talks programme May-August 2016
May 4th Introduced by "Unusual Experiences of Forum Members"
Irene Badman
Irene Badman and other members will be recounting some of their unusual experiences.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- May 11th Annual General Meeting
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May 18th Colin Vosper "The Story of Harry Hems, the Exeter Sculptor"
Colin Vosper will be presenting an illustrated and lively talk about Harry Hems. Harry was a master stone sculptor and wood carver who came to Exeter from London in 1868 to work initially on the museum building. He went on to develop a thriving business in the city, employing over 100 craftsmen. Colin's talk will be highlighting the ups and downs of Harry Hems' fascinating life in England and abroad, with illustrations of his work, and with just a hint of the less virtuous aspects of his character.
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May 25th Introduced by "Private Passions of Forum Members - John Jameson Music That Has Been Part of Their Lives"
The radio program 'Private Passions' has been running on Radio 3 for many years, providing a guest the opportunity of playing recordings of music which are particularly significant to them and to explain why they mean so much to them. Most of us have memories of music associated with events in our lives and it will be interesting to hear what they are for some of our members.
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June 1st Richard Holladay "History of Garton & King"
Garton & King are one of the oldest businesses in Exeter, having been founded in 1661. The Holladay family were involved with the business of Garton & King from 1898 to 1990, Richard being the youngest of three sons of Henry Holladay, the last Managing Director of Garton & King Ltd. With his family's long association with the Company Richard has created a presentation depicting the development of this Exeter company from its earliest years, its expansion in Victorian times and through to the eventual closure of the Foundry in 1981 and the relinquishment of the Holladay family interest in the Company in 1990.
Richard will have for sale copies of the updated version of the publication "Golden Hammer", the history of Garton & King Ltd.
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June 8th Prof. Emma Loosley "The Syrian Christians of the Desert Villages"
Emma is an Associate Professor in the Department of Theology and Religion at the University of Exeter and has been involved in research in Syria since the 1990s, including spending three years living and working with the Community of Al-Khalil. This Community is dedicated to hospitality and Christian-Islamic dialogue and she spent the summers directing an archaeological excavation for the Community at their 12th Century Monastery of Mar Elian near the town of Qaryatayn, the most easterly of a small group of towns and villages in the Syrian desert which are wholly or partially Christian. This means that Qaryatayn and its neighbours have a culture that is quite different from other communities and the Christians there trace their lineages back over 1,500 years. Sadly the Monastery was destroyed by ISIS in 2015.
If you would like to know more about Emma's involvement with the Community, the following paper was published by Emma in 2003 :
http://www.academia.edu/11425502/The_Community_of_Al-Khalil_Monastic_Life_in_the_Service_of_Christian-Islamic_Dialogue
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June 15th Peter Budd "Historical Industries and Events in Devon and Somerset"
Although the South West is thought of as an agricultural area, there are many other industries which have played an important part in its history and Peter, with a keen interest in photography and history, will be illustrating some of these in an audio-visual presentation.
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June 22nd Lesley Weeks "Bottoms Up"
Lesley will be describing her experiences on a charity fund raising event cycling through Vietnam and Cambodia.
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June 29th Prof. Gordon Peckham "Voyager"
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July 6th Rodney Battey "Camouflage, Disguise and Impersonation"
Rodney will be illustrating the wildlife, military and aesthetic needs for camouflage, going on to look at disguise and why peoples' eyes can be deceived, then considering the nature of impersonation as a storyline in fiction and in several well-attested 'real-life' instances. Charles Edward Stuart could disguise himself, tall though he was, as a lady's maid because to the society of those days servants were beneath consideration - effectively invisible !
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July 13th Angela White "Keeping on Track in Italy"
Angela will be giving a light-hearted account of a holiday which involved travelling from Exeter to Southern Italy entirely by train.
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July 20th Liz Moore "Call the Midwife Tanzania"
Liz is the founder of the charity Call the Midwife Tanzania, and is the organisation's representative in the UK.
Having trained as a nurse and midwife in Edinburgh, Liz went on to qualify to teach nursing and life sciences, completed a degree in primary care and worked in general practice for nearly twenty years in the UK.
