All members are welcome to the monthly meetings, usually talks by external speakers, which take place on Monday afternoons at 2.00 p.m. in the Barley Room and last about an hour. Capacity is 100 and admittance is on a first-come first-served basis.
| Date | Speaker | Title | Description |
| 30 Sep 2024 | Roy Waight | More and More | The Miracle of Mount Olivet. Telling the history of More House School in Rowledge. |
| 14 Oct 2024 | Paul McCue | Yvonne Cormeau (SOE) | The life and service of Flight Officer Yvonne Cormeau, MBE (Mil), Légion d’Honneur, Croix de Guerre, Médaille de la Résistance – one of the most successful, but least-known, agents of F (French) Section of the Special Operations Executive (SOE) during the Second World War. |
| 11 Nov 2024 | Alan Freeland | The East India Company 1600-1874 | Companies like Amazon, Apple and Shell are richer and more powerful than many countries. What happens when companies driven by profit are inadequately regulated? We explore the rise and fall of the world’s most powerful private company. |
| 09 Dec 2024 | Chris Herbert | Crazy for Tulips | In the 17th century Netherlands people went mad for tulips. A huge financial bubble resulted which suddenly imploded. What was it about tulips which caught the imagination of the speculators? Come along and find out… |
| 06 Jan 2025 | Dr Judith Hill MA PhD | Thomas Holloway | A man of contradictions and a great benefactor, who built a patent medicine empire in Victorian times. |
| 03 Feb 2025 | Jan Parsons | Prague and Mozart’s travels | A photographic journey showcasing the beautiful architecture of the places Mozart visited during his short life but interwoven with the story of his life, his music and his struggles. |
| 03 Mar 2025 | Mike Grundy | Mornington Crescent | A beautiful early-Georgian Crescent, whose obliteration by a factory in the 1920’s triggered the legal protection of London’s other green squares and crescents. Also the title of London’s most intriguing party game, a place that has inspired artists from Walter Sickert to Frank Auerbach. |
| 31 Mar 2025 | Jim Holmes | English Breakfast and the story of Ceylon tea in Sri Lanka | The slopes of Sri Lanka’s southern mountains are clothed in neat rows of low bushes that produce one of the country’s greatest exports. The famed ‘English Breakfast’ name is known the world over but the story of tea in old Ceylon is far less refreshing. Travel with me to meet the villagers who still hand-pick this everyday product to bring you the true story of tea. |
| 12 May 2025 | Sharon Wright | High Society | In the 1900s balloons became all the rage among ladies who lunched… and flew for fun. Long before women won the vote these have-a-go heroines seized a freedom in the sky that was to be found nowhere on the ground. |
| 09 Jun 2025 | Jenny Bray | Quirky Slideshow | A lighthearted look at some everyday snapshots. |
Use the buttons below to see the 2024/25 events programme
Key Dates Annual Theme Meetings Monthly Meetings Social Meetings Events Calendar