LIKE any good parent, East Reading-based Mary Chambers likes those little conversations with her children. But one conversation went way beyond a little chit-chat … it became a picture book.
One morning, Mary says, she was trying to get her three-year-old daughter Alina ready for school. But the infant school youngster had other ideas. For out of her Newtown window she could see the historic gas tower, and in it was the moon.
“It looked like it was in the tower,” Mary says. “Alina went, ‘Oh, it’s stuck. We must rescue it, I’ll just go and get my helicopter’.
“I just thought it was brilliant. It was so completely unexpected. She hadn’t really talked about helicopters or anything like that before, but that was her solution.”
So struck by this idea, Mary scribbled it down. Later, she read the germ of the story to Alina, while they had friends round and, to her surprise, everyone started listening.
The story, Alina Saves The Moon, tells how Alina launches her toy helicopter – with her in it – and ropes in her sister to let the moon find freedom. It features not just the gas tower, but the Kennetside familiar to anyone who has walked the Thames Path from Sonning to Reading.
Helping turn the story into reality was local artist Leslee Barron, who had been talking with Mary about the gas tower, which is due to be demolished and turned into flats.
“We were trying to organise a community art exhibition, and we thought we’d make the story part of it,” she says. “But then Covid came along and that put a stop to that.
“Leslee and I continued our conversation, she created a few illustrations for it, and one thing led to another and we decided we’d self-publish it.
“She expanded it, and put massive amounts of work into those pictures. I think she’s done a wonderful job.”
Leslee is just as thrilled with the link-up, as it gave her a chance to use the Victorian-built estate of Newtown as a backdrop for the pictures, particularly the gas tower.
“I know it’s odd, but I have fallen in love with that chunk of metal at the bottom of Cumberland Road,” she says.
“Someone bought a painting of the tower at sunset and posted their thanks on the East Reading Community Facebook page. People were kind in their comments. One was from Mary, whom I didn’t know, saying she’d written a story about the tower.
“I asked if I could read it, I thought it was thoroughly charming and very visual.
“As I went about my day I kept seeing the images in my head and had to sit down and paint the first image which was of Alina pointing at the moon in the gas tower from her window.”
The rest is a bit of social history, showing off Newtown today, and a real collaboration between two neighbours.
“Actually holding the book in my hands is just wonderful,” Leslee says. “We’ve had great feedback so far.”
And Mary says: “Alina loves it that it’s her story, it’s got her name on the cover. The look on Alina’s face when she saw it and realised that it was her book, a real book, that was quite special.”
Now she’s thinking about a possible sequel, which could involve a swan.
The book is available to buy from RISC and Tutu’s Ethiopian Cafe in Reading, as well as on Mary’s website, with proceeds going to the work of Reading Refugee Support Group.
Nick Harborne, CEO of the charity, said: “We’re incredibly grateful to Mary, Alina and Leslee for choosing to donate some of the funds from this beautiful little book to help refugees.
“Reading Refugee Support Group is proud to have been working in Reading and the surrounding area for over 25 years, and like the gas tower, we feel like a part of the fabric of the local area.
“It’s been a tough year for everyone, and for refugees especially, so it’s genuinely inspiring that this wonderful book about the town will help refugees rebuilding their lives here.
“We couldn’t be more thankful and we can’t wait to read through our copy.”
For more details, or to see a preview, log on to www.readinggastower.co.uk
