PROGRAMME
We meet, normally, at Stamford Methodist Church in Barn Hill, Stamford PE9 2AE on the second
Tuesday of each month (except July and August). Arrival and refreshments are from 10.00 am and the
lecture starts at 10.45 am.
Programme for 2022
Lectures will be live at Barn Hill Church, and also by Zoom at 10:45
March 8th 2022 10:45 Live & on Zoom
The Glasgow Boys, the Glasgow Girls, the Scottish Colourists and the French Connection
Harry Fletcher
In the 1880s and 1890s Europe and America saw the rise of artistic colonies, such as the Newlyn School,
practising a form of painting known as “naturalism”. Another such colony, the Glasgow boys, seized the
mantle of Bastien-Lepage and their paintings became the toast of Europe.
The Glasgow Girls were their contemporaries. Painters such as Bessie MacNicol and designers, such as
Margaret and Frances Macdonald, influenced the development of the Glasgow Style and achieved
international recognition, contributing to the development of the modern movement.
The Scottish Colourists had direct contact with French Post-Impressionism, particularly Matisse and the
Fauves. As a result their paintings are considered some of the most progressive in British art of the early
20th century.
During my talk, I will discuss the lives, the times and the work of these artists.
April 12th 2022 10:45 Live & on Zoom
Elgin Marbles
Alan Read
In the two centuries since they were removed from the Parthenon by Lord Elgin, the meaning and
significance of the ‘Elgin marbles’ has changed dramatically. From architectural decoration to disputed
cultural objects this lecture looks at the response to them over their time in Britain, from the original
controversy over their purchase to the current debate surrounding the restitution of the marbles to the
new Acropolis Museum in Athens.
May 10th 2022 10:45 Live & on Zoom
Lincoln Cathedral: Mary’s Paradise Garden
Jonathan Foyle
During the thirteenth century, Lincoln Cathedral was amongst the greatest building projects in England
and despite a series of disasters, from an earthquake to war and robbery, we have inherited a magnificent
and relatively unscathed masterpiece of art and architecture.
Through its sheer size and complexity, the cathedral’s beauty can be difficult to understand. But through
writing the book Lincoln Cathedral: Biography of a Great Building the speaker offers a fresh and coherent
analysis of the cathedral’s evolution.
This talk shows how this wonderfully inventive structure embodied changing ideas about the Virgin Mary,
the Queen of Paradise, to whom it was dedicated.
June 14th 2022 10:45 Live & on Zoom
The Land of the Midnight Sun: Norway’s Golden Age of Painting
Stella Grace Lyons
Why isn’t Norwegian art better known? Should it be?
The late 19th century marked a defining moment in Norway. For the first time romantic painters began to
turn to their own land for inspiration. They painted the stormy seas, the towering glaciers and the raw,
untamed nature of their homeland. Their aim? To draw attention to the beauty of their country and explore
what it meant to be ‘Norwegian’.
This talk looks at the artists from Norway’s ‘Golden Age’ who captured the far north with drama and
romance and interpreted their wild country as a mythical, eerie entity. It will explore the stunning works of
JC Dahl, Peder Balke, Nikolai Astrup and Harald Sohlberg.
This is chance to discover some of art’s most under appreciated artists!
September 13th 2022 10:45 Live & on Zoom
She Loves You: The Music of the 60’s (1960 to ’64)
Steve King
By 1960 interest in rock ‘n’ roll had started to fade, its biggest star was moving on and a new generation
of teenagers were seeking something different. It came in the form of the Beatles, who broke all the rules
and all the records.
This is the story of the first five years of the 1960s, one of the most creative and innovative periods in the
history of music, featuring all the major artists, important songs and principle musical genres.
October 11th
The Making of Landscape Photographs
Charlie Waite.
A fully illustrated talk with in excess of 60 images exploring the relationship between the making of an
image and the way in which it is perceived by the viewer. Further discussion around the eye and the brain
being an extraordinary double act made up of visual references and intellectual interpretation.
November 8th 2022 (AGM at 10.30am) 10:30 Live & on Zoom
Packing up the Nation: Saving London’s Museums and Galleries in the Second World War
Caroline Shenton
This is the gripping and sometimes hilarious story of how a band of heroic curators and eccentric
custodians saved Britain’s national heritage during our Darkest Hour.
As Hitler’s forces gathered on the other side of the Channel to threaten these islands, men and women
from London’s national museums, galleries and archives forged extraordinary plans to evacuate their
collections to safety.
Utilising country houses from Buckinghamshire to Cumbria, tube tunnels, Welsh mines and Wiltshire
quarries, a dedicated team of unlikely heroes packed up their greatest treasures in a race against time
during the sweltering summer of 1939, dispatching them throughout the country on a series of secret
wartime adventures, retold in this talk.
December 13th 2022 10:45 Live & on Zoom
Oscar Wilde: Up Close
Giles Ramsay
"I put all my genius into my life; I put only my talent into my works." I examine the public and private life of
one of the world's most original and controversial artists.
Born into a moderately respectable Dublin family Oscar Wilde recreated himself as an international
celebrity and wrote a series of short stories and plays that charmed the world. In 1890 he also published
the last of the great myths - The Picture of Dorian Gray.
Ten years later Wilde, devoured by his fame, his demons and his decadence, would be dead.
January 2023 10:45 Live & on Zoom
The Healing Power of Plants
Timothy Walker
Mankind has exploited the medicinal properties of plants for thousands of years, yet the role of plants in
modern medicine is still considered to be peripheral by many people.
This talk attempts to put the record straight and to show that plant products are used every day by all of
us to relieve pain and suffering, to heal wounds and cure diseases. This is a talk with a very wide appeal
and relevance.
Web site & mobile phone pages designed, created and maintained by Janet Groome
Handshake Computer Training