Talks Programme for 2024
We have 6 talks a year on a large variety of subjects, lasting about an hour, in January, February, March and September, October and November.
The talks take place in Trinity Church Hall, Conduit Road, Abingdon OX14 1DB at 2.30pm. There is limited parking for the disabled at the Church and in the streets around. It is not necessary to book ahead, but we do appreciate a donation of £4 per non-member. Everyone is welcome and there is an opportunity to join the Association on the day, enabling free entry for that talk. To find out more please email talks@abingdonnt.org.uk.
Tuesday 16 January 2024 - AGM and Tim Healey - Sex, Drink & Death in the 17th Century
This will be a romp through the pleasures and perils of life in this turbulent era, featuring bawdy frolics, alehouse revels, highway robberies, Civil War, fire and plague. Hugely entertaining, the talk also gives important insight into evolving customs – of courtship, celebration, faith and burial – at the dawn of the modern age. Tim Healey is a writer and broadcaster who has presented many programmes on BBC Radio 3 and 4. He is a frequent contributor to the Oxford Times colour magazine, Oxfordshire Limited Edition, and leads the 17th-century costume band, the Oxford Waits.
Tuesday 20 February 2024 - Trevor Rowley - A Stitch in Time: The Miraculous Story of the Bayeux Tapestry
The Bayeux Tapestry is an 11th century embroidery which tells the story of the events leading up to the Battle of Hastings and graphically illustrates the battle itself. Most popular perceptions of the Norman Conquest of England are based on illustrations taken from the Tapestry. In this talk Trevor will describe this extraordinary artefact, how, where, when and why it was made. He will also discuss its later history and the role it played during the Napoleonic Wars and World War II. Trevor is an English landscape historian and archaeologist known for his work on the Welsh Marches, Oxfordshire and the medieval landscape and published a book “The Landscape of the Bayeaux Tapestry” in 2023. Amongst other distinguished posts, he is a trustee and co-director of the Appleton Area Archaeological Research Project, which is investigating the history and archaeology of his home village of Appleton.
Tuesday 19 March 2024 - Professor Sue Black - The Real World of Forensic Anthropology
Sue Black is the UK's leading forensic anthropologist. Her work has ranged from war crimes investigations in Kosovo to single suspicious deaths in the UK and everything in between, some of which have been the subject of a series of TV programmes. She will talk about how her upbringing and an academic career in human anatomy paved the way for a career in this field and how her current research is helping to identify perpetrators of child sexual abuse globally. She says 'it may seem like a dark topic when you work with death every day of your life, but it is surprising just how much humour can be found'.
Tuesday 17 September 2024 - Melanie King - Tea, Coffee and Chocolate: How the British First Fell in Love with Caffeine
Tea, coffee and chocolate play an important part in the modern British diet. Most people may not know that tea originated in China, coffee was allegedly discovered by a goat herder in Yemen, and chocolate plantations were cultivated in 400 BC by the Olmecs in South America. but did you know that these exotic beverages all arrived in London between 1650 and 1657, causing immense anxiety and debate? This lively talk explains why Europeans were at first so terrified of these drinks: pregnant mothers feared their babies would turn brown if they drank too much chocolate, men claimed tea-drinking caused women to become peevish with their husbands, whilst women felt hard done by in the bedroom if men drank coffee: it supposedly caused their ‘ammunition to be wanting’. We will also learn about some of the ingenious ways they were consumed in the eighteenth century. All Melanie’s talks are related to research undertaken for books published by Bodleian Library Publications, amongst others. This talk is one result of Melanie’s extensive experience.
Tuesday 15 October 2024 - Dr Nick Seashell - Discovering Avebury: Landscape and People
Avebury, its ancient stones and burial mounds have been the subject of speculation and exploration for centuries. In this talk Dr Nick Snashall will reveal the story of a landscape that almost four hundred years after the antiquary John Aubrey first encountered it is still giving up its secrets. Dr Nick Snashall is the National Trust archaeologist for the Stonehenge & Avebury World Heritage Site. She has excavated on prehistoric, Roman and Medieval sites across Britain and Europe. An expert in the Neolithic and Bronze Age, her research interests include prehistoric stone tools, landscape inhabitation and the archaeology of ritual and religion. She is co-director of the Avebury Living with Monuments Project. You can follow her on Twitter @DrNickNT.
Tuesday 19 November 2024 - Royal Weddings: the Perfect Occasion?
What could possibly go wrong at a royal wedding? – well quite a lot actually. This talk explores 1,000 years of royal marriages, revealing the reluctant brides and bridegrooms, the disastrous unions, the scandals and the delightful attendants. Lots of pictures and lots of anecdotes and amusing stories. Catherine has published several books on family and local history and is currently chair of Berkshire Family History Society.