Past Events
April 2026
Hammer and Havoc – Storytelling with Maria Credali. Sold Out!
Join us for an evening of Norse legends, as the Vikings would have heard them – from a traditional Skald, an oral storyteller. Hear of mighty Thor, wielder of Mjölnir, as thunder shakes the heavens. Marvel at the cunning tricks of Loki, the silver-tongued shapeshifter whose mischief forever alters the fate of gods and giants alike. From epic battles to whispered prophecies of Ragnarök, these timeless tales brim with adventure, humour, and mythic wonder. Traditional storyteller Maria Credali brings you…
Find out more »Lunar Lecture – Romanticism, Place, Identity and the Picturesque: Erasmus Darwin’s Poetical Oaks by Professor Paul Elliott
Erasmus Darwin and his literary and philosophical friends were inspired by trees which Darwin believed were essential for economic utility, horticultural improvement, productive estate management and ecological vitality. In his Lichfield botanical garden and other gardens, Darwin strove to unite as his friend and biographer Anna Seward claimed, practical botany with picturesque prospects by creating and experiencing planted and poetic vegetable realms. Ancient oaks demonstrated how trees flourished best, underscoring their cultural status as ‘monarchs of the forest’ in nature's economy,…
Find out more »My Father, POW
Speaker Vanessa Morgan: My father, Francis Hill, joined the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers in September 1939 and was with the British Expeditionary Force in France until May 1940. They were then told to make for Dunkirk, and it was on his way to Dunkirk that he, and a group of friends, were captured. Sent to a POW camp in Poland he was quickly sent out on working parties for the next four years. He was then part of the…
Find out more »May 2026
“Yellow Faces, Brave Hearts: The Unknown Stories of the Canary Girls in World War One”
Come and find out about the fascinating and often tragic stories of the girls and women who signed up to be munition workers. They suffered danger, explosions and poisoning whilst involved in making munitions for the War effort during the First World War! Speaker Paul Wilkins.
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