Upcoming Talks
Our meetings take place at the Clifton Centre, Ashdene Road, and start at 7:30pm. No meetings are held in January, July and August.
Below is a list of our upcoming talks, but for more information please contact: Mrs Sally James (Treasurer) on 01869 243804 or email: sallyjames46@hotmail.com
16th December 2024
Christmas Music & Song Through the Ages
Ian Giles
Ian Giles was born and raised in Cowley and is a well-known and influential member of the local folk music community, both in his own right and as a member of Magpie Lane and The Oxford Waits. He'll bring a festive feel to our meeting with a mixture of mediaeval songs, tunes and poetry, and give us an insight into their origins and history.
17th February 2025
St Giles Fair
Tim Healey
St Giles Fair has excited wonder throughout its centuries-old history. Developing from the mediaeval St Giles parish wake, it would become famed for the boisterous crowds drawn to its amusement rides, booths and sideshows. This talk will tell the story of the fair from the earliest times to the present day, also encompassing other seasonal sprees around Oxfordshire – the Witney Wakes for example, and Charlbury’s Forest Fair.
17th March 2025
The Message in the Map
Nick Millea
The message in the map: What is the cartographer telling us … and why? We shall look at a series of maps with a critical eye – what really is going on with the image presented to us, and are we missing something? Bicester will be central to our deliberations.
14th April 2025
Oxford Bus Museum
Frank Collingwood
The Oxford Bus Museum has its origins in the Oxford Bus Preservation Syndicate, which was set up in 1967 by a group of bus enthusiasts. They had the foresight to see that buses and coaches of significance to previous generations should be saved and preserved for future generations to enjoy before they were lost for all time. Beginning with just one vehicle, which can still be seen and ridden on today, the number of preserved and restored vehicles has grown, and the museum now contains around 40 vintages buses and coaches, including a number of unique vehicles, the earliest dating from 1913. The museum specialises in collecting, restoring and running buses and coaches that spent most of their working lives in Oxford city or serving the public of Oxfordshire. As the collection grew, permanent premises were needed, and since 1984 the museum has been at the old railway station yard in Long Hanborough.
19th May 2025
Garden Archaeology - a different kind of digging
Dr Stephen Wass
For the past decade landscape archaeologist Dr. Stephen Wass has been working, mainly for the National Trust, developing a better understanding of some of our greatest historic gardens. Investigating properties ranging from the medieval park at Baddesley Clinton, through seventeenth-century gardens at Hanwell and Packwood to the great landscape garden at Stowe, Stephen has used the techniques of archaeology to gain a better understanding of their construction and development and will be sharing some thoughts on how garden archaeology can support our understanding of some key moments in history.
16th June 2025
Poverty, Pestilence & Public Health in Victorian Britain
Dr Simon Wenham
Britain may have been the ‘workshop of the world’ in the Victorian period, but the sceptre of poverty and pestilence loomed large over the lives of many of its citizens. A large proportion of people were not only close to the bread line, but repeated epidemics decimated whole swathes of the population. This talk explores the wealth and health of the British during the Victorian period and the State’s struggle to improve conditions.