Alice Chaplin and Louise Ryan have qualified as solicitors in Blandy & Blandy’s leading Wills Alice initially joined Blandy & Blandy in 2021 as a legal assistant in the firm’s Wills before completing her training contract and qualifying as a solicitor in April 2025 Alice commented: “I am so pleased to have qualified as a solicitor at Blandy & Blandy following the successful completion of my training contract As a legal assistant and then as a trainee I had the opportunity to gain experience across multiple departments which has equipped me with the skills and confidence needed for qualification I am grateful to everyone at the firm for their continued support and I look forward to continuing to work with a wonderful team.” Louise joined the firm’s Dispute Resolution team as a legal secretary in 2016 before becoming a legal assistant in the Wills She has now qualified as a solicitor through the “equivalent means” route first introduced by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) in 2014 Louise said: “I’m proud to have qualified as a solicitor at Blandy & Blandy It’s been a rewarding journey of growth and learning and I am grateful for the continued support and opportunities the firm has given me over the past nine years.” Partner Caroline Casagranda added: “I am delighted that both Alice and Louise have qualified into our busy Wills they have both demonstrated an aptitude for assisting clients with all their private client needs and I am excited to see them both develop and flourish in their new roles.” Tax & Trusts team is top ranked in both of the UK’s leading guides to the legal profession Keep up to date by signing up for our daily newsletter We don’t spam we only send our newsletter to people who have requested it RDG.Today – which is a Social Enterprise – provides Reading Borough with free Reading Today is dedicated to providing news online across the whole of the Borough of Reading existing to support the various communities in Reading Borough We don’t spam we only send our newsletter to people that have subscribed The Wokingham Paper Ltd publications are regulated by IPSO – the Independent Press Standards Organisation.If you have a complaint about a  The Wokingham Paper Ltd  publication in print or online If it is not resolved to your satisfaction you should contact IPSO by telephone: 0300 123 2220 Members of the public are welcome to contact IPSO at any time if they are not sure how to proceed or need advice on how to frame a complaint Please enter your username or email address to reset your password © 2021 - The Wokingham Paper Ltd - All Right Reserved You are using an outdated browser. Please upgrade your browser to improve your experience People in Wokingham and Reading are being asked to have their say on plans for a new garden village in Wokingham Borough The University of Reading and its partners are unveiling further details on their plans for Loddon Garden Village To address the demand for new homes and public services in Wokingham Loddon Garden Village aims to provide not just housing but also essential supporting infrastructure This includes primary and secondary schools The new garden village is a significant undertaking designed to eventually support approximately 3,930 homes The University of Reading and its partners are collaborating with Wokingham Borough Council following the development of its updated Local Plan to lead a development that integrates communities A series of public engagement and consultation events will be held in March 2025 to gather feedback from the community on the proposed plans Key features of the garden village include: One of the key goals of the University is to grow its position as a world leader for the study of food and farming supporting new facilities and investment in the local area The site for Loddon Garden Village includes the University of Reading’s Hall Farm which is owned by the National Institute for Research in Dairying (NIRD) Trust All receipts from the land belonging to the NIRD Trust will be invested and applied Vice-Chancellor of the University of Reading “The University of Reading and Hall Farm have been an important part of the local community for more than a century We want Loddon Garden Village to have a positive impact for local people and our environment providing sustainable housing alongside the necessary facilities and infrastructure while helping us expand our agricultural work We believe this is a well-considered scheme which also supports our aims to make Reading and Wokingham a global centre for the study of food and farming for the century ahead.” we are aiming to create a vibrant place where people can enjoy working Our proposals provide much needed housing in the area while also opening up and restoring wildlife habitats and green and open spaces while protecting and enhancing the floodplain.” “The proposals will create generational change and benefit to the local community Echoing the comments of the University’s Vice-Chancellor the Loddon Garden Village will also include significant investment in the local road network to address congestion along with integrated plans to encourage active and safe travel This includes the delivery of a new M4 motorway crossing a new link road to Hatch Farm Way from Mill Lane alleviating congestion pressures through Sindlesham and substantial improvements to the Lower Earley Way corridor through dualling.” People are being asked to provide their input to plans at a series of upcoming public consultation events For more information, please visit the Loddon Garden Village website: www.reading.ac.uk/lgv The consultation closes on Monday 21 April and an application is expected to be submitted to Wokingham Borough Council later in the summer and if the Wokingham Borough Council Local Plan Update is deemed sound by Government Inspectors development of key infrastructure and the first homes could be delivered from 2028 News from 2025 Contact the press team Expert spokespeople Media, demonstrations, and petitions on campus Connecting Research Blog Events Journalists can contact the press office at any time pressoffice@reading.ac.uk News from 2024 News from 2023 News from 2022 News from 2021 News archive 1998-2020 We are in the process of finalising our postgraduate taught courses for 2026/27 entry the leader of The Salvation Army Church in Wokingham says everyone has a potential for positive change and she together with a team of volunteers are working to provide support and encouragement for those who need it to reach their full potential Jan said; "The church in Wokingham understands that everyone deserves a place to belong regardless of their background or current circumstances may feel out of step because of  the affluence that surrounds them We offer a haven where you can find a listening ear we are here to walk alongside you on your journey.” Through weekly collaborative meetings with  Wokingham Borough Council Jan and her team seek to address housing challenges addictions and develop solutions to better serve vulnerable individuals in the community.   