Wellcome Collection’s MS.8932 is a rare example of a medieval folded almanac, and a superb copy of John Somer’s Kalendarium. Moreover, it is covered in the earliest surviving intact English embroidered binding, presenting an unrivalled opportunity to learn more about medieval craftsmanship. Jacqui was awarded a Wellcome Trust Research Bursary to analyse the construction of this unique artefact, and attempt to recreate lost techniques. The lecture takes a detailed look at her findings whilst setting the object within the wider context of period bookbinding and embroidery.

Across a thousand years of manuscripts and over five hundred years of publishing, English recipe books have reflected the eating habits of kings and courtiers, the merchant classes, inn-keepers and restaurant owners, as well as home cooks and even the paupers who visited the soup kitchens of Victorian London. Cookbooks are full of extraordinary food but also extraordinary illustrations from medieval illuminated manuscripts, via the engravings of the eighteenth century and the colour lithographs of Mrs. Beeton, to the high-end life-style images of the modern TV cook. This lecture tells the story of the development of the cookbook and along the way will tempt you, or indeed disgust you, with a few choice recipes.
(This lecture will be followed by a free festive drink, and nibbles!)

In 1565, Pieter Bruegel the Elder was commissioned to create a series of paintings for a dining room in Antwerp. The images, charting the course of a year, changed the way we view the world through art. Landscape had previously been a decorative backdrop to dramas both sacred and profane. But in Bruegel's hands the landscape and our interaction with it became the focus. Looking at paintings such as The Return of the Herd, Hunters in the Snow and The Gloomy Day, this lecture explores how Bruegel pioneered a whole new way of thinking about the environment and our individual places within a shifting cosmos.

2023 marks the 600th anniversary of the death of the fabled Dick Whittington (c1354-1423). For many of us, Dick is simply a fictional character from a Ladybird book or the Christmas pantomime. In fact, Dick was very real, indeed one of the major movers and shakers of medieval London. In this lecture we separate the man from the myth as we follow in his footsteps through the streets that were not exactly ‘paved with gold…’. Apprenticed to a master mercer, Whittington went on to become one of the wealthiest and most successful textile merchants in the City, bankrolled no fewer than three medieval kings and as a result held the office of Lord Mayor of London no fewer than four times. And what of that famous feline companion; his cat? Well, the church that he built might just provide the answer but the lecture reveals all…

Grayson Perry is close to becoming a ‘National Treasure’. His beautiful, finely-crafted pottery, which frequently has a sting in the tail, and his colourful, imaginative and often amusing tapestries are enormously popular in the fine art world. He has also designed a house in Essex, commemorating a fictitious women ploughed down by a delivery driver, and features regularly in television documentaries.

He won the Turner Prize in 2003, gave the BBC Reith Lectures in 2013, has had major exhibitions at the British Museum, the Serpentine Gallery and the Royal Academy, and is being knighted in 2023 following the award of a CBE in 2014.

In the year 2000, having been a Curator  in the Greek And Roman Department of the British Museum  for 13 years, Louise decided to escape. Given a  trowel with a diamond and silver casing in the handle as a leaving present, she set off on a series of extraordinary archaeological adventures. In this richly illustrated talk she will take you with her to a  mysterious and atmospheric ancient city on the coast of southern Albania, to the banks of the two great rivers of Mesopotamia -  the Euphrates and the Tigris  - and then to the wild and wonderful mountains of northern Ethiopia.

James Barry RA was an Irish painter who died on 22 February 1806. Following his death his niece Margaret Bulkley disguised herself as a man, took on the name of James Barry and went to Edinburgh University to train to be a doctor. After qualifying Dr James Barry joined the army as a doctor and served in South Africa for 12 years, other postings followed to the West Indies, Malta, Corfu and Canada. She went to Crimea and met Florence Nightingale. In South Africa Dr Barry performed the first caesarean in the British Empire in which both mother and baby survived. She maintained her disguise all her life and her true identity was only discovered after her death when her body was being prepared for burial.

