Past Events
Past Events
Talks: September – December 2017
September
19th Julia Freeman – Life and Travels of a Bridge Engineer
26th Shirley Critchley – The search for HMS Wagner lost in Patagonia in 1741 one of the greatest stories of survival in naval history
October
3rd John Goslin The rise and fall of the ‘78’ History Of Sound Recording
10th David Warhurst Travels in Thailand Japan and Korea
17th No Talk
24th John Wren Our German Kings
31st John Smith Roman Life
November
7th Rosemary Legrand Spectacular South African Flora. The gorgeous flowers and fantastic scenery of this amazing country.
14th Tony Bates The Australian Outback
21st John Childs The Woodland Trust – The UK’s largest woodland conservation charity.
28th AGM
Talks: January – April 2017
January
10th Hugh Ashley – Bournemouth Cinemas
17th Adrian Green – Finding Pitt-Rivers
24th Leanne Colverson – Dorset & Somerset Air Ambulance
31st John Hallett – History of Kingston Lacy
February
7th David Beardsley – The Bankes family of Corfe Castle and Kingston Lacy: a Dorset dynasty
14th Julie James – Mission to Seafarers
21st Michael Rowland – Bournemouth Gardens
28th Jo Amey – The Tile Lady
March
7th Mike Andrews – Christchurch: a smuggling town
14th Stuart Morris – Portland
21st Colin Stone – Industrial Tramways & Railways of South Dorset
28th Dr Philip Coward – Tolpuddle Martyrs & Their Times
April
4th Social Evening
2016 Autumn Programme
September
20th John Smith “Augustus 2000 years on” -Augustus was the first of a long line of Roman Emperors – he set a standard of stability and management needed after the civil wars.
27th John Jones Round London by Canal
October
4th Bryan Pinchen ‘Strange Bizarre and True’ Tales from the natural world’ A talk filled with fascinating and almost unbelievable facts across a broad spectrum of the natural world.
11th Terry Vincent ‘China- Ancient and Modern’ Life under the Emperors including the Terracotta Warriors and the Forbidden City, Communism and its after-effects and its progress to a world power
18th Robin Cook ‘Life at Harrods’
25th Steve Roberts ‘Bilbao and the Bay of Biscay ‘
November
1st Members Evening
8th Dorothy Gill ‘ Roses in No-Mans Land ‘ Nursing in the UK and on the battlefields during World War I.
15th Bonny Sartin ‘From Corscombe to New Zealand’ – Edmund Sartin took his family from Corscombe to New Zealand in 1840. They were on the very first ship to go to Taranaki in North Island. This is a tale of poverty, pestilence, con men, war, gold fever and song. Not necessarily in that order
22nd Jacky and Mike Smith ‘Eastern Shore of Virginia ,USA.’ The history and places on this isolated finger of land by Chesapeake Bay
29th Christopher Legrand ‘Around the World in Music and Pictures’. This highly popular presentation brings together a wide variety of well and lesser known music from different countries around the world and is illustrated with a exciting mix of pictorial scenes and events. (Musical)
December
6th ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
SPRING PROGRAMME 2016
January
12th John Barker: In the Steps of Tess of the d’Urbevilles. We follow Thomas Hardy’s heroine from her birthplace in mid-Dorset, to Bournemouth and Stonehenge, to the church of the Turbevilles and end up at the grave of her creator.
19th Members’ evening: The Manor Houses of Dorset.
26th Philip Browne: A Freezing Horror. Philip Browne will describe the final voyage of the Halsewell, East Indiaman, which was wrecked on the Purbeck coast on a freezing January night in 1786. He will examine the significance of the voyage for Captain Peirce and his family, and the impact of the shipwreck on the people of Dorset and on the nation as a whole. His book on the subject was published in October 2016.
February
2nd Roger Morris: From Northumbria to Australia-From lead to gold. Roger will describe how the miners from the North of England helped shape the development of Australia and the State of Victoria in particular during colonial times. A tale of adventure, of how they made lost fortunes in the gold fields and in their own way made their mark on a new nation.
9th Dr Cheryl Butler: Women, Work and Wool: The Tudor Women of Southampton. Cheryl combines her duties as the Head of Culture at Eastleigh with her research on the sixteenth century. An Honorary Fellow of Winchester University and Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, she has produced 3 volumes for the Southampton Records Society and books on Itchen Ferry Village and Tudor Southampton. She is a lecturer and a registered Blue Badge Guide.
16th Ann Gardner MBE: C.R.U.M.B.S: Training with a Purpose. Ann was very concerned that her daughter, who has learning difficulties, was unable to find work. Ann set up a charity to develop training in catering for people with similar problems. It has gone from strength to strength. Anne will be accompanied by her Operations Manager, and will provide refreshments for all our members to show what Crumbs produces.
