PROGRAMME We meet at the Arts Centre Stamford, 27 St Mary’s Street, Stamford, PE9 2DL on the second Tuesday of each month (except July and August). Arrival and refreshments are from 10.00 am and the lecture starts at 11.00 am. New Membership year 2025/26 14th October 2025 ‘BRITAIN VS THE BAUHAUS: MODERN DESIGN IN THE 1930s’ Julia Musgrave Staatliches Bauhaus was an art school founded under Weimar Republic by the architect Walter Gropius. From 1919 to 1933 its tutors combined crafts and the fine arts in a radical new approach to design education. Less well known is the influence of the Bauhaus and other German design schools on design and art education in Britain in this period. As the impact of the economic ‘Slump’ of 1929-34 hit British manufacturing sales, many in local and national government took the view that Britain’s struggling industrial base could be improved if moves were made to provide for better design education. This lecture looks at some the work of the key artists involved in improving British design in this period – including Paul Nash, Eric Ravilious, Vanessa Bell, Duncan Grant and Roger Fry; and at Unit One – formed by Paul Nash in 1933 to promote modern art, architecture and design. Wassily Chair also known as the Model B3 chair designed by Marcel Breuer in 1925-1926 at the Bauhaus, in Dessau, Germany. Lorkan. Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 11th November 2025 ‘SO THEY DO COOK, AFTER ALL!' RAVILIOUS, BAWDEN AND THE GREAT BARDFIELD ARTISTS’ Jo Walton In 1932 the artist Edward Bawden and his wife Charlotte moved into Brick House, in the Essex village of Great Bardfield, initially sharing the house with another artistic couple, Eric Ravilious and Tirzah Garwood. It was to be the beginning of a fascinating artistic community. In the years before and during the Second World War painters, printmakers and designers settled in the village, relishing the peace while remaining within easy reach of London. While Bawden and Ravilious saw active service as War Artists (Ravilious dying in 1942), other artists captured the soon-to-change world of rural England through the Recording Britain project. By the mid-1950s a diverse, innovative but highly creative group had made Bardfield their home – much to the bemusement of the local villagers, who found the complex relationships and artistic focus of the newcomers rather baffling. In 1954 the artists invited the public into their homes and studios to see their work, starting the increasingly popular ‘Open Studios’ movement that now covers the country, and persuading some of their neighbours that artists could be quite normal people after all.  Jo Walton 9th December 2025 ‘A TUDOR CHRISTMAS’ Siobhan Clarke We might assume that our modern Christmas owes much to the Victorians. In fact, carol-singing, present-giving, mulled wine and mince pies were all just as popular in Tudor times. This lecture is based on my book with Alison Weir 'A Tudor Christmas'. It was a twelve-day- long festival, over which the Lord of Misrule held sway; so beloved by English people that its traditions survived remarkably unchanged in an age of tumultuous religious upheaval. Tudor Christmas decorations at Trerice. A wonderful smell of cloves. Geoff Welding. Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 13 January 2026 Banksy - Fraud or Genius. Pepe Martinez The lecture will trace the story of Banksy’s humble beginnings as a tagger on the streets of Bristol in the 1980’s to one of the most recognisable names in the art world. We will examine the reasons behind his incredible rise, looking at some of his famous stunts and discuss what his influence has been on the art market today and look at what his legacy, if any, might be. Banksy - Peace Dove. Pawel Ryszawa Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 10 February 2026 The Cullinan Diamond: From Rock to Royalty. Laurie Wickwire When the Cullinan Diamond was discovered in Pretoria, South Africa in 1905, it raised so many questions..."who will own it, where will it be kept, can it be divided into numerous gems, how much is it worth?" Join the journey as we experience the stress on Joseph Asscher as he attempted to cut and polish this historic gem. We travel from Rock to Royalty, where our priceless 3,106 carat diamond rough was 'tossed out of the sorting room window (as it was not believed to be real!) before being 'popped in the post' on its way to King Edward VIIth. Frederick Wells, holding the Cullinan Diamond, 1905 Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 10 March 2026 Antony Gormley, a Body of Work. Rosalind Whyte Antony Gormley’s career spans nearly 40 years, during which time he has made sculpture that explores the relationship of the human body to space, often using his own body as his starting point. His work has been shown throughout the world, in galleries including the Tate in London and the Hermitage in St Petersburg, but is also often on open display, as public art, such as Another Place at Crosby Beach, near Liverpool. As well as works that he is well known for, like the iconic Angel of the North, this lecture will look at some of his earlier and less well-known works, to give an overall view of the development of his work across his whole career, up to the present Another Place, Crosby Beach. Andrew Dunn Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 14 April 2026 Death by Wallpaper: Colourful Stories of Chemical Pigments and Dyes. Lynne Gibson Was Napoleon killed by his green wallpaper? This story begins in 1775 with a German chemist and his experiments with arsenic. The resulting powerful green reached its height of popularity when worn by "Queen of Fashion", Empress Eugénie. It was printed on wallpaper by Morris & Co. and was a favourite of plein-air artists, such as Monet, Cézanne and Vincent van Gogh, keen to capture the freshness of nature. But a century later, it was rebranded as rat- poison. Amounts of arsenic that were deadly to children and the elderly were easily metabolized by healthy adults, which is one of the reasons it took many people so long to accept that arsenic wallpaper was bad news. © 2016 Crown Copyright 12 May 2026 Stamford Raffles, Art Collector & Founder of Singapore. Denise Heywood Raffles, whose name is synonymous with a luxury hotel rather than the greatest Buddhist temple in the world, was the enlightened colonial administrator of Java, Indonesia. Sir Thos. Stamford Raffles, Knt, F.R. & A.S. Engraved by Thompson Public domain 9 June 2026 160 Years of London Underground Design and Architecture. Mark Ovenden Covers surprising attempts to create some graphic unity. Even in the 1860s and 70s, expansion of the Underground and the need to create some cohesion between the different operating companies. Leslie Green's architecture and the Arts & Crafts movement, Frank Pick, Edward Johnston's typeface, Charles Holden's architecture and the Streamline Moderne/Art Deco movement. The New Works Programme, post war austerity/design. The Victoria Line. Jubilee Line Extension/architecture, creation of TfL. Recent schemes and future works including the Elizabeth Line/Northern Line extension to Battersea etc.. Hounslow West Underground Station (Piccadilly Line) hugh llewelyn Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 There are no meetings in July and August 8 September 2026 Fashion, Fury & Feathers: Women’s Fight for Change. Tessa Boase For half a century, from the 1870s to the 1920s, women around the world were in thrall to feathered fashion. Not just feathers, but wings and whole birds – often several birds at a time – were de rigeur on top of hats. The cost to the birds was high. The exploitation of female labour was troubling. But the hats themselves were magnificent objects of art… Ailleen May, Moon and Wills - J. Willis Sayre Collection of Theatrical Photographs New Membership year 2026/27