TALKS PROGRAMME - MAY TO AUGUST 2015
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May 6th George Ayres "Gertrude Bell - Daughter of the Desert"
George will describe the life of Gertrude Bell and particularly her role in the Middle East and in the formation of Iraq. Born in 1868 she led a remarkable life as a writer, traveller, archaeologist, mountaineer and diplomat, while travelling extensively in Syria, Mesopotamia and Arabia.
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May 13th Annual General Meeting
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May 20th Irene Badman "My visits to European and other Parliaments"
Irene will be describing her experiences in visiting parliaments in Europe and Australia.
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May 27th Gill Riley "Antarctica - Part 2"
Last January Gill gave a talk titled "A Slice of Antarctic History Through My Son Steven's Eyes", illustrated with some exceptional photographs and including her son's journal entries and poems written while working through an Antarctic winter, and "Antarctica Part 2" will continue the story of his experiences.
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June 3rd Philip Algar "Stumbling Through a Wartime Childhood"
Last year Philip gave a talk based on his book "Goodbye Old Chap", which used his father's experiences as a merchant seaman during two world wars to illustrate some of the effects of war, and the talk today is based on his follow up book, which is part autobiography and part fiction, describing the life of a boy growing up in Torquay during the Second World War, blending humour with the fears of a little boy challenged by the reality of war.
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June 10th Dr. Douglas Fishlock "From the Arctic Snows to the Arabian Sands"
Douglas will be describing his experiences undertaking medical work in extreme conditions.
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June 17th Maggie Jameson "Jane Austen's Love/Hate Relationship with Bath"
Under the name of Maggie Lane, Maggie Jameson has had 12 books published and is an active member of the Jane Austen Society, details of which can be seen on their web site at :
http://www.janeaustensoci.freeuk.com
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June 24th Ian White "This Is Your Captain Speaking"
Ian fulfilled his boyhood desire to become a pilot by following a career in aviation, ending as an Airline Training/Check Captain, and he will be describing his worldwide experiences during this career.
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July 1st Peter Burden "Have you heard about Ted ?"
Peter will be explaining what Ted is all about and will be illustrating the presentation with some short films.
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July 8th Norman Croucher "A Man and His Mountains"
Despite being a double leg amputee with two below the knee artificial legs, Norman has pursued his love of mountaineering, climbing throughout the world and in the process completing an ascent of the 26,906 feet Cho Oyo in Tibet, the sixth highest mountain in the world. He is a writer, a motivational speaker, and his climbing has been the base for campaigns promoting access, integration and adventure sports for people with disabilities. More details of his activities can be seen on his web site : http://www.normancroucher.co.uk/index.html
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July 15th Professor John Barbara "The Hepatitis Viruses"
As a former Head of the National Transfusion Microbiology Laboratories, an emeritus consultant in Microbiology to the NHS and a Professor in Transfusion Microbiology at the University of the West of England, John will be drawing on his work in this field to explain what hepatitis viruses are, how they affect humans and how we can deal with them.
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July 22nd Mike Temple "Mercy Ships"
Having worked as a volunteeer for three months from January this year on the Mercy Ship "Africa Mercy" in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mike will be explaining the work of the Mercy Ship organisation, and his experiences in helping with their work. Since 1978 the Mercy Ship organisation has been acquiring and converting ships to be used as charitable floating hospitals to bring free medical care to some of the world's poorest people, staffed almost entirely by volunteer teams of nurses, doctors, surgeons and other crew. Since 1978 they have helped transform the lives of over 2 million people and full details of their work can be seen on their web site : https://www.mercyships.org.uk/ .
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July 29th Karen Jales "Devon Freewheelers"
Karen will be describing the organisation and role of Devon Freewheelers, a team of 50 volunteer Emergency Vehicle drivers who are dedicated to providing an out of hours and weekend service supporting the NHS in delivering essential blood, samples, medication and donor breast milk to hospitals throughout Devon and occasionally further afield. Details of their activities, including fundraising, can be seen on their web site at http://bloodbikes.org/ .
