Hosted by Fiona Titcombe and Tony Atkins, Countdown in Reading is back for 2025!

The event is being held as a fundraiser for The Leprosy Mission – see details below.

Date: Saturday 30th August 2025

Venue:  PLEASE NOTE – This is at a different venue to last year’s event.

Christ Church Woodley
Crockhamwell Road, Woodley, Reading, Berkshire,
RG5 3LA
Map

Admission: £12, payable here: paypal.me/FionaTitcombe/12GBP

Hosted by: Fiona Titcombe and Tony Atkins

Doors open: 10:45

Games to be played: Five 15-rounders followed by 15-round grand final

Finishes by: 18:00

Wheelchair accessible?: Yes

Parking onsite?: Yes

How do I get there?

Woodley is a short journey from Reading town centre. If you are driving to the venue, it is very easy to access from the M4, and there is plenty of free parking at the venue.

If you are travelling by public transport, there are regular bus and train services from central Reading. Catch the 13 or 14 orange bus from Blagrave street which takes around 25 minutes and drops you 150 yards from the venue, or catch the train from Reading to Earley which takes just 5 minutes and walk about a mile to the venue.


What will I be doing?

Keeping with the traditional format of Reading events, you will be playing  15-round games in ‘Bristol’ style, where everyone plays the same selections in pairs, with each pair choosing their preferred numbers round format.

Game presentation will be using RoboRiley – selections will be projected on a big screen at the front.

We will play five games, then the top two players will face each other in a grand final.


The first round will be drawn randomly, but don’t worry if you have a bumpy start – for the remaining games you will be playing opponents that have scored similarly to you, so everyone should get some good, well matched games. The primary aim is to have fun! The five heat games will be standard 15 rounders as played on TV, the Grand Final will follow the standard format for 14 rounds, but the conundrum will be replaced with a supernundrum– the first time we’re trying this for a co-event final.

What about lunch?

You can bring a packed lunch, or there are plenty of local shops. Tea and coffee will be freely available at the venue – if you do have a travel mug, please bring it along.

And after?

We’ll head to a local pub for drinks and food – likely to be the George Inn at Loddon Bridge

I’m in – what do I do?

The entry fee is £12. Paypal is preferred. https://www.paypal.me/FionaTitcombe/12GBP. If you can’t pay via paypal, then please contact us at hello@focalcountdown.com to arrange alternate payment options. Please ensure you select the family and friends option.

We are very grateful to the church for hosting our event to raise funds for the charity the church is supporting – The Leprosy Mission. £9 of your entry fee, and any left over event profit will be donated to the charity.

Please note your name will be added to the attendees list on c4c facebook. If you would prefer for this not to happen, please let us know when you sign up.

At time of writing, hotels look to be a reasonable price – however it is Reading Pride on the Saturday so if you are going to book a hotel, it is probably sensible to do so sooner rather than later!

facebook link https://www.facebook.com/events/2019466705223706/

C4c link http://www.c4countdown.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=16862

Parkrun!

For those who like to wake up their brain with a 5K, the venue is just half a mile from Woodford Park, the home of Woodley parkrun, so plenty of time to enjoy your run and post run breakfast before the event starts!

https://www.parkrun.org.uk/woodley/


We want everyone to enjoy the event and have a good time. All attendees or organisers of FOCAL events are bound by the FOCAL Code of Conduct regarding respect for boundaries, respect for opponents and fair play. Any breaches of the Code of Conduct can be discussed in confidence with Fiona, Tony or any member of the Focal committee.