Upcoming Events

Postponed from December 2020, we can now present Elizabeth Morris, a performance storyteller, with A Christmas Carol.  You may remember we have had Elizabeth before when she portrayed a young Cheshire girl born and living in poverty.  It was a most moving performance; so we do hope that you can join us for this Christmas themed event.

Ken Pye, the Managing Direct of Discover Liverpool and the author of many books, will be describing the triangular trade, which brought so much wealth to Britain during the 18th and early 19th centuries, at the expense of so much suffering to others.

Elizabeth Williams, who is a trustee of the Elizabeth Gaskell House in Manchester, will be talking about the exciting life of Fanny (Frances) Trollope. Fanny was well known for writing several strong novels of social protest:  The first of these was ‘Jonathan Jefferson Whitlaw’ (1836) which was the first anti-slavery novel.  This book influenced the American Harriet Beecher Stowe’s novel ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin’ of 1852. Then in 1840 Fanny published ‘Michael Armstrong: Factory Boy’ which was known as the first industrial…

This month we have Angela Brabin, a retired solicitor with an MA in history, who will be using legal records from the 19th century to show how poison was frequently used in Victorian Britain.  It became common, particularly in poorer areas, to kill husbands for their life insurance.  Despite this we will still be offering tea and coffee at the end of the meeting!

And you thought you knew everything there was to know about Queen Victoria.  This month Simon La Frenais will be telling us about Victoria's unfortunate influence upon the health of the various royal families in Europe and how this had a significant effect upon the subsequent history of Europe.

Gavin Hunter, a local historian, will be telling us about the founding and development of the Liverpool overhead railway. Known locally as the Dockers' Umbrella or Ovee the overhead railway operated along the Liverpool Docks and opened in 1893, before being finally dismantled in 1957.

Bernard Dennis is a member of the British Longbow Society.  It can be said that the English longbow was the most important English military invention of the 1300s and that it changed the political face of Europe. Bernard will be telling us about the development of bows and arrows ranging from the need for hunting, the use in war and recreation, and also the legend of Robin Hood.