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August 5th Mike Rendell "Entertainment in the Georgian Era"
During the Georgian Era there were a wide variety of entertainments, from sight-seeing to gambling, boxing to cricket, billiards to squash, and those that we no longer allow, such as cock-fighting and bear-baiting.
Mike was a lawyer, but since retiring he has become an historian specializing in Britain in the Georgian Era. His interest in this era grew out of his inheritance of boxes of letters, diaries and general ephemera from the 18th Century which had been collected by his great-great-great-great grandfather, Richard Hall, a hosier who lived at One London Bridge. Mike has used this material and other researches to write five books on aspects of life in the Georgian Era, and has an informative web site and blog which can be accessed at http://mikerendell.com/ .
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August 12th John Spivey "Canyonlands, Death Valley and Las Vegas"
John has been a photographer for more than 40 years and since retiring from full-time Physics teaching he has been providing photography services through his company John Spivey Photography, details of which can be seen on the following web site :
http://www.johnspiveyphotography.co.uk/cgi-bin/js.cgi?page=home.html
As a result of his travels around the world John has captured many beautiful images and this collection reflects a spectacularly beautiful part of the USA.
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August 19th Trevor Adams "The Hidden Secrets of A La Ronde"
Trevor is a Research Volunteer at the National Trust property of A La Ronde and will be revealing some of the discoveries made by the Research Team at this unique sixteen-sided 18th Century house built for two spinster cousins on their return from a grand tour of Europe and which still contains many objects and mementos of their travels. Information about A La Ronde can be seen on the following web page :
http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/a-la-ronde/visitor-information/
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August 26th Geoffrey Pettinger "A History of Photography"
Geoffrey will be presenting a History of Photography - from its conception to modern day. He will introduce the people involved, the techniques and equipment they developed, and he will show how photography evolved to become a means of mass communication.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
May 6th George Ayres "Gertrude Bell - Daughter of the Desert"
George will describe the life of Gertrude Bell and particularly her role in the Middle East and in the formation of Iraq. Born in 1868 she led a remarkable life as a writer, traveller, archaeologist, mountaineer and diplomat, while travelling extensively in Syria, Mesopotamia and Arabia.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
May 13th Annual General Meeting
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
May 20th Irene Badman "My visits to European and other Parliaments"
Irene will be describing her experiences in visiting parliaments in Europe and Australia.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
May 27th Gill Riley "Antarctica - Part 2"
Last January Gill gave a talk titled "A Slice of Antarctic History Through My Son Steven's Eyes", illustrated with some exceptional photographs and including her son's journal entries and poems written while working through an Antarctic winter, and "Antarctica Part 2" will continue the story of his experiences.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
June 3rd Philip Algar "Stumbling Through a Wartime Childhood"
Last year Philip gave a talk based on his book "Goodbye Old Chap", which used his father's experiences as a merchant seaman during two world wars to illustrate some of the effects of war, and the talk today is based on his follow up book, which is part autobiography and part fiction, describing the life of a boy growing up in Torquay during the Second World War, blending humour with the fears of a little boy challenged by the reality of war.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
June 10th Dr. Douglas Fishlock "From the Arctic Snows to the Arabian Sands"
Douglas will be describing his experiences undertaking medical work in extreme conditions.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
June 17th Maggie Jameson "Jane Austen's Love/Hate Relationship with Bath"
Under the name of Maggie Lane, Maggie Jameson has had 12 books published and is an active member of the Jane Austen Society, details of which can be seen on their web site at :
http://www.janeaustensoci.freeuk.com
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
June 24th Ian White "This Is Your Captain Speaking"
Ian fulfilled his boyhood desire to become a pilot by following a career in aviation, ending as an Airline Training/Check Captain, and he will be describing his worldwide experiences during this career.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
July 1st Peter Burden "Have you heard about Ted ?"
