Programme of Meetings 2025-26

Month

Summary

Aug 15

Local Significant Historical Influencers.

This talk is about six figures across more than a millennium who have had particular influence over this part of the country. They include a Mercian Queen, a foolhardy Throckmorton, a prominent Parliamentarian, the doyen of political wire-pullers, the musical embodiment of English Imperialism, and a flawed but brilliant Prime Minister.

Speaker: Andrew Reekes

Evening host: Chris Smith

Sept 19

History of River Avon Navigation

Before canals, railways and even before proper roads, the rivers were often the best route in and out from the middle of the country, linking up other trading towns, the coast and the wider world. Our beautiful River Avon has literally shaped the towns through which it flows, and the reason why they are where they are. Some of the mills and crossing points date back over a thousand years. 
The Avon was one of the first rivers to be managed by a system of locks and officially have its trading status protected by the crown 400 years.  The talk will then go on to look at the decline in trade due to competition from the canals, and then to the renovation when a new era of leisure boating began and the navigation was recused from dereliction. 
This will bring us up to modern day, and a snap shot of the great work that the Avon Navigation trust do today, to Administer, Maintain and Improve the Navigation for the use by the public.

Speaker:  Alex Mellor  

Evening host: Mike Franklin

Oct 17

Elgar a Musical Life

Elgar is as much an Enigma as his famous Variations;- this talk seeks to introduce him in a way that most people don't recognise. Many people think of him as a sort of Nationalistic composer of 'Land of Hope and Glory' - but be prepared to be surprised.

Speaker:  Richard Westwood-Brookes

Evening host: Alex Grieve

Nov 21

Catherine of Aragon

We all know about Catherine of Aragon: she was ‘the first wife’. But what was she really like? Catherine was a remarkable and capable woman who steered a complicated course through Tudor England for more than 30 years. Well educated, courageous and politically shrewd, she was loved by the people and was in most ways an excellent royal consort. 

But she failed in one thing: to provide her husband with the Son and Heir. This talk tells Catherine’s largely forgotten story, from childhood in the palaces of Spain, to her short-lived first marriage, her traumatic fight for survival as a young widow, her triumphant second marriage and the catastrophe of “The King’s Great Matter” that saw her set aside in favour of Anne Boleyn...

Speaker: Dr. Gillian White

Evening host: Chris Smith

Dec 19

The Working Countryside in Photographs

This talk looks at some of the uses of period photographs in telling historical stories from the last 150 years. As examples, Robin will share images of farming and rural life in the West Midlands, collected over the last three decades from many sources and which resulted in a publication: 'The Working Countryside'.

Speaker: Robin Hill

Evening host: John Alexander-Head

Mar 20

Brief History of Warwickshire Constabulary

The force was established in 1840 as Warwickshire Constabulary. It did not, however, even cover all the rural areas of the county until 1857. Birmingham, Coventry, Leamington Spa, Stratford-upon-Avon and Warwick originally had their own police forces.

Over time, it absorbed various borough police forces, including Warwick (1875), Stratford-upon-Avon (1889), and Leamington (1947). The Constabulary faced challenges in manning the force, including high turnover and difficult working conditions.

Speaker: Graham Sutherland

Evening host: Andrew Taylor

Apr 17

Songs of the Music Hall

A lively presentation of well-known music hall songs from the 19^th and early 20^th century with explanations as to their date and origins. Richard will perform the songs and encourage audience participation.

Speaker: Richard Churchley

Evening host: Chris Smith

May 15

The Lost Railway

The story of the branch line from Henley-in-Arden to Lapworth.  An account of the efforts by townspeople of Henley-in-Arden to bring a railway to their town and why it took almost 50 years to complete. The story involves Railway Mania, a financial panic and a world war.

Speaker:  Paul Baker

Evening host: Mike Franklin

June 19

God’s Anointed: Raising aristocratic children in Puritan England

What was life like in an aristocratic household during the 1640s and 1650s? Using surviving household account books from the Greville family of Warwick Castle, this talk will uncover surprising stories of growing up and private living during a civil war and the Commonwealth regime of Oliver Cromwell.

Speaker:  Aaron Manning

Evening host: John Alexander-Head

July 17

Mediaeval Children

We think that childhood and loving parents are 20th century phenomena, but while life was harder and probably more dangerous for the young, and lifespans for all were generally shorter in the Middle Ages, the young still played, could go to school and were loved.

Speaker: Mairi Macdonald

Evening host: Chris Smith