TALKS PROGRAMME - Sept-Dec 2015
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September 2nd John Stuart "Exmoor and the Doones"
John will be showing how Richard Blackmore drew on real life places and events in writing his romantic novel 'Lorna Doone' in 1869, and will be illustrating his talk with photographs taken by him whilst travelling on Exmoor.
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September 9th Trevor Priest "Transport - Exeter's Growing Pain"
At the next meeting of the Exeter Forum, on Wednesday 9th September, Trevor Preist will be giving a presentation titled "Transport - Exeter's Growing Pain". Trevor has a keen interest in the future development of transport in and around Exeter and is a member of the Transport Group of Transition Exeter, an organisation whose main aim is to encourage and support the transition to a sustainable society. Trevor will be talking about the past and current structure of transport in Exeter, and in particular the implication for the future of ignoring the problem.
Trevor has produced a paper for Transition Exeter analysing the current transport situation in Exeter and possible solutions to the increasing problems of travelling around a rapidly growing city. Details of Trevor's research are available on the following Transition Exeter web page :
http://www.transitionexeter.org.uk/node/394 .
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September 16th John Lello " Atlantis - Did It Exist ?"
At the next meeting of the Exeter Forum, on Wednesday 16th September, John Lello will be giving an illustrated talk titled "Atlantis - Did It Exist ? ". John is a local historian, living in Lyme Regis. He was headmaster of Tiverton Grammar School, head of Sexey's School, Bruton, lecturer in education and history at Oxford and Cambridge, and helped to found Atlantic College. He has written a number of books about education, including the very popular "The Resourceful History Teacher" and is a regular speaker on cruise ships. Early Greek records refer to a lost city in the Atlantic, but was this just an ancient fable or if it really existed where could it have been and what happened to it ?
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September 23rd Jennifer Few "The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB)"
Jennifer will be outlining the Society's history since its formation in 1891 to the present day and its role and activities in the 21st Century.
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September 30th Bill Taylor "Walking the Camino"
Bill will be presenting an illustrated talk titled "Walking the Camino", in which he will be describing his experiences in walking for 14 days along 130 miles of a pilgrim route from Leon to Santiago de Compostella.
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October 7th Ian Thomas "Diving Under Ice"
Ian will be giving a talk titled "Diving Under Ice". Ian is a very experienced diver and in 2006 was involved in the making of an episode in the Television series Planet Earth which involved diving under ice in the Arctic.
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October 14th Rodney Battey "The Shaping of Modern India"
Rodney will be looking at some of the influences that have shaped modern India; the cultural and religious heritage of several thousand years of Hinduism, Buddhism, the Jains and the Sikhs; the architectural heritage of various waves of Muslim invaders from AD 1000 onwards; the political heritage of the British and the Princely States, and the practical significance of ‘globalisation’ for a country that in the past prided itself on being geographically remote.
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October 21st Bryan Johnston "Melacrino to Mozart - My Musical Life"
Bryan will be describing his experiences as a professional musician for over 50 years, including illustrative excerpts from musical recordings. Bryan studied the violin and singing at the Royal Academy of Music, before becoming a freelance player working with musicians such as Sargent, Klemperer, Walton, Tippett, and Barbirolli, and playing for Welsh Opera, Glyndebourne and the Festival Ballet. In 1962 he joined the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and was a founder member of the Bournemouth Sinfonietta.
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October 28th Keith Badman "The Other Side of Tasmania"
The island of Tasmania has great scenic grandeur and an importance in the history of exploration. The place that it had in the history of the punishment of British people in the nineteenth century can still be seen throughout the island. It is not a happy story.
The history of the indigenous population, still disputed today, is also of great interest but brings little credit to the early administrators of the island.
Illustrated mainly by his own photographs, Keith will give an insight into the troubled history of this beautiful island.
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November 4th David Westcott "The Coast Path From Starcross to Plymouth"
David will be showing scenes of this beautiful stretch of coast, together with some interesting stories along the way.
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November 11th General Meeting
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November 18th Martin Horrell "Medieval Rood Screens"
Martin will be explaining the function and history of Rood Screens and showing photographs of examples, including a number of fine examples in Devon.
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November 25th Dr. George Wilkins "The Norman Lockyer Observatory"
Dr. Wilkins will be outlining the background and career of Norman Lockyer before his retirement to Sidmouth in 1910, the history of the Observatory and its continuing use.
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December 2nd Caradoc Doy "Plant Hunters and Pioneers"
Caradoc is a leading freelance horticulturist and he will be outlining the history of the Veitch nurseries of Exeter and Chelsea and some of the twenty three plant collectors they sent all over the world between 1840 and 1912 to discover and collect new plants. They were so successful that there is scarcely a garden in the British Isles that does not contain a plant derived from species brought back by these expeditions.
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December 9th Jane Brunt "One Woman, a Harem and 1000 Cows"
In 1977 Jane and her husband, with two children, aged 10 months and 4 years, went to Saudia Arabia to run a thousand cow dairy herd and her talk is about her experiences in Saudi Arabia, including living with a Harem for four months and her friendship with a bedouin family while living and working in the Rub-al-Khali ( The Empty Quarter), the largest contiguous sand desert in the world.
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December 16th John Jameson " Journeys in Music and Verse"
and Margaret Fuest
John and Margaret will be presenting a program of verse and recorded music related to 'Travel', including Britten's 'Night Mail', Betjeman's 'A Mind's Journey to Diss' and the Shepherds' Farewell from Berlioz' l'enfance du Christ.
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December 23rd No Meeting
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December 30th No Meeting
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