Evening Talks
Talks are held at 8.00 pm in St Mary’s Parish Rooms, Museum Street, Saffron Walden .
members £1: guests welcome, £3: young people under 16 free.
Please Note: entry by Cash at the door,
we have no facilities for taking electronic payments.
Some Winter Talks are held on ‘Zoom’ available only to Members of the Society
Programme of Talks for
2024/5
2025
20 January – “If you go down to the woods today”
Speaker: Liz Huxley – On ‘Zoom’
10 February – Cartography and Cosmograms; The Heavens Made Manifest
Speaker: Simon Hilton-Smith – On ‘Zoom’
17 March – The Rise and Fall of the Bradburys of Wicken
Speaker: Martin Rose
14 April – History of Saffron Walden Museum 1974 to 2024
Speaker: Tony Watson
12 May – Hadstock; its Sustainability Initiative
Speakers: John Lockton & Tony Morton
16 June – Thunderstones, Elves’ Arrows and Prehistoric Stone Tools
Speaker: Judith Rodden
Previous talks and events
2024
18 November – Meteors and Meteorites
Speaker: Ian Lauwerys – On ‘Zoom’
21 October – The Good Old Duke of York –
Speaker: Richard Till
16 September – Fake News –
Speaker: Paul Davies
3 June – A Pioneering Family in 19th Century Canada – Speaker; Julia Mackintosh
13 May – Geology and Historic Land Use in Essex – Speaker; Alison Moller
8 April – Cyprus and the Holy Land – Speaker; Tony Watson
11 March – Nursing through shot and shell: medical women at the Front. Speaker; Vivien Newman
5 February on ZOOM – Britain with Betjeman , Speaker; John Vigar
15 January on ZOOM – Tudor Hertfordshire, with a speaker from the Hertfordshire Museum and Library Service
2023
13th November – Slavery in the post-Roman Empire -Speaker; James Burns
9th October –
Meet them at the Museum
Speaker; Our soon to be Retiring Curator, Carolyn Wingfield
11th September –
One Man’s Saffron Walden –
Speaker; Bruce Munro
Monday July 3rd: 8:00 p.m.
An Eternal Sleep ? Bed
Burials in Early Medieval
Europe.
A talk by Emma Brownlee
Burial are a rich source of information about our ancestors and Dr Brownlee has been studying the relatively unusual practice of burying the deceased on a bed. She will tell us what she has found.
Monday June 12 : 8:00 pm :
Buildings and burials: evidence of Roman life in Bishops Stortford
Speaker; Elizabeth Duru
Elizabeth Duru lives in Saffron Walden and was part of the team which recently excavated remains in Grange Paddocks, close to the Sports Centre. This discovery was recently featured on the TV programme Digging for Britain.
Monday May 15 : 8:00 pm :
Monday April 17 : 8:00 pm :
The Pargeting of Saffron Walden— Recent Discoveries ;
Speaker Anna Kettle
Monday March 6 : 8:00 pm :
Scottish Wildlife-The Highlands and Islands.
Speaker; Liz Huxley.
By Zoom only.
Monday 13 February : 8:00 pm :
The World of Art Deco. ; Speaker Mark Lewis
Mark spoke to us in November 2021 when he gave us an outstanding talk on ‘Art Nouveau’.
ON ZOOM Only Details of how to view are circulated to Society Members
Friday 13th January : Museum Society Christmas Party
Originally planned for before Christmas, the event had to be cancelled due to heavy snowfall making travel hazardous. The Party was rescheduled for January, and a good time was had by all.
Monday, 9 January : 8:00pm : Simon Coxall on “Uttlesford- “the Little Shire” – A landscape archaeology approach. Held on Zoom.
2022
Monday 14 November
Gladiators in Roman Life – by Richard Bale
Monday 10 October
Cooking with Saffron – by Samantha Bilton
Sam is a writer, cook and food historian who has recently published ‘Fool’s Gold: a History of British Saffron’ who writes and broadcasts regularly and recreates historical recipes from as early as the 14th century. She will be at Hart’s Books to sign copies of her book on Saturday, 15 October.
Sam will be explaining how saffron was used in cookery through the centuries when she takes part in ‘Saffron Day’ on Sunday, 16 October, to be held in the Market Place from 11.00am-4.00pm. This event celebrates the town’s historic association with saffron cultivation. There will be stalls selling saffron products, demonstrations of the use of saffron as a dye and talks on growing the saffron crocus as well as food and drink, music and entertainment.
Monday 12 September
“From the “Smoke” to the Coast,
Firefighting in London and Essex During the Two World Wars – by Mick Ford
Monday 13 June
Thaxted -A Late Medieval Commercial Town – Speaker; Richard Till
Monday 9 May 2022
The Saffron Walden Museum Society 1958-2008 – Speaker; Tony Watson
13 January 2020
The Essex Regiment during World War One.
Speaker: Peter Layzell
The Essex Regiment provided some 30 battalions to the British army in World War 1 and saw action in the Somme, Gallipoli, Egypt, and Palestine. Peter Layzell has made a long study of the Regiment’s achievements.
This talk by the manager of the Essex Regiment Family History Website is drawn from testimonies and newspaper accounts following the Regiment through the Great War including the soldiers daily routine, trench life and medical treatment.
10 February 2020
On Portraiture.
Speaker: Benjamin Sullivan
Our speaker is one of this country’s leading portrait painters. He will be talking about his work in the context of 20th century portraiture.
His work is to be found in numerous public and private collections, including the National Portrait Gallery, the Royal Scottish Academy, Parliament House, Edinburgh, and several Oxford and Cambridge Colleges.
9 March 2020
1,568 Sawdust Hearts
Speaker Tracey Fernandes
Soldiers wounded in the 1st World War were encouraged to decorate heart shaped bags filled with sawdust as a therapy. In 2018, a project to mark the centenary of that war was launched to provide one heart for each day of the War-hence 1568 Sawdust Hearts. 20 of these were made by volunteers in and around Saffron Walden and are now on display in the Museum. The speaker will tell us the full story.
Talks prior to these, back to the year 2015, are shown on the
Other Events run by the Museum Service
As well as the events that are run by the Museum Society, the Museum Service runs events especially during half term and summer school holidays. A full Listing can be found on the Museum Events page
Exhibition
See the Current Exhibition page