Teston (pronounced "Teeson") is a village in Kent. In the middle of the ninteenth century, Thomas Martin began making cricket balls in a workshop above the village post office. When he retired the business was taken over by Alfred Reader who expanded the business and transferred it to a proper factory. It has been known ever since as Reader and continues to be a major manufacturer of cricket balls to this day.

The workers at the Reader factory formed their own trade union - The Teston Independent Society of Cricket Ball Makers, to represent their interests, one of the smallest trade unions in the country.