Peter will be explaining what Ted is all about and will be illustrating the presentation with some short films.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
July 8th Norman Croucher "A Man and His Mountains"
Despite being a double leg amputee with two below the knee artificial legs, Norman has pursued his love of mountaineering, climbing throughout the world and in the process completing an ascent of the 26,906 feet Cho Oyo in Tibet, the sixth highest mountain in the world. He is a writer, a motivational speaker, and his climbing has been the base for campaigns promoting access, integration and adventure sports for people with disabilities. More details of his activities can be seen on his web site : http://www.normancroucher.co.uk/index.html
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
July 15th Professor John Barbara "The Hepatitis Viruses"
As a former Head of the National Transfusion Microbiology Laboratories, an emeritus consultant in Microbiology to the NHS and a Professor in Transfusion Microbiology at the University of the West of England, John will be drawing on his work in this field to explain what hepatitis viruses are, how they affect humans and how we can deal with them.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
July 22nd Mike Temple "Mercy Ships"
Having worked as a volunteeer for three months from January this year on the Mercy Ship "Africa Mercy" in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mike will be explaining the work of the Mercy Ship organisation, and his experiences in helping with their work. Since 1978 the Mercy Ship organisation has been acquiring and converting ships to be used as charitable floating hospitals to bring free medical care to some of the world's poorest people, staffed almost entirely by volunteer teams of nurses, doctors, surgeons and other crew. Since 1978 they have helped transform the lives of over 2 million people and full details of their work can be seen on their web site : https://www.mercyships.org.uk/ .
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
July 29th Karen Jales "Devon Freewheelers"
Karen will be describing the organisation and role of Devon Freewheelers, a team of 50 volunteer Emergency Vehicle drivers who are dedicated to providing an out of hours and weekend service supporting the NHS in delivering essential blood, samples, medication and donor breast milk to hospitals throughout Devon and occasionally further afield. Details of their activities, including fundraising, can be seen on their web site at http://bloodbikes.org/ .
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
August 5th Mike Rendell "Entertainment in the Georgian Era"
During the Georgian Era there were a wide variety of entertainments, from sight-seeing to gambling, boxing to cricket, billiards to squash, and those that we no longer allow, such as cock-fighting and bear-baiting.
Mike was a lawyer, but since retiring he has become an historian specializing in Britain in the Georgian Era. His interest in this era grew out of his inheritance of boxes of letters, diaries and general ephemera from the 18th Century which had been collected by his great-great-great-great grandfather, Richard Hall, a hosier who lived at One London Bridge. Mike has used this material and other researches to write five books on aspects of life in the Georgian Era, and has an informative web site and blog which can be accessed at http://mikerendell.com/ .
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
August 12th John Spivey "Canyonlands, Death Valley and Las Vegas"
John has been a photographer for more than 40 years and since retiring from full-time Physics teaching he has been providing photography services through his company John Spivey Photography, details of which can be seen on the following web site :
http://www.johnspiveyphotography.co.uk/cgi-bin/js.cgi?page=home.html
As a result of his travels around the world John has captured many beautiful images and this collection reflects a spectacularly beautiful part of the USA.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
August 19th Trevor Adams "The Hidden Secrets of A La Ronde"
Trevor is a Research Volunteer at the National Trust property of A La Ronde and will be revealing some of the discoveries made by the Research Team at this unique sixteen-sided 18th Century house built for two spinster cousins on their return from a grand tour of Europe and which still contains many objects and mementos of their travels. Information about A La Ronde can be seen on the following web page :
http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/a-la-ronde/visitor-information/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
August 26th Geoffrey Pettinger "A History of Photography"
Geoffrey will be presenting a History of Photography - from its conception to modern day. He will introduce the people involved, the techniques and equipment they developed, and he will show how photography evolved to become a means of mass communication.
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