Programme for 2019/2020 membership year (September to June) Lectures are held on the second Thursday of the month (excluding July and August). Due to the Corona Virus Pandemic, the planned Lectures for April and May have been postponed either to our (usual) Summer break of July and August or to 2021. We are being guided by both the Government Advice and the Guidance from TAS HQ. Please keep checking back to see information as the situation changes. Thursday 11th June 2020 Roger Butler Canal History & Heritage This lecture provides a colourful introduction to the secret world of our 2000-mile inland waterway network and looks at all aspects of their exceptional artistic, architectural and engineering vernacular with special reference to our local canals. He will range from sweeping aqueducts to tiny bollards; from colourful historic narrowboats to 'Roses and Castles' artwork; from grand World Heritage Sites to quirky listed buildings. A well-known architectural historian once described our canals as a 'poor man's art gallery'. Canal Art Traditional decorated canalware at the Boat Gathering, Guildford 2009. Photo copyright: Colin Smith / Canal Art / Last lecture of the Membership Year 2019/2020 New membership year 2020/2021 Thursday 10th September 2020 Jo Mabbutt The Fields of the Cloth of Gold In June 1520 Henry VIII and Francis 1 met to ratify an Anglo-French alliance and celebrate the betrothal of Henry’s daughter Mary to the Dauphin. The two handsome ‘Renaissance Princes’ were in their 20’s with similar reputations in military prowess, sport and patrons of the arts.  Both had imperial ambitions and were eager to display themselves as magnificent nobleman and warrior kings.  Each brought an entourage of 6,000 to a field south of Calais for 18 days of various events and entertainments staged to display the skill and splendour of each King and country.  The logistics of transporting all of this, including, 3,217 horses to Calais is staggering! Our Royal Palaces were virtually emptied of their silver, gold, tapestries and furniture to decorate the temporary palace. 2020 is the 500th Anniversary of this extraordinary event. Thursday 8th October 2020 (following our AGM at 7.15pm) at 7.30pm Timothy Walker The subtle Science and Exact Art of Colour - English Garden Design In 1888 Gertrude Jekyll wrote a short but seminal article in The Garden in which she urged the readers to “remember that in a garden we are painting a picture”. As an accomplished watercolour artist, Miss Jekyll was familiar with the principles of using colours, but she felt that in gardens these principles “had been greatly neglected”. This talk looks at how to apply these principles in designing a border, but it also looks at the ways in which a border is different from a painting.  However, it goes further than this and looks at how contemporary work of the likes of Turner, Monet, Rothko, Jackson Pollack, and Hockney evolved in parallel with ideas about what a garden or border should look like. Thursday 12th November 2020 David Wright A Brief History of Wine Wine has been part of our global society for over 7,000 years, and the story tells of its origin and appearance in all civilisations across the Mediterranean and through Europe. There is rich evidence of the rôle wine has played in these societies and how it became an important component of faith, well-being and festivity. From the kwevris of Georgia in 5,000 B.C., the symposia in ancient Greece, the thermopolia of Pompeii, the hospices of Europe, to the dining tables of fine society, wine has been ever present. Drawings, paintings, engravings, buildings, pottery and wine labels themselves all contribute to the story. Thursday 10th December 2020 (with wine & mince pies) Ian Gledhill The Magic of Pantomime (by an actor who understudied Julian Clary, talking about the only British form of theatre) The history of this enduring and peculiarly British institution, from its origins in 16th century Italian commedia dell’arte through the influence of 19th century music hall, to the family shows that are still much loved today.  On the way we examine the origins of some of the stories used in pantomime as well as such traditions as the (female) principal boy and the (male) pantomime dame.  The talk is interspersed with personal anecdotes from the speaker’s years of working (and appearing) professionally in pantomime.

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