In November 1992 the 'Great Fire' of Windsor caused £40m of damage to the fabric of the Castle, which was reputed to the late Queen's favourite home.  In three lectures we will examine how the restoration of the Castle after the Great Fire has made the reign of Queen Elizabeth II, along with that of King Charles II and King George IV, a key period in the Castle's post-medieval development.

Tickets will be available at the February lecture.

Image: Windsor Castle from the Thames, Public Domain

We will begin with Sherlock Holmes from Page to Screen as we see how the image of the famous detective was shaped by painters and actors into something rather different from Conan Doyle's original descriptions.  We will then look at Sherlock Holmes and his Contemporaries as there were dozens of other well-known sleuths from the 1880s to the 1920s.  We will finish with Agatha Christie and Dorothy L. Sayers in London to explore the very different ways in which the two writers chronicled the rapidly-changing London of the 1920s and 30s.  

Image: Frank Wiles, Frontispiece to The Valley of Fear, Strand Magazine 1914, Public Domain

W S Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan both had successful careers of their own before, during and after their famous partnership.  Ian Gledhill will consider each of their lives separately, followed by a look at their astonishing collaboration.  The day will be filled with numerous musical examples and will be both thoroughly entertaining and informative.

We all think we know Jane Austen, this Special Interest Day will explore aspects of her life and writing which may be unfamiliar and rather surprising!  Tickets are £45 and will be available at the October lecture.

We start the day with a step-by-step guide to the conservation of paintings through the ages. Julia will explain how panels and canvases are prepared and will illustrate the different approaches and techniques involved using ‘before’, ‘during’ and ‘after’ photographs. She will bring with her some ‘works in progress’ from her specialist studio workshop and has offered to discuss any paintings that we bring along too!  This will be a very interesting and unusual day. 

Tickets are £41, which includes all three sessions, coffee and lunch.  They will be on sale from 10am at the lecture on 7th February. 

This study day commences with an in-depth look at the history and architecture of this magnificent building. We discover how daily performances and dress rehearsals of opera, ballet and much else besides, fit into this elegant Victorian theatre, flagship of the British arts world and workplace of more than 1,000 people.

Illustrated with performance videos, there is additional focus on costume and set design, production values and how the digital age has been embraced by the opera and ballet worlds.

The day starts with coffee at 11.00am, with the first lecture from 11.30am. The second lecture will be after lunch and will finish at 3pm.

Tickets go on sale at our September meeting @ £28 each to include lunch.

Simon Whitehouse: Wilde about Oscar!

This study day explores the life and times of Oscar Wilde, from his Irish roots to his Oxford days and his meteoric rise to celebrity. We travel with him to the United States and return to examine  his starring role within the artistic and theatrical worlds of late nineteenth century London. We visit him at home in Bohemian Chelsea and look at some of his West End haunts. Finally we will learn how Wilde became famous for being infamous.

Running time: Coffee at 10.00am with first lecture at 10.30am. Ends at 3.00pm

Tickets will be on sale at the December lecture @ £35 each.

Please note that these are non refundable unless resold.

Victorian Britain saw the rise of the affluent middle classes, a stratum of society that expected all things to have a purpose and, preferably, a moral message. In the era of Dickens, Trollope and George Eliot, painters also became fascinated by narrative and morality. Here we see the results; cads, bounders and fallen women jostle with gamblers, philosophers and honest workmen in the wonderfully detailed canvases of mid-nineteenth century artists. This study day looks at the development of such paintings – initially considered profoundly shocking, but soon relished with the same delight as that with which we watch the TV soap operas.

The day starts with coffee at 10.00am and the lecture cycle begins at 10.30am with two lectures before lunch and one after, with the day ending at around 3.00pm.

Tickets will cost £35 per head to include lunch, with wine or soft drinks.

More tickets will go on sale at the September meeting. Or from Amanda on amandajane59@hotmail.co.uk

We have a very exciting day planned with jewellery designer, Andrew Prince. Andrew's passion for jewellery has been with him since as a schoolboy he went with his mother to Geneva and viewed the astonishing auction of the Duchess of Windsor's jewellery. After leaving school he did apprenticeships in Bond Street and with contemporary designer, Elizabeth Gage. His first big commission was to design for Michael Jackson and Shirley Bassey. Later he started to create design for film: Mrs Henderson Presents in 2005, The Young Victoria in 2009, and Downton Abbey in 2012 where he supplied a large collection of combs, tiaras, earrings and necklaces for the cast. Some of these pieces will be on display at the Community Centre.

