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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

Glenn Miller was a highly successful Band Leader during the Swing era and by 1940 had become a major star of Radio broadcasting , records and sheet music sales and had starred in two motion pictures. When the USA entered WW2 Glenn volunteered and became an officer in the US Army Air Force. He led and directed the US Air Force Band and toured the military training camps to entertain the young airmen and women.

In 1944 Glenn brought the band to Britain to raise morale among the the US air units. The band broadcast over the BBC Radio, played concerts at numerous venues and toured US air bases. As the allies advanced through Europe it was decided to move the band from the UK to Paris. In December 1944 Glenn was a passenger in a small aircraft which took off  to fly to Paris. The aircraft never arrived and Glenn was posted as ‘missing’. No trace of the aircraft has ever been found. The legacy of Glenn Miller lives on in his music.’  

 

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

2 30pm

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Medical Dectection Dogs

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more information later

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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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