23rd Jacqui Halewood: The Shire Hall Project.. Three years ago, the Dorchester Prison closed, and plans to convert it into a hotel start this year. This seems a fitting time to hear the results of research by Jacqui Halewood and her team at the Dorset |History Centre into the records of the Shire |Hall, where so many of the prisoners were sentenced.
March
1st Chris Thain: The Brownsea Island Nature Reserve. Chris is the manager of the Reserve, leased from the National Trust. It’s large, sheltered lagoon is important for overwintering and summer breeding birds and its flooded woods, lakes, reed beds and pinewoods are home to diverse habitats and wildlife, including sika deer and the red squirrel
8th Mike Crankshaw: The Stour from Stourhead to Christchurch Harbour. Mike sailed the length of the River Stour in a Canadian canoe, and will talk about and show us all the interesting things he passed on the way.
15th Stuart Morris: Portland: Isle of Fascination: an audio-visual presentation. Stuart is recognized as the authority on Portland and his book: Portland in the Discover Dorset series is recognized as the best account of this unique Island, its history, geology and industry. We shall see one of his four presentations, the one covering the Island generally.
22nd Social Evening
2015 Programme
AUTUMN PROGRAMME 2015
September
22nd KATHY McNALLY The Making of the Man who made James Bond . Was Ian Fleming the real James Bond?
29th BOB MIZON A Tour of the Universe
October
6th JOHN ENGLAND Guernsey and the other Channel Islands
13th SALLY HUMPHREYS The secret world of bats
20th RICHARD RANDERSON So you think you are King Canute!
27th FELICITY HERRING A Journey to Egypt and the Holy Land with the C19 artist David Roberts
November
3rd MEMBERS EVENING Motoring memories
10th PHIL HOLT Donald Campbell – Across the Lake. Find out what made Campbell a legend both on water and land. What pushed him to that final fateful attempt at a water speed record.
17th RON TAYLOR Sugar and Spice A story of slavery , great explorers and how sugar has influenced our tastes.
24th JEREMY WATERS Travels inside Turkey
December
1st ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
SPRING PROGRAMME 2015
January
13 John Barker: History on our doorstep: The Story of St Joseph’s Convent. Eileen and John Barker were intrigued by a building opposite to their home in Branksome Wood Road, demolished in 1986. They will talk about its founder, Lady Georgiana Fullerton, philosopher and novelist.
20 Ian Schulz: Slow down take a closer look: The focus of all Ian’s talks is how anyone with a moderately good camera can take good photographs of local wildlife. Tonight’s presentation concentrates mainly on the New Forest and his own garden.
27 Derek Radley: Green Island Holiday Trust: The Trust started life on Green Island in Poole Harbour before moving to the Harbour shore. A charity, it organises holidays for disabled people, with great support from a dedicated band of volunteers.
Febrary
3 John Smith: The Battle of Britain over Bournemouth and Poole 1940: Seventy-five years ago the inhabitants of Bournemouth and Poole witnessed battles in the air. John will give a general introduction then show how the local battles differed from those over southeast England.
10 Gillian and Richard Drewitt: The recollections of a local building company, James Drewitt & Sons, Ltd. Wherever you look in Bournemouth and Poole you see evidence of this firm’s activities. Gillian, MD, and her brother will talk about the firm’s history and share the pictorial archive
17 Bonny Sartin: The folk songs of Dorset. Between 1905 and 1907 the Hammond brothers of Clevedon in Somerset collected over 600 folk songs from the people of Dorset. 111 of these were sung to them by members of Bonny’s family. This is the story of these two men and their quest to record the old songs before they disappeared.
24 Mike Ladle: Something fishy. Mike Ladle is a specialist on the fish in our local rivers and we have benefited from his knowledge in the past. Recently he had another book published and will share his latest research with us.
March
3 Colin Bowditch: The decline of the flax and hemp industry in Beaminster. The Brit valley was the centre of flax and hemp production in the eighteenth century. A team of volunteers from Beaminster Museum conducted a survey to discover why the industry died in Beaminster and continued to thrive in Bridport.
10 Diana Trenchard: Napoleon is coming. What shall we do? Diana has a copy of ‘The Plan’, a fascinating document which shows that Dorset was prepared to the last detail to respond to this threat.
17 Lilian Ladle: Excavation of a Roman villa at Druce Farm. Lilian tells the remarkable story of how a group of volunteers, all members of the East Dorset Antiquarian Society, have excavated, over the past six years, what was obviously a very large, prosperous Roman villa near Piddlehinton.
24 Social evening