We will hear about the relationship between the great fashion houses and jewellers that existed between 1890 and 1929 and the clients and patrons who commmissioned the jewels and how they were matched with sumptuous gowns. He will also talk about the 'glamour years' of 1929 to 1959 and how the rise of cinema had an impact on jewellery design. 

There will be cofffee from 10.00am and lectures start from 10.30am and will end around 3.00pm.  Tickets are £35 per head and include lunch, with wine or soft drinks.

Tickets are still available from Amanda. Please contact her on amandajane59@hotmail.co.uk or 01243 512720.

Plants too are silent witnesses to crimes. Their presence in many crime scenes can help the investigators identify a suspect or locate a victim.

Apparently mundane plants such as brambles and nettles can provide valuable insights into when a crime was committed. Fragments of leaves and seeds embedded in the soil of the footwear of a suspect can place them at the scene.

Forensic botany is not a new science, plants have played a major role in solving crime for decades.

Tickets for this event are now on sale @ £32 per head to include three lectures and a ploughman's lunch. We start with coffee at 10.00am and end at around 2.30pm. Please contact Amanda on 01243 512720 or  amandajane59@hotmail.co.uk for tickets: 

Have you ever wondered how bricks, an exploded shed or an unmade bed can be art? Why a dead cow and her calf were exhibited at the Tate? Or, how a urinal placed on a pedestal can be taken seriously as a sculpture? This study day may provide the answers...

Tickets cost £30 will go on sale at the June meeting or can be obtained in advance from Amanda Birkett amandajane59@hotmail.co.uk  The cost includes coffee on arrival and a light lunch with wine.

The day starts with coffee from 10.00am followed by two lectures. After lunch, there is one further lecture and we aim to finish at around 2.45pm.

Fake News has been around since the time of the Egyptian pharaohs and art has always been one of its favourite media. In this study day, we will be uncovering the subtle art of spin and propaganda in art through the ages, from Ancient Mesopotamia and Archaic Egypt to Nazi Germany. Every picture tells a story, whether it is true or not is an entirely different matter. All very topical given the climate in which we live...

Tickets costs £30 and include coffee on arrival, a light lunch with wine or soft drinks. These are available for sale at each meeting or from anne.bevan6@gmail.com

The day starts at 10.00am with coffee and is followed by two lectures. After the lunch break we have one further lecture and the day should end around 2.45pm.

Often seen as rogues and vagabonds, the road to respectability for an actor was a long and lively journey, until the start of the 20th century established acting as an 'honourable' profession.

Tickets for this event will go on sale at the July meeting and will cost £30 a head to include coffee and biscuits on arrival and a ploughman's lunch with wine and a selection of soft drinks. The day starts at 10.00am with coffee, the first lecture is at 10.30am, with the second at 11.45am. We will break for lunch at 12.45 and start again at 1.30pm, finishing the day around 2.30pm.

For further information, or to make a booking, please contact Anne Bevan on 01730 893343 or anne.bevan6@gmail.com

PLEASE NOTE THE CHANGE TO THE TIMINGS

This day charts opera's close connection with the society that pays for it. The talk moves from the 17th and 18th century preoccupations with princely patronage, classical plots and happy endings, through the gear change of war and revolution to the 19th century concerns of nationalism, doomed heroines and epic themes.

The cost is £30 per head, to include coffee and biscuits on arrival and a ploughman's lunch with wine and soft drinks.

The first lecture starts promptly at 10.00am followed by a coffee break at 11.15am then the final lecture is at 11.30am before lunch at 1.00pm. 

To book a place on this study day please contact Anne Bevan on 01730 893343 or anne.bevan6@gmail.com

This special interest day spans the Renaissance – Artemisia Gentileschi and others – through the 18th century – Le Brun and Kauffman, Rosa Bonheur and Lady Butler plus Berthe Morisot – to the 20th century – Anna Airey, Laura Knight and Sylvia Pankhurst.

This study day starts with coffee at 10.00am and the first lecture starts at 10.30am. We expect to finish around 2.30pm