We don't take ourselves too seriously. We encourage healthy debate and a questioning attitude. All sorts of subjects are considered - and the half time tea break with a quick chat is a MUST.

PLEASE CONTACT ELWYN FOR FURTHER INFORMATION BY CLICKING THE EMAIL LINK

Forthcoming events:

DREYFUS - AN ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE

Wednesday 11th December

The Dreyfus affair was the single greatest miscarriage of justice in modern French History.

The affair divided France society and  led to rioting across the country, embittered its politics, and brought into the open a previously nascent Anti-Semitism. It left lasting scars on French political life. The press played a crucial role in exposing information and in shaping and expressing public opinion on both sides of the conflict.

The affair centred on the question of the guilt or innocence of army captain Alfred Dreyfus, who had been convicted of treason in December 1894 for allegedly selling military secrets to the Germans.

It is a tale of cover up, falsification of evidence, heroism and Jack Hughes.

But truth, as always will out. 

There are a number of other projects in the pipeline, including:

The London & Birmingham Railway (HS0)

Its construction by Robert Stephenson, 1836-8.

Wednesday 8th January 2025

“The greatest undertaking since the building of the Pyramids” by “The Greatest Engineer of the 19^th century”.

At 112 miles it was the most complex railway undertaking of its time with very significant construction challenges. The talk will review the life of Robert Stephenson then look at how he managed the project and engineered parts of the line. This is based on original records, sample contracts, contemporary images and recent visits to the sites. Comparisons are made with the structures then and now; and how NetworkRail have undertaken some similar projects.

Some issues that have affected HS2  - the 21^st century London & Birmingham Railway – also bedevilled HS0 in the 1830s; history comes full circle. The HS2 station in Birmingham is on the very same site as the one opened in 1838, where there have been some fascinating archaeological discoveries.

• Clive and the East India Company - Wednesday 12th February 2025

• Asquith - Wednesday 12th March 2025
• The Tudors - April - July
• Mary Queen of Scots
• The Russian Revolution
• The rise and fall of the British Empire
• Thatcher v Heath
• Pistols at Dawn - deadly political rivalry

Previous sessions:

2024

• The massacre at Oradour / David Irving
• The Princes in the Tower / Shakespeare’s histories
• Wars of the Roses
• Plantagenets
• Norman Conquest
• What a difference a Plague makes
• Otto von Bismarck
• Wigan Dispensary, 1824-1873
• The Suez Crisis 1956

2023

• Queen Victoria
• The Education Act 1944
• Churchill and Attlee (3 sessions)
• The History of Pantomime

2022

• The Origins of the Second World War (five sessions)