Date/
Speaker

Title/
Description

The Brenne
After a cycling holiday in central France, Ann and her husband bought a house in The Brenne many years ago. Ann will tell us about the fascinating history, wildlife and economy of the land of a thousand lakes.

The Doods Road Great Pigeon Loft
The Sapper Clay trilogy part 3. Who and what were Clay's secretive neighbours, and why did they need an armed guard in both World Wars? Were James Bond or Spike Milligan involved? Come and find out!

Elisabeth-Louise Vigée Le Brun: Trailblazer
Elisabeth-Louise (1755-1842) was one of the most celebrated artists of her time. In 1783, she was elected to France’s Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture. Fleeing France after the revolution, she found work all over Europe, and became the highest earning artist in Europe. Drawing on the artist’s own rollicking memoirs, Lois traces the life of a remarkable artist.

Tanzania Revisited
David, a secondary school Maths teacher, and Heather, a missionary nurse-midwife, met in Dodoma, Tanzania in 1965 and married there in 1970. They have lived in Croydon since 1972. In 2018 they revisited old haunts travelling over 2000 miles in Tanzania with their family.

The Air Ambulance Service of Kent, Surrey and Kent
Chris will introduce us to the work of the charity. Starting in 1989, and attending 3,300 incidents in 2023 across Kent, Surrey, and Sussex, the air ambulance service can reach any location within 30 minutes. Their helicopters are flying emergency rooms.

1st Jan,
2025

A Happy New Year to all our Members and Friends

Magna Carta - What's it all about?
Archivist Geoff Pick was the Director of the London Metropolitan Archives, which is managed by the City of London Corporation. It holds one of the finest surviving Magna Cartas.

Secrets of the London Transport Museum
Barry, a trustee of The Friends of London's Transport Heritage, will talk about the work of the Transport Museum (including Hidden London) and its Friends.

In search of the Yeti
In 1988, Clare’s husband, Iain, persuaded his boss to give his blessing to an expedition to the Himalayas in search of the legendary Yeti. Clare will talk us through the expedition, led by Chris Bonington, with pictures and other source material.

Edward Lear, the Artist
Lear is perhaps better known for his 'nonsense verse', but he was also an outstanding landscape painter. Mark examines the life, drawings and paintings of this prolific and well-travelled artist, described by one of his contemporaries as a 'man of versatile and original genius'.

Writing and self publishing a tale of adventure
When brothers Roy and Peter realised that their parents had left them a hidden legacy, they started out on a literary project that resulted in a book entitled ‘The Morocco Affair’. The brothers will take you through their journey of conceiving, writing and publishing the novel.

At 7:30, the AGM for this season. Then at about 8:00...

Across India on an Enfield
In 2008, Antonia embarked on an adventure across Northern India on a Royal Enfield motorcycle. We will hear stories about this trip of a lifetime across 1000km of such a magnificent country.