A warm welcome ..
Welcome to the Upper Thames and Ridgeway National Trust Association (UTRNTA).
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The UTRNTA is the local Supporter Group for the National Trust, covering parts of Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Wiltshire not catered for by surrounding Associations.
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We attract members from a wide area centred on Cirencester, Lechlade and Highworth.
In addition to your existing membership of the National Trust we offer events such as:
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​Local talks on a wide variety of topics
Day-trips to NT Properties and other places of interest
An annual spring holiday
​The talks take place in the winter months and are held in Cirencester, Lechlade and Highworth. The outings are in the warmer months, and are typically day-trips by coach to NT sites which are further away. The holiday in 2023 was based in Sheffield and included five National Trust sites in that area.
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​Some of our funds are donated to the National Trust to help in their work locally.
Our upcoming Events
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NEXT TALK
2025
Tuesday 7th October Highworth
Wayne Gregory
Jewel of Arabia
Please note
This is a change to the published talk
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UTRNTA: new season ticket starting Autumn 2025/26 for talks
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Introducing the new UTRNTA season ticket for the next series of winter talks. The cost is £20 per person. In other words, you get 6 talks for the price of 4. The plan is that each season ticket will be numbered so that all we need to record on arrival is your number. Hopefully, this should reduce queueing and make things easier. The season ticket is only available to members, but members and guests will be welcome at all talks as before.
There are several ways to purchase the season ticket. The preferred method is via BACS transfer direct to the UTRNTA account. If you do this, please send an email (dave@davang.co.uk) to let me know who you are, etc. Other methods include payment by cheque payable to UTRNTA and sent to Dave Richardson, 34 Reeds, Cricklade, Swindon SN6 6JF, cash, and contactless card. Initially, I will send an email to allow you to print out a paper version of the season ticket. This will be replaced with a card version when you arrive for your first talk.
FUTURE TALKS
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2025​ ​​
Saturday November 15th
​Cirencester
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Stewart Smith
Minster Lovell, Lord Lovell and the Chartists
Old Duffer's talk
I Was a Minster Boy.
The story of my village where three became one
Meeting a Saint,The Cat the Rat and Lovel the Dog and that Chartist bloke Feargus O’Conner.
The AGM will follow the talk​
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2026
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Wednesday 14th January
Highworth
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Dr Richard Fisher
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'Three Choirs and a Reformation: English Cathedrals under the Tudors'
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In this illustrated talk Dr Richard Fisher explains how the nineteen cathedrals of medieval England were administered and funded, including their curious division into two very distinct organisational groups. Henry VIII is infamous for his dissolution of the monasteries, but not so well known for creating six new dioceses, bishops and their requisite cathedrals from abbeys spared destruction. Yet which did he choose to save and why? Using examples from the west of England, focusing on the cathedrals at Hereford, Worcester and Gloucester, the story is told of how our cathedrals have developed
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Wednesday 11th February
Cirencester
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Wayne Gregory
Hidden Arabia
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Friday 11th March
Lechlade
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Bill King
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The Magic and Mysteryof Glenn Miller
Thursday 16th April
Highworth
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Jennifer Cowling
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Those Extraordinary Things We Say
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Are you the kind of person (as I am) who happily uses phrases such as a turn up for the book, cupboard love, being taken to the cleaners, sod’s law, having a whale of a time or tickled pink in your everyday conversation oblivious to the fact that many of your listeners have no idea what you’re talking about?? Why is our language so strange and difficult to analyse at times? What are its origins? A light-hearted look at English figures of speech and how we use them.
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Wednesday 7th October
Cirencester
to be confirmed
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Saturday 21st November
LECHLADE
2 30pm
please note the venue
Dr Gillian White
Henry V111 and the Field of the Cloth of Gold
In June 1520 the king of France and the king of England met in a field outside Calais to celebrate peace. The celebrations that accompanied this meeting were so magnificent and luxurious that they have become known as The Field of Cloth of Gold. The diplomatic negotiations were ultimately worthless but for Henry VIII and François I it was a chance to compete for honour and glory and no expense was to be spared in the competition to be top dog. This talk explores the reason for their meeting, the extravagant celebrations themselves, and the aftermath of this magnificent yet futile event.
The AGM will follow the talk
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OUTINGS
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2025​​
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​Friday 6th June
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at 10 30am
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COFFEE MORNING
Meet at
Stanton House Hotel
Stanton Fitzwarren​
SN6 7SD
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SPRING HOLIDAY 15-19th June 2025
Suffolk
We will be based at the Dragonfly Hotel on the outskirts of Bury St Edmunds.
