Focus Events

Speaker: Bobbie Darbyshire: In an entertaining, informative talk, prize-winning author Bobbie Darbyshire explains how ideas formulate in the novelist’s mind. She has worked as barmaid, mushroom picker, film extra, maths coach, cabinet minister’s private secretary, care assistant, volunteer adult-literacy teacher, plus in social research and government policy.

Speaker: Hilary Roberts: Hilary presents a new perspective on the role of image manipulation in war photography over the past 170 years, exploring the consequences for our understanding of historic and contemporary conflicts.

Speaker: Jonathan Jones: In this informative and amusing talk, Jonathan will let us into the tricks and techniques used by participants in the World Memory Championships to accomplish seemingly impossible feats.  Their memories are not superior to ours, but they do spend many hours honing these skills.

Speaker: Colin Butcher: Colin who is bringing his tuba will talk about orchestras and bands from an insider's point of view, explaining some of what's happening during rehearsals and performances.  The intention of this talk is to help people get a little more out of going to live performances.

Speaker: Lorraine Spindler: Once the desperate work of London’s poorest, riverside scavenging has evolved into a remarkable way of uncovering the city’s past as each find tells a story. Lorraine explores the history, rules, surprising treasures and some recently discovered objects which you can see up close.

Speaker: Susan Purcell: Crosswords are not just about leisure and enjoyment; the intelligence services have always taken a close interest in them. Susan will look at their history and regale us with anecdotes. The talk is light-hearted and aimed at everyone - those who do and those who don’t.

Speaker: Andy Thomas: With stunning visuals, Andy explores this extraordinary phenomenon appearing in fields yearly around the world and still defying total explanation. He reveals their fascinating history up to the present and explores both the amazing designs and the many varied and imaginative theories to explain them.

Speaker: Andy Richardson: An illustrated biography of a selection of Aviation’s greatest Pioneers, Influencers and Heroes as chosen by Andy and concluding with an audience vote as to who should head their Hall of Fame.

Speakers: James and Christine Rowley: During the 1840’s journalist Henry Mayhew interviewed hundreds of street vendors and characters. Discover many strange professions and how they survived. The story is brought to life with readings, music and illustrations and covers his colourful life and his influence on Dickens and others.

Speaker: Kathryn Harkup: ….and also for Agatha Christie who revelled in using poison, carefully chosen to kill off unfortunate victims. We will look at howdunnit but whodunnit is for you to discover. Kathryn is a former chemist. Her interests are anything gothic, gory and geeky - preferably all three!