Tuesday Mornings
10.15am to 12.15pm Community Arts Centre Roaring Meg Stevenage. Tuesday mornings 10.15 to 12.15 Starting 26th April 2022 Our Summer term starts on Tuesday 26th April and we will be doing something a bit different for this term. Throughout the term we will be having a large selection of different speakers, some just for one week, others for several, covering many different topics. Hopefully something for everyone. If you want to sign up for the whole term the cost will be £35 for 10 weeks on either Tuesday or Thursday or £50 for the whole lot. However, if you are going to be away for a large part of the term or don’t fancy all the subjects you can pay £5 per lecture on the door. OPERA 26th April – 24th May (5 weeks) Speaker: Derek Blyth Derek will be exploring a different opera every week – Carmen, Barber of Seville, Fidelio, Marriage of Figaro, La Traviata (showing at the cinema on 13th and 17th April so take the opportunity for a preview.) ADMIRAL BEATTY – THE LAST NAVAL HERO 31ST May Speaker: Roy Smart To celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Jutland, Roy Smart, who gave us some great talks on zoom last year, will be with us in person to talk about Admiral Beatty. STEVENAGE OLD TOWN BOWLING GREEN 7TH June Speaker: Bill Wastell Local historian Bill Wastell is writing a book about the fascinating history of the buildings around Bowling Green in Stevenage Old Town and he will share some of his findings with us. A blue plaque on Springfield House is being unveiled by the Mayor on Saturday 4th June and there will be an opportunity to visit the building and beautiful gardens as part of a free Heritage Event on that day. Why not come along on the 4th June, details later, and then come to Bill’s talk to hear more about the fascinating stories of some of the people who lived on the Green. PUCCINI 14TH June Speaker: Felici Opera Postponed from last year, we are pleased to welcome Felici Opera for some live music and talk about the life and work of Puccini. TO BE CONFIRMED 21st June OUT OF AFRICA 28th June Speaker: Roy Smart The story of an extraordinary woman who was born in Rutland, but grew up amongst the ‘Happy Valley Set’ in Kenya; became a game hunting aviator out there before coming back to England, setting a record for the East-West Atlantic crossing; had an affair with King Edward’s brother, Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester, the son of George V, from which she was ‘bought off’ by the Windor’s with a life time pension and went to live in Hollywood before returning to Kenya and becoming a world best race horse trainer and then wrote a memoir of which Ernest Hemmingway said ‘she has written so well, and marvellously well, that I was completely ashamed of myself as a writer’. But did she actually write it herself??? |
Thursday Mornings10.15am to 12.15pm Community Arts Centre Roaring Meg Stevenage. Thursday mornings 10.15 to 12.15 STARTING 28th April 2022 MOUNTFICHET CASTLE 28th April Speaker: Alan Goldsmith Mountfichet Castle is a unique open air museum experience where the visitor can travel back in time over 900 years and truly witness life in a medieval Motte and Bailey castle. THE TEAPOT DOME SCANDAL 5TH May Speaker: Richard Till The Teapot Dome scandal was a bribery scandal involving the administration of United States President Warren Harding from 1921 to 1923. Secretary of the Interior Albert Bacon Fall had leased navy petroleum reserves at Teapot Dome in Wyoming as well as two locations in California to private oil companies at low rates without competitive bidding. Convicted of accepting bribes from the oil companies Fall became the first presidential cabinet member to go to prison. THE OVERBURY AFFAIR- 1603-1618 12TH May Speaker: Richard Till The Thomas Overbury affair was the greatest scandal of seventeenth century England featuring a heady mix of adultery, murder and necromancy and has been described as ‘one of the most sensational crimes in English history. THE GOLDEN AGE OF SPAIN 19TH May Speaker: Mike Muncaster A talk about 16th century Spain’s ruthless pursuit of riches and power in the New World when it established empires in Mexico and Peru. ENERGY 2050 26TH May Speaker: John Spiers The Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, the Rt Hon Kwasi Kwarteng, said in a Foreword to an October 2021 paper ‘Now is the time the world needs to go further and faster to tackle climate change. The UK is stepping up to that challenge. Here we set out our ambitious strategy. This Strategy will put us on an ambitious path to meet our Sixth Carbon Budget and our Nationally Determined contribution, cutting emissions by at least 69% by 2030 on 1990 levels and reaching net zero by 2050’ Is this realistic? This talk will review some of the factors that will influence our ability to meet this target. ART RELATED SUBJECT TO BE CONFIRMED 2nd June Speaker: Jackie Marks STEVENAGE HALL OF FAME 9th June Speaker: Paul Fry You will be familiar with the Hall of Fame walkway across the dual carriageway to Stevenage Station. Paul Fry has produced a book about the Sports Stars featured on the walkway and this talk coincides with an exhibition at Stevenage Museum. He has also just started researching a 2nd book to cover all the arts stars featured on the walkway and has some fascinating stories to tell. LOST GARDENS AND HOUSES AROUND WELWYN GARDEN CITY 16TH June Speaker: Anne Rowe In the countryside around Welwyn Garden City, there were once several grand houses with equally impressive grounds and gardens. Sadly most have been lost to us and we only have echoes of their former glory in traces of buildings and the imprint that their gardens have left on the landscape. Anne Rowe is a landscape historian and author and has spent many years unearthing the secret stores of these fascinating place. ANOTHER ICARUS 23rd June Speaker: Roy Smart The tale of aviation pioneer Percy Sinclair Pilcher and his wonderful sister Ella whose noble quest for flight ended tragically at Stanford Hall on the banks of Shakespeare’s Avon. SPYMASTER 30th June Speaker: Helen Fry Helen returns to talk about her latest book ‘Spymaster’. Vienna in the 1920s: a vibrant, cosmopolitan city awash with art, fuelled by coffee and teeming with espionage. In the midst of all that intrigue, unsuspected by all, a charming, music-loving, brilliant British spymaster, is working undercover as a lowly issuer of passports and visas schemes to thwart communist agents and then the Nazis. |