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Sunday May 15th Arrive at Knebworth at 11.30- 12.00 for Soup and Sandwich lunch , tea and coffee (prepaid) in the Knebworth Garden Terrace Tea room. Then free flow tour of the House, leaving at 3.30 to travel on to Bury St Edmonds and our Dragonfly Hotel arriving at approx 5pm.
Monday 16th Leave the hotel at 9.30
Travel the short distance to St Edmondsbury Cathedral for a tour starting at 10.00. After the tour you have free time to find your own lunch and explore Bury. Return to the coach at 1.00 to go to Ickworth House for 2pm. and tour the House and the Rotunda leaving at 4.30 to return to the Hotel at approx.5pm.
Tuesday 17th Leave the Hotel at 9.00 am
to go Kentwell Hall, Long Melford for a tour at 10.am with a guide. Back to the coach and to the Hare Inn for Soup and Sandwich lunch at 12.30pm.After lunch a short drive to Holy Trinity Church, at the top of the village, We will have a guided tour at 2pm leaving for the hotel at 4pm.
Wednesday 18th Leave the Hotel at 9.15 am
Travel to Sutton Hoo arriving approx. 10.am Guided tour 11am, find own lunch at the cafe there. Leaving 1.45 to go on to Lavenham, where we have a talk in the Guild Hall at 3pm, and then time to explore the beautiful village. Back to the coach at 5pm arriving at the hotel at about 6pm.
Thursday 19th Leave the hotel at 9.am
to drive to Syon House arriving there at around 11.30 to 12.00. Go to the Courtyard Restaurant in the Hillier Garden Centre for lunch, At 1pm be at the House for a tour. We will continue our journey home at 3pm to arrive at our pick-up points around 5pm to 6pm traffic allowing.
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further outings are in the pipeline
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Look out for further information
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Thanks to those who volunteered
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Wednesday July 2nd
Visit to Bletchley Park
Come and explore this extraordinary, once top-secret place and discover the amazing stories
of the World War 2 codebreakers. Visit the largest display of Enigma machines in the world,
see Alan Turing’s office, go to the original codebreaking huts where you can try cracking
codes yourself, see the Bombe invented by Alan Turing to decipher the Enigma codes (if
you’ve seen The Imitation Game you’ll know what to expect). There is a separate Museum
of Computing which has its own admission fee and is not included in our tickets. There will
be no group guided tour but free hour-long outdoor tours are bookable on a first-come-
first-served basis on arrival.
​The cost is £43 to include travel and admission ticket which we will be given on arrival as it enables unlimited return visits for a year.
The Barnes coach will pick up at
Highworth Brewery St car park leaving promptly at 8.45am.
Cirencester The Beeches car park pick up at 9.00am.
We will arrive at Bletchley Park at 11.00am.
The coach will leave at 3.30pm for home.
To book a place email or ring me
Sue Troman 07503171616 sue.troman@btinternet.com
with the following:
1) names of people coming
2) mobile phone numbers or landline if no mobile
3) pick up place
4) how you are going to pay
Please pay by BACS if possible using the sort code 60-05-41,
account number 24586269
and put CODEsurname in the reference box.
If you are paying by cheque, make it payable
to UTRNTA and post it to me.
If you prefer to book by post, please send me the cheque together with all of the above
information. If you would like a receipt please enclose a sae.
Due to the continued interest in Bletchley Park I would anticipate this to be a popular visit
with booking recommended sooner rather than later. When the seats go,they go.
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Wednesday
August 27th​
visit to
Kelmscott Manor
near Lechlade
Visitors to use their own transport
to reach the venue GL7 3HJ
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There will be a guided tour and afterwards a cream tea at the
Manor Tea Rooms
details to follow
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Wednesday
September 17th
an outing to
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Coughton Court
Warwickshire
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Coughton Court
is an imposing Tudor house set in beautiful gardens with a collection of Catholic treasures
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More details to follow.
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New programme of courses released by Heritage and Rural Skills Centre
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Painting, blacksmithing, block printing, traditional lime plastering, leaded stain glass, pargeting, wood carving, lettercutting in stone or wood, landscape oil painting, making a willow bird feeder, glass painting, textures weaving, working in silver ..... these courses are on offer at the Heritage and Rural skills centre here in our area in Coleshill. Lasting one or two days these are EXTREMELY popular So if you are interested contact the national trust or 01793762209
pargeting, plaster or mortar applied to a wall typically with an ornamental pattern
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