talks programme
6th september to 13th december 2023
Wednesday 6 September 2023
Davy Johnston
Ceremonial Exeter
Davy Johnston is one of the Mayoralty's Mace Sergeants and is the Beadle of Tuckers Hall. His talk will look at his Ceremonial Duties, including Civic processions and welcoming visitors, featuring the customs and regalia of the City.
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Wednesday 13 September 2023
Candy Atkins
Spitfire Girl
Candy’s lively talk is about her mother Jackie Moggridge who wrote the book Spitfire Girl - My life in the Sky, reprinted in 2014. Jackie was a pioneer for women in aviation. She flew up to 5 different warplanes every day with only a map and a compass to help her. The ATA was a civilian organisation set up to ferry new, repaired and damaged military aircraft between factories, assembly plants, depots and squadrons.
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Wednesday 20 September 2023
Aylwyn Bowen
Making his mark in Exeter
Popularly known for his public artworks across Exeter, Aylwyn will give a colourful and entertaining talk on his fifty years working as a designer/illustrator for many local and national companies. From his winning design for RAMM’s 150th Anniversary year to his latest work for Exeter Science Park and IKEA, he’ll take us through many of the stories that lie behind them. Aylwyn’s professional career, since studying at Exeter College of Art in the 1970s, spans the use of traditional skills and more recent digital art techniques, all of which he will present on screen as well as in hand produced examples.
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Wednesday 27 September 2023
Lt Col Tony Clark
Mapping Dartmoor
This talk will cover the development of the mapping of Dartmoor from Queen Elizabeth I’s reign to the present day via the creation of Ordnance Survey, the use of triangulation, and aerial surveys. The accuracy of early maps drawn by hand is incredible, especially as local guides had to be engaged before venturing into the wilderness of Dartmoor. As maps developed, the surveyors had to overcome the differing local names of tors, a problem that still persists. Tony will bring some examples of mapping from his collection for those who like to pore over the details. Lieutenant Colonel Tony Clark OBE, late of the Parachute Regiment grew up in Okehampton and via military service around the rest of the world returned to Dartmoor 27 years ago to look after the military training area for 17 years. He is chair of the Dartmoor Trust and assists with the organisation of Ten Tors.
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Wednesday 4 October 2023
Dr Jenny Moon
Just Going Fishing (2000 miles away) - 1590 - Exeter and the Newfoundland Cod trade.
Jenny will look at the trade in salted, dried cod, fished in Newfoundland, which operated from as early as the 1500's, mostly from Devon and Dorset ports. She will show the many hazards the fishermen and sailors faced, including fog, storms, illness, crude clothing and pirates. Jenny worked in Higher Education (Exeter and Bournemouth and Cardiff Universities) in health and educational development, writing and running professional development workshops across the world. She is now a writer and storyteller.
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Wednesday 11 October 2023
PC Rhys Thomas
The training and work of Police Dogs
The Police Dogs in Devon and Cornwall include the traditional German Shepherds alongside other breeds trained specifically to sniff out illegal substances, explosives and digital devices in the fight against crime and terrorism. Rhys will talk about the training and roles of Police Dogs in Devon and Cornwall.
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Wednesday 18 October 2023
Robert Guyver
The American adventure of Lady Harriot Acland and her military husband, John Dyke Acland
Robert will look at John Dyke Acland’s involvement on the British side in the American War of Independence and Lady Harriot’s determination to go with him, even behind enemy lines to nurse him after he was wounded. She was an Earl’s daughter, hence her title. Their remarkable but tragic story will take us from the West Country to North America.
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Wednesday 25 October 2023
David Brandreth
Jane Austen’s Purse - History in Coins from the Restoration to the Great Recoinage of 1817.
What coins would have been in your purse in the time of Jane Austen? Why were coins needed? Why was a recoinage necessary after the Napoleonic wars? David’s talk will give a general overview of aspects of our coins, with some interesting anecdotes from this historical period.
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Wednesday 1 November 2023
Brian Fernley
"Destination Utah" (The USAAF in a Typical English Village)
In February 1944, RAF Upottery opened and was occupied by four squadrons of the US Air Force in March 1944 to prepare for D-Day. This talk illustrates the impact of around 1500 American servicemen taking up residence in a quiet English village. It focusses on the impact on the local population, the role of the airfield in the conflict and the transportation of 1300+ paratroopers to Normandy to support the D-Day landings. Parts of the airfield still exists, and it gained international recognition when it featured in Steven Spielberg's "Band of Brothers, as it was the departure point of Easy Company.
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Wednesday 8 November 2023
Ian Aspinall
Exeter WW1 Hospitals
To coincide with Remembrance week, Exeter City Redcoat Guide Ian Aspinall will show the vital role of Exeter’s eight World War One War hospitals which treated over 35,000 wounded, under the direction of their redoubtable administrator Georgiana Buller.
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Wednesday 15 November 2023
Mike Richards
Royalty in Exeter
Exeter Forum member and Redcoat Guide Mike Richards will tell the story of the many Royal visitors to Exeter, from the time of Alfred the Great to Queen Elizabeth II showing how some visits were more gracious and regal than others.
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Wednesday 22 November 2023
Roy and Lesley Atkins
Everyday Life in Jane Austen's England
Roy and Lesley make a welcome return visit to the Exeter Forum to set the world of Jane Austen’s fiction alongside the real lives of ordinary people at the time. They will cover forced marriages, selling wives in marketplaces, children toiling down mines, convivial dinners, strange medical remedies, dentures, bodysnatching, shoplifting, punishments, reading, writing, and the fear of revolution. Roy and Lesley are husband-and-wife historians and writers, whose books include Eavesdropping on Jane Austen’s England, Jack Tar and When There Were Birds. They talked about Jack Tar during the Heritage Harbour Festival.
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Wednesday 29 November 2023
Jon Bell
The Golden Age of Cinema in Exeter
Exeter Redcoat Jon Bell will tell the stories of the different cinemas and picture houses that existed in Exeter from the 1900s onwards, the films they showed, and their characteristics and peculiarities.
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Wednesday 6 December 2023
Dr Pereira Gray and Dr Kate Sidaway-Lee PhD
Seeing the same doctor: does it make a difference?
Continuity of doctor care can be defined as repeated consultations, over time, between a patient and a particular doctor. This walk, postponed from 2020, will cover the potential benefits of continuity of care, to patients, doctors, and the NHS as a whole. Potential adverse effects and whether continuity is possible in modern general practice will also be discussed.
Professor Sir Denis Periera Gray OBE HonDSc FRCP FRCGP Hon FFPH FMedSci was the first Professor of General Practice at the University of Exeter and the Chairman and later President of the Royal College of General Practictioners. He was the first GP Chairman of the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges of Great Britain and Ireland. The citation for his knighthood in 1999 was for quality assurance in general practice. He is currently Patron of the National Association for Patient Participation.
Dr Kate Sidaway-Lee PhD did her BSc and PhD in Biosciences and now works as a Research Fellow at the St Leonard's Research Practice. She has co-authored various academic articles on the subject of continuity and on other general practice-related topics.
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Wednesday 13 December 2023
Young musicians from Exeter
A Celebration of Christmas Music and Songs
Young singers from a local school will present a programme of seasonal music.
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Wednesday 20 December
No meeting
Christmas break
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Wednesday 27 December
No meeting
Christmas break
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Wednesday 4 January 2024
Exeter Forum restarts after Christmas break
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The programme from January to March 2024 will be published in November 2023
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