days. They often visit when they are feeling lonely and miss the person, often the wall can help them through tough times as 99% of the time the stadium is a peaceful place. If by having a handful of rings can help people when the anniversary of the death comes along, then surely its something worth doing. Very often football clubs nowadays don't care about the fans. This gesture would be something which people seriously would appreciate. How often do you walk past and see a bunch of flowers lying against that wall open to the elements? Makes you think.

Publicity is not something which should be taken into concideration here. It's not a PR excercise, its giving Reading Football Club supporters their chance to honour the dead. We pay an arm and a leg for those bricks, at least give us somewhere so we can honour the person we are remembering.

I totally agree with this. Honour the loved ones, honour the history. There is not too much around the Mad Stad that does this. When i am in the area i often go and read the memirial wall, and as with most memirials, it's a time for reflection. How many actually take the time out to look at the wall. Its situated in the wrong area for my liking as it should be seperate and in an area where supporters can go purely to relect.

[Whistle]

I know I'll be in a minority here but the way this thread is going we need to say...

This is a football ground, not a graveyard or a church or a sacred place for ancestor worship.

It's not a memorial wall - my name's on it and I'm still alive!

That said, I've no issue with Buggsy getting a mere 3 or 4 rings fixed in the North Stand wall and I'd be interested to know the mad / petty / unexpected reason it's been disallowed. Agree - one for STAR to chase.

[Rex]

So you've never seen the black bricks then!!

Obviously the standard brick is exactly that. If a supporter can show their support to the club, which is often a lifelong trend, then why cannot this person who dies also be remembered on the very same building for very different reasons.

[STAR Voice]

STAR has offered to fund this in full. The issue is, as far as I can understand it, that floral tributes etc which look fine when new are just left to wither and die, and the club are then left with an eyesore of old, dead, bunches of flowers which they then have the responsibility for disposing off.

The club also feel that if that this is encouraged it will grow, so instead of 1 or 2 occasional bunches of flowers, etc there will be a constant 20 or 30 bunches of flowers, which would be an eyesore when dead and might be a health and safety issue. As Whistle says, "This is a football ground, not a graveyard or a church or a sacred place for ancestor worship." and that view is shared by the club for operational reasons.

Personally, I think that's a pretty disappointing response, as the club are clearly failing to understand just how important this is to a significant number of their supporters. The blanket "no" that the club has given is not fitting for a club which publicly prides itself on being a "community club" and in touch with its supporters. In this case, minimal effort and minimal cost to the club would result in significant goodwill from many supporters. I'm not saying that the "flower rings" are the best option, but certainly I feel that there needs to be some discussion, and I'm sure a solution can be found that suits everyone.

On the subject of remembrance, I'm posting this today in great surprise and disappointment that there wasn't a minute's silence before yesterday's match - and the majority of people around me were surprised too. With British forces currently involved in two bloody conflicts, on the 90th anniversary of the end of the First World War, for a "community club" which has such close links to the Army at Arborfield not to do more than put poppies on the scoreboard is very surprising. Even more so as the majority of other teams, including those in the PL who are famous for not caring about anything except themselves - thought it proper to do this

[Royal Lady]

Is there no space near the dome area that could be converted into a memorial area, where ashes could be scattered and where the black bricks could be repositioned. I'm also sure that for a few pounds a week, an oap fan would be happy to pop up there 2 or 3 times a week to clean the area up and remove the old flowers. Hell, I'd do it myself for nothing, but I'm not free in the day during the week. I'll go up there every saturday morning, before a game and clear up any dead flowers and put them in a ruddy bin if it's such a Health and Safety issue. Little tip for Nigel Howe - NEVER BITE THE HAND THAT FEEDS YOU.

[The 17 Bus]

Well Mr Howe can go stick his H&S up his jacksie, and flowers wilting and looking old and a mess.

If they are worried about H&S at the ground they should ban the selling of ALL food and drink, often food waste is dropped on the floor both in the concourse and in the bowl area, this is a slipping hazard, as for selling drinks, some are hot, i hope they have a warnign as scolding can occur, others may be spilled, so once again a slipping hazard.

They should also erect a tall plastic barrier screen around the pitch to stop balls going into the crowd, a serious safety issue IMHO, like they have in ice hockey.

As for old flowers, we have ground staff, and we have peopel who clean up all the mess from the catering vans, so there is no reason for any flowers left to look tatty, unless the club want it to look tatty.

Happy enough to take the money for the bricks in the Memorial Wall, http://www.readingfc.premiumtv.co.uk/pa ... 06,00.html but totally unwilling to repect the whole idea of it.

People use H&S to not do things, this stinks, sooner we get a new owner and Howe moves on the better.

[The 17 Bus]

I know I'll be in a minority here but the way this thread is going we need to say...

This is a football ground, not a graveyard or a church or a sacred place for ancestor worship.

It's not a memorial wall - my name's on it and I'm still alive!

That said, I've no issue with Buggsy getting a mere 3 or 4 rings fixed in the North Stand wall and I'd be interested to know the mad / petty / unexpected reason it's been disallowed. Agree - one for STAR to chase.

The memorial wall is on the East Stand, religion plays a part in football, dont we even have a club pastor??

[Sun Tzu]

The reasons given seem petty and unconvincing.

I would bet that on any given day I could collect a large sack of assorted rubbish from around the stadium in the form of food debris and general filth. In fact you can build quite a collection from inside the ground given the poor standard of cleaning.

The proposal seems to give a way of allowing people to leave memorials in a way that actually makes cleaning up easier. If the club agreed to leave any memorial placed in the rings for a period of one week it would be an easy job to remove the small number of bunches in any post match clean up.

By refusing the ring option it seems that we will continue to have the unofficial process where people leave tributes on the ground, which are more likely to cause a theoretical trip hazard.