The church and charity also works in partnership with Cranstoun Wokingham a local charity that offers drug and alcohol recovery services for adults and access to mutual aid groups like Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and Narcotics Anonymous (NA) The Salvation Army Hall in Wokingham also hosts an AA group who meet on Fridays at 8pm While the primary audience is individuals struggling with alcohol addiction the meetings are also open to family members friends or supporters of those in recovery.  has autism and is battling drug addiction and alcohol use  He has been homeless for the most part of his life (17 years) having left home as a teenager after getting into trouble with his parents But now he says The Salvation Army has contributed to the improvement in his circumstances Aaron said; “these guys have given me a sense of belonging Mariana (the community development officer) and all the volunteers here have been good to me making me feel loved and it's this care that has made me rediscover my passion for art and painting From sleeping in the park and back seats of cars to having my own decent flat in town and having a lot of canvas paintings ready to be sold I am grateful to Wokingham Salvation Army.” Jan said Aaron’s story of resilience and transformation is an example of how The Salvation Army listens and tries to offer practical solutions to the community’s needs The Salvation Army supports people with their recovery journey from drug or alcohol addictions by following a harm reduction philosophy in its strategy and services to address not only the addictive behaviour but also the root causes This approach enables people using its services to stay as safe as possible until they feel ready to implement the changes they want to make in their lives Anyone in need of support for addiction can simply walk into The Salvation Army in Wokingham – no appointment, phone call or email is necessary.  To learn more about the work being done by The Salvation Army in Wokingham visit:  Wokingham | The Salvation Army Copyright © The Salvation Army 2025 The Salvation Army is a Christian church and registered charity in England (214779) Scotland (SC009359) and the Republic of Ireland (CHY6399) The Salvation Army Territorial Headquarters Manage Subscribe Hargreaves Lansdown’s Savings and Resilience Barometer shines light on the disparities between regions Elmbridge and St Albans are the best places in the UK in terms of people’s overall personal finances The investment platform’s Savings and Resilience Barometer has shone light on exactly which towns and cities are doing the best at managing their money The barometer brings together 16 separate measures from official government datasets to build an ‘overarching’ picture for each borough in the UK The key factors include how much savings people have, whether they are on track for a reasonable retirement income, housing costs and ownership, debt levels and various other metrics. See also: ‘Value for money’ delivery by advisers on the rise There is evidence of the clear gap between south east England and most other parts of the UK in financial security terms Top 20 places for overall financial resilience: the 20 boroughs with the lowest scores are much more spread out around the UK the Midlands and three London boroughs also feature Bottom 20 places for overall financial resilience: CEO, Hargreaves Lansdown said: “At the start of a new year households up and down the country will be thinking about their budgets and how they can do more with their money while at the same time companies like HL are thinking about how we can do even more this coming year to help people to secure their financial futures.   See also: abrdn to remove MyFolio managers’ mandate to invest in its own funds “As the government conducts a comprehensive review of pensions it couldn’t be a more important time to assess the nation’s preparedness for their retirement and as ever the findings in this Barometer paint a bleak picture There has been a fall in the proportion of householders achieving adequate pension savings across all income levels as the value of a pot required for a moderate retirement has increased 40% since 2019.  with a gap of 24% in pension adequacy between richer South East pockets compared to those less affluent London boroughs and North East England.” head of personal finance at the platform, added: “There’s a vast gulf between the capitals of resilience and the tougher areas where money is stretched and the future looks much harder Among the top 10 most resilient local authorities 79% of households have enough cash left at the end of the month to be resilient compared to 54% among the bottom 10.” Deposits in banks and building societies rose by £7.4 bn SIPP specialist names new managing director Annualised 0.3% fall was largely attributed to companies building inventory ahead of the 2 April tariffs announcement Sceptical of shift some investors have made away from US assets A regulated testing service will provide a ‘safety net’ The deal will strengthen FE fundinfo’s Nexus platform Published by MA Financial Media Ltd (part of Mark Allen),St Jude’s Church PA Adviser is written for UK financial advice businesses – especially those that outsource all or part of their investment decision-making to model portfolio services funds of funds and other multi-asset solutions.