Appreciate the astonishing range of signature buildings of faith communities settling in London. New arrivals leave their imprint on a city where Jews, Muslims, Roman Catholics, Hindus, Methodists, Sikhs, Buddhists and Orthodox Greeks have each added their own layer. Here are eight faith communities which can each point to a special place they built, not on first arrival, but when numbers and self-confidence had grown in the knowledge they had established themselves for the long term. So we have a synagogue, a chapel, a gurdwara, a monastery, a couple of cathedrals, a temple and a mosque, permanent markers of the highest quality. Their differences stretch across cultures and 300 hundred years of persecutions and economic crises, but their similarities are also striking.

The remarkable untold story of Carry On actor Peter Butterworth, and his wife, Britain’s first female tv impressionist Janet Brown, best known for her impression of Mrs Thatcher. Using classic film and tv clips, personal mementos, and rare photographs and letters from his family’s unseen collection, Tyler reveals the private story behind his parents’ public lives. It’s a journey that takes in MI9, the building of a theatre in the notorious WW2 Prisoner of War camp Stalag Luft III, nights at Chequers with a Prime Minister, This Is Your Life, and many more moments in their long, shared life in the theatre. 
(The lecture will be preceded by the Annual General Meeting at 10.45)

On 3rd August 2022 the Arts Society went on its first post-Covid trip to the delightful Elizabethan Breamore House set in the Hampshire countryside outside Fordingbridge. The House was built in 1583 by William Doddington, auditor to the Tower Mint.

Splitting into two groups we were given guided tours of the House which features wonderful art work and furniture but the most interesting aspect was that the house has been in the ownership of the Hulse family since 1748 and is still, undeniably, a family home with family photographs all around. Michael Hulse himself showed one group around but the second group was also admirably looked after; so many interesting details about both the House, its contents and its owners were forthcoming that our hour-long tour lasted for an extra thirty minutes to the delight of all.

We then moved to the museum, stuffed so full of agricultural machinery and every conceivable household item from bygone days, that we could easily have spent the whole afternoon there.

Refreshed by tea and scrumptious home-made cake we just managed time to visit the beautiful Saxon church in the grounds of the house.

Our first post-Covid trip and a most enjoyable one.

Please see the photos in the Photo Gallery section, though sadly no photos were allowed inside the house itself.

On 26th April 2023 a group of members visited the beautiful Hampshire village of Chawton. In the village is Elizabethan Chawton House, once the home of Jane Austen’s brother, Edward. Five hundred metres away is the former home of the novelist herself, now a museum in her memory. Members had a guided tour of Chawton House which was fascinating and our guide, a keen student of English literature, was able to give us so much information about the books stored there which were all either written ‘by women, for women or about women.’ We were told that the feminist collection is second only in importance to that held by the Bodleian library in Oxford.

After a picnic lunch we took a sunny walk in the grounds, visiting the church in the churchyard of which Jane Austen’s mother and sister are buried, before walking the short distance to the Jane Austen House. Following an introductory talk, we were able to tour the house which is full of Jane’s personal items including her writing desk.

A cup of tea in the garden of the village café was a perfect end to the day.

The committee has reluctantly taken the decision to cancel the proposed outing to Winchester scheduled for 28th June 2023 as the trip has simply not generated enough bookings to make it financially viable.

Those who have already booked places have been contacted separately for refunds.

Any bookings received after today will be returned.

After the initial cancellation due to train strikes, we have now rescheduled this Special Interest Day to Monday 23rd January 2023

The two talks will show us on parallel timelines how Berlin developed and was influenced by art, drama/film and architecture in the twentieth century.

The Study Day will now be held on Monday 23rd January 2023 in The Devizes Conservative Club.

The first of the two lectures will start at 11 am.

Click here to see the Details and Booking Form.

Exhibition at the Holburne Gallery, Bath, open until 8th January 2023.

In 2019 the Holburne received a bequest of 35 objects from the estate of sculptor Dame Elisabeth Frink (1930–1993). The artworks included sculptures, drawings, etchings, and screen prints. A new exhibition will celebrate this important acquisition by showcasing a selection of the works.

­
­ ­

11 December 2022 Ensemble Renard (Wind ensemble)

5 February 2023 Fibonacci Quartet (string quartet)

Marlborough College Concert Series, renowned for its promotion of world class musicians, offers a series of five concerts annually, providing exceptional value through attractive ticket pricing.

Concerts feature eminent soloists, chamber music and orchestral concerts that regularly include Marlborough College’s professional orchestra in partnership, the Southbank Sinfonia. Programmes are eclectic and popular and we warmly invite you to join us.