Liz started supporting clinical work in East Africa in 1993 and has worked with local and refugee populations in Uganda, Rwanda and Tanzania. To support this work, she taught herself Swahili and gained a certificate in tropical Nursing from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.
The aim of the charity is to provide the basic necessities of life to the Maasai people living in a rural group of villages in Tanzania, East Africa, working closely in partnership with the leaders of the community to provide them with a help up, rather than a help out, creating and encouraging sustainable projects that enable the Maasai to support themselves and to have a much better quality of life.
Full details of the charity can be seen on the following web page :
http://www.callthemidwifetanzania.com/
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July 27th Mike Richards "A History of Southernhay"
Mike has a detailed knowledge of the history of Exeter, having been an Exeter City Redcoat Guide for 9 years, and in this talk will be illustrating the history and some of the more interesting aspects of an area which many of us use frequently.
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August 3rd Robin Blythe-Lord "Boney, St. Helena and a Bit of Ascension"
In this talk Robin will follow the journey of Napoleon from his defeat at Waterloo, the treachery he met in Paris, his surrender to the British and his reception in Brixham and Plymouth. He will then review the fate of HMS Bellerophon and the sometimes surprising use of her timbers, before having a look at St. Helena and Ascension as they are today and the conditions endured by Napoleon until his death.
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August 10th Social Meeting Wesley Room ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
August 17th No Meeting
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August 24th Introduced by A selection of TED talks
Peter Burden
The aim of the TED organisation is to foster the spread of great ideas. It aims to provide a platform to enable people around the globe to gain a better understanding of the biggest issues faced by the world, and to help create a better future. Core to this goal is a belief that there is no greater force for changing the world than a powerful idea. If you would like to learn more about TED, full details are available on the following web page :
http://www.ted.com/about/our-organization
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August 31st Ghee Bowman "Crossing the Imperial Colour Bar : Indian Soldiers in Devon in World War Two"
On December 26th 1939, 1723 men of the Royal Indian Army Service Corps disembarked at Marseilles, to join the British Army in France, together with 2000 mules. In his talk Ghee Bowman will be describing what happened to those men ( and their mules ) over the next four years, as they went from Dunkirk to Devon, from Snowdonia to the Scottish Highlands.
These events formed part of Ghee's MA research.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Irene Badman
Irene Badman and other members will be recounting some of their unusual experiences.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- May 11th Annual General Meeting
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
May 18th Colin Vosper "The Story of Harry Hems, the Exeter Sculptor"
Colin Vosper will be presenting an illustrated and lively talk about Harry Hems. Harry was a master stone sculptor and wood carver who came to Exeter from London in 1868 to work initially on the museum building. He went on to develop a thriving business in the city, employing over 100 craftsmen. Colin's talk will be highlighting the ups and downs of Harry Hems' fascinating life in England and abroad, with illustrations of his work, and with just a hint of the less virtuous aspects of his character.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
May 25th Introduced by "Private Passions of Forum Members - John Jameson Music That Has Been Part of Their Lives"
The radio program 'Private Passions' has been running on Radio 3 for many years, providing a guest the opportunity of playing recordings of music which are particularly significant to them and to explain why they mean so much to them. Most of us have memories of music associated with events in our lives and it will be interesting to hear what they are for some of our members.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
June 1st Richard Holladay "History of Garton & King"
Garton & King are one of the oldest businesses in Exeter, having been founded in 1661. The Holladay family were involved with the business of Garton & King from 1898 to 1990, Richard being the youngest of three sons of Henry Holladay, the last Managing Director of Garton & King Ltd. With his family's long association with the Company Richard has created a presentation depicting the development of this Exeter company from its earliest years, its expansion in Victorian times and through to the eventual closure of the Foundry in 1981 and the relinquishment of the Holladay family interest in the Company in 1990.
Richard will have for sale copies of the updated version of the publication "Golden Hammer", the history of Garton & King Ltd.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
June 8th Prof. Emma Loosley "The Syrian Christians of the Desert Villages"
Emma is an Associate Professor in the Department of Theology and Religion at the University of Exeter and has been involved in research in Syria since the 1990s, including spending three years living and working with the Community of Al-Khalil. This Community is dedicated to hospitality and Christian-Islamic dialogue and she spent the summers directing an archaeological excavation for the Community at their 12th Century Monastery of Mar Elian near the town of Qaryatayn, the most easterly of a small group of towns and villages in the Syrian desert which are wholly or partially Christian. This means that Qaryatayn and its neighbours have a culture that is quite different from other communities and the Christians there trace their lineages back over 1,500 years. Sadly the Monastery was destroyed by ISIS in 2015.
