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…
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…
In a change of plan, our April talk will be given by Geoffrey Scargill and will be on the "Railway King" Sir Edward Watkin. Sir Edward was deeply involved in the development of the railways worldwide but he also had an eye for the ladies. Please bring your own well…
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…
Professor Stephen Harding, Professor of Applied Biology at the University of Nottingham, will be following on from his previous talk which looked at DNA samples taken from men of long standing Wirral families. These DNA results illustrated the connections between modern Wirral families and Scandinavians. It's all in the genes.
Tom Navin, a Falklands veteran, will be talking about his experiences as a combat medic during that conflict. The talk will be illustrated and there will be an extended Q & A session.
An equally famous Thomas in the history of railway building, Thomas Brassey was born at Buerton, Aldford, near Chester in 1805. He was at the forefront of railway mania, building railways across the world and employing some 85,000 men at the height of his career. Our speaker, Peter Bolt, is…
The return of Michael Crumplin, a retired surgeon from Wrexham hospital, is much anticipated. In November he will be looking at what surgery was like, from both sides of the knife, from 1914 to 1918 and aren't we thankful we are living now and not then. His lectures are like…
Jean Finney is a singer, songwriter and artist but in December she will be Joyce Grenfell for the evening - wonderful. So behave yourselves: "George, don't do that".