Here you will find our current programme and programmes for the previous two years. Details of forthcoming talks are in our Events section. Anyone wishing to have contact details for speakers should contact us.
2026 talks
5 January at 2.30pm: Kingsbury Time Travellers. West Moor: some of its hidden stories
2 February at 2.30pm: John Ashton. Smallpox & Benjamin Jesty, the farmer vaccinator
2 March at 2.30pm: Brian Wright. Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall: nursery rhymes – a hidden history Part 2
13 April at 7.30pm: Baz Hamblin. Time gentlemen please
11 May at 7.30pm: Mike Crew. Princess Louise
1 June at 7.30pm: Maureen Wincott. A letter from Pitney
7 September at 7.30pm: Fergus Dowding. Buildings of Martock
2025 talks
6 January at 3pm: Jonathan Holt. Somerset follies
3 February at 2.30pm: David Sutcliffe. Cecil Sharp: collector of folk songs and dances
3 March at 3pm: Brian Wright. Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall: nursery rhymes – a hidden history
7 April: Robert Guyver. Lady Harriet Acland’s American adventure
12 May: David Nunn. Tolpuddle & its martyrs: radicals, revolutionaries & religion
2 June: Richard Kay. `A Garden is a Lovesome Thing: God Wot!`: Domestic British Gardens 1850-1910
1 September: Andrew Powell-Thomas. Castles in Somerset
6 October: John Highnam. Up a lazy river
3 November: Brian Wright. Andrew Crosse and the mite that shook the world
2024 talks
8 January: Alan Stone. The Orchard Wassail
5 February: Andrew Powell-Thomas. Somerset during World War Two
4 March: Dr Mark Hutchinson. Bishops as Lords of Wells and their Palace c.909 – c.1860
8 April: Chris Hocking. History and traditions of Bridgwater Carnival
13 May: Richard Kay. Gaiety, piety and poverty: images of Victorian childhood
3 June: Brian Wright. Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall: nursery rhymes – a hidden history
2 September: Chris Eldridge. The Normans in Somerset
7 October: Kathryn Brook. Life and death in Roman Somerton (followed by the AGM)
4 November: Charlotte Coles. The social history of clay pipes
2023 talks
9 January: Judith Teasdale. Behind the scenes at Lytes Cary Manor
6 February: Dawn Denton. South Africa: the 1820 settlers of Somerset
6 March: Dr Mark Hutchinson. Scandal at Glastonbury Abbey
3 April: Stephen Miles. Untold riches: the West Somerset oil shale affair
15 May: Brian Wright. Somerset dragons
5 June: Chris Eldridge. King Alfred the Great and the Somerset connection
4 September: David Sutcliffe. Winter customs
2 October: Janet Seaton & Barry Winetrobe. The Stuckeys and Stuckeys Bank (followed by the AGM)
6 November: Giles Bradford. Bradfords: 250 years as part of the Somerset community