If you would like to know more about Emma's involvement with the Community, the following paper was published by Emma in 2003 :
http://www.academia.edu/11425502/The_Community_of_Al-Khalil_Monastic_Life_in_the_Service_of_Christian-Islamic_Dialogue
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
June 15th Peter Budd "Historical Industries and Events in Devon and Somerset"
Although the South West is thought of as an agricultural area, there are many other industries which have played an important part in its history and Peter, with a keen interest in photography and history, will be illustrating some of these in an audio-visual presentation.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
June 22nd Lesley Weeks "Bottoms Up"
Lesley will be describing her experiences on a charity fund raising event cycling through Vietnam and Cambodia.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
June 29th Prof. Gordon Peckham "Voyager"
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
July 6th Rodney Battey "Camouflage, Disguise and Impersonation"
Rodney will be illustrating the wildlife, military and aesthetic needs for camouflage, going on to look at disguise and why peoples' eyes can be deceived, then considering the nature of impersonation as a storyline in fiction and in several well-attested 'real-life' instances. Charles Edward Stuart could disguise himself, tall though he was, as a lady's maid because to the society of those days servants were beneath consideration - effectively invisible !
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
July 13th Angela White "Keeping on Track in Italy"
Angela will be giving a light-hearted account of a holiday which involved travelling from Exeter to Southern Italy entirely by train.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
July 20th Liz Moore "Call the Midwife Tanzania"
Liz is the founder of the charity Call the Midwife Tanzania, and is the organisation's representative in the UK.
Having trained as a nurse and midwife in Edinburgh, Liz went on to qualify to teach nursing and life sciences, completed a degree in primary care and worked in general practice for nearly twenty years in the UK.
Liz started supporting clinical work in East Africa in 1993 and has worked with local and refugee populations in Uganda, Rwanda and Tanzania. To support this work, she taught herself Swahili and gained a certificate in tropical Nursing from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.
The aim of the charity is to provide the basic necessities of life to the Maasai people living in a rural group of villages in Tanzania, East Africa, working closely in partnership with the leaders of the community to provide them with a help up, rather than a help out, creating and encouraging sustainable projects that enable the Maasai to support themselves and to have a much better quality of life.
Full details of the charity can be seen on the following web page :
http://www.callthemidwifetanzania.com/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
July 27th Mike Richards "A History of Southernhay"
Mike has a detailed knowledge of the history of Exeter, having been an Exeter City Redcoat Guide for 9 years, and in this talk will be illustrating the history and some of the more interesting aspects of an area which many of us use frequently.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
August 3rd Robin Blythe-Lord "Boney, St. Helena and a Bit of Ascension"
In this talk Robin will follow the journey of Napoleon from his defeat at Waterloo, the treachery he met in Paris, his surrender to the British and his reception in Brixham and Plymouth. He will then review the fate of HMS Bellerophon and the sometimes surprising use of her timbers, before having a look at St. Helena and Ascension as they are today and the conditions endured by Napoleon until his death.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
August 10th Social Meeting Wesley Room ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
August 17th No Meeting
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
August 24th Introduced by A selection of TED talks
Peter Burden
The aim of the TED organisation is to foster the spread of great ideas. It aims to provide a platform to enable people around the globe to gain a better understanding of the biggest issues faced by the world, and to help create a better future. Core to this goal is a belief that there is no greater force for changing the world than a powerful idea. If you would like to learn more about TED, full details are available on the following web page :
http://www.ted.com/about/our-organization
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
August 31st Ghee Bowman "Crossing the Imperial Colour Bar : Indian Soldiers in Devon in World War Two"
On December 26th 1939, 1723 men of the Royal Indian Army Service Corps disembarked at Marseilles, to join the British Army in France, together with 2000 mules. In his talk Ghee Bowman will be describing what happened to those men ( and their mules ) over the next four years, as they went from Dunkirk to Devon, from Snowdonia to the Scottish Highlands.
These events formed part of Ghee's MA research.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------