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WTHSoc January 2025 Meeting Details

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Date - 31 Jan 2025 Time - 20:00 (Doors open 19:30) Location - Weston Turville Village Hall Title - “On your Doorstep - Aylesbury” Speaker – Towse Harrison Entrance - £2 members, £3 visitors   The Talk We can learn a lot from the past and how our ancestors lived, loved, fought and died. That evidence is still visible, often in unlikely places. All we need is curiosity and to be observant. During 2020 many of us spent time on local walks and probably discovered nooks and crannies that we never knew existed. You don’t need to be historians or archaeologists to see the clues. This talk is based on where Towse lives in Aylesbury Our Speaker Towse Harrison has a background in history, music and museum education having worked with groups such as English Heritage, The National Trust, The Royal Palaces, The Natural History and Foundling Museums in London. Towse visited us in March 2023 to talk about Medicine in the Roman Empire. The meeting starts at 8pm in the village ha...
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WTHSoc November 2024 Meeting Details

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 Date - 29 Nov 2024 Time - 20:00 (Doors open 19:30) Location - Weston Turville Village Hall Title - “Jewellery & Silver of H.G. Murphy” Speaker – John Benjamin Entrance - £2 members, £3 visitors   “ Jewellery & Silver of H.G. Murphy” John Benjamin Meeting on Friday 29 th Nov 2024   John is a regular and popular speaker at our society. His topic on this occasion is Henry George Murphy (1884-1939) was one of Britain’s most innovative Arts and Crafts and Art Deco jewellery and silver designer craftsmen   of the 1920’s and 1930’s.   Formerly International Director of Jewellery at Phillips Fine Art Auctioneers, John Benjamin established his own independent valuation and advisory service in 1999. A Freeman of the Goldsmiths’ Company and a Freeman of the City of London, John is a Founder Liveryman and Court Assistant of The Worshipful Company of Arts Scholars.   A lecturer, valuer, historian and author...
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WTHSoc October 2024 Meeting Details

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Date - 25 Oct 2024 Time- 20:00 (Doors open 19:30) Location - Weston Turville Village Hall Title - “Another Icarus” Speaker – Roy Smart Entrance - £2 members, £3 visitors “Another Icarus” Roy Smart Meeting on Friday 25 th Oct 2024 The tale of aviation pioneer Percy Sinclair Pilcher and his wonderful sister, Ella, whose noble quest for flight ended tragically at Stanford Hall, on the banks of Shakespeare’s Avon; the first Englishman to die in the cause of ‘the conquest of the air’ when on the cusp of becoming the most famous name in aviation history.   Roy has been a popular speaker at our society, presenting “Wallis Simpson & the Abdication crisis” in 2020 and “David Beatty - Last Naval Hero” in 2018. Roy Smart   was a Naval Officer, Fleet Air Arm pilot and air director of many great national memorial events including the televised   D Day, VE and VJ Day   commemorations attended by the Queen an...
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WTHSoc September 2024 Meeting Details

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 Date - 27 Sep 2024 Time - 20:00 (Doors open 19:30) Location - Weston Turville Village Hall Title - “Henry VIII and the Art of Kingship” Speaker – Siobhan Clarke Entrance - £2 members, £3 visitors     “ Henry VIII and the Art of Kingship” Siobhan Clarke Meeting on Friday 27 th Sep 2024 No English king is as well-known to us as Henry VIII. He is famous for six marriages, breaking with the Pope, dissolving the monasteries and creating the Church of England; and for his ruthless elimination of those who stood in his way. But he was also an enthusiastic patron of the arts whose palaces, tapestries and paintings enriched the Tudor court and began the Royal Collection. The forces that influenced Henry’s life can be seen in the works he commissioned, by artists such as Pietro Torrigiano, Hans Holbein and Giralomo da Treviso. They tell us much about his kingship and (unintentionally) his insecurities. Ultimately, each...
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