WINTER TALKS
SCROLL DOWN to see the full programme of winter talks for 2019/20
Thursday 3rd October 2019
DRINKS RECEPTION AND OPENING LECTURE
DRINKS RECEPTION AND OPENING LECTURE
6.30pm Drinks Reception
7.15pm Talk by David Hastings - TRUE HEROES OF THE SEA
David Hastings is an enthusiastic and knowledgeable speaker on the inspirational history of lifesaving at sea and the R.N.L.I. and is the Honorary Secretary of the Durham Branch. His presentation will include uplifting stories of lifeboat people, lifeboats and rescues at sea over the past 20 years; with amazing accounts of courage, endurance and bravery of those who go to help complete strangers in appalling conditions, when everyone else is running for shelter.
7.15pm Talk by David Hastings - TRUE HEROES OF THE SEA
David Hastings is an enthusiastic and knowledgeable speaker on the inspirational history of lifesaving at sea and the R.N.L.I. and is the Honorary Secretary of the Durham Branch. His presentation will include uplifting stories of lifeboat people, lifeboats and rescues at sea over the past 20 years; with amazing accounts of courage, endurance and bravery of those who go to help complete strangers in appalling conditions, when everyone else is running for shelter.

Saturday 26th October 2019 at 2.00pm
EXPLORING THE SITE OF FOUNTAINS ABBEY AND STUDLEY ROYAL Using modern archaeological techniques
Mark Newman
An archaeologist in the National Trust for nearly 30 years, Mark is currently based in Yorkshire but has covered places from Greater Manchester to Berwick and has worked abroad in France, Italy, USA and Guyana. Mark graduated from Birmingham University where his MA Thesis was on the prehistoric remains of Sutton Hoo. Mark supported the project building the National Trust’s visitor centre at Fountain’s Abbey and Studley Royal in 1988 and ever since, Fountains has been special to him.
A recent state of the art geophysical exploration of Fountains and its monastic cemetery received international media interest.
Mark has written a book, ‘The Wonder of The North: Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal’, which brings social and garden history together with archaeology to reveal Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal as one of the world’s greatest artistic creations.
EXPLORING THE SITE OF FOUNTAINS ABBEY AND STUDLEY ROYAL Using modern archaeological techniques
Mark Newman
An archaeologist in the National Trust for nearly 30 years, Mark is currently based in Yorkshire but has covered places from Greater Manchester to Berwick and has worked abroad in France, Italy, USA and Guyana. Mark graduated from Birmingham University where his MA Thesis was on the prehistoric remains of Sutton Hoo. Mark supported the project building the National Trust’s visitor centre at Fountain’s Abbey and Studley Royal in 1988 and ever since, Fountains has been special to him.
A recent state of the art geophysical exploration of Fountains and its monastic cemetery received international media interest.
Mark has written a book, ‘The Wonder of The North: Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal’, which brings social and garden history together with archaeology to reveal Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal as one of the world’s greatest artistic creations.

Saturday 30th November 2019 at 2.00pm
Women of the Durham Coalfields - Margaret Hedley
Margaret is an experienced researcher with over 30 years experience and knowledge of the Durham area. Margaret researches family and local history and has written a book Women of the Durham Coalfield in the 19th Century inspired by her female ancestors of the 1800’s.There is little written evidence about women of the 1800's, women hadn’t been written out of history, they had simply never been written into it, Margaret wanted to know more about their lives....
Women of the Durham Coalfields - Margaret Hedley
Margaret is an experienced researcher with over 30 years experience and knowledge of the Durham area. Margaret researches family and local history and has written a book Women of the Durham Coalfield in the 19th Century inspired by her female ancestors of the 1800’s.There is little written evidence about women of the 1800's, women hadn’t been written out of history, they had simply never been written into it, Margaret wanted to know more about their lives....

Saturday 25th January 2020 at 2:00pm
WHERE'S THE BODY: An Eighteenth Century Mystery - David Butler
The chapel at the National Trust property of Gibside was begun by George Bowes and he was eventually buried in its crypt 53 years after work began.
The conventional belief is that he and his second wife were the first occupants of the crypt, but discoveries in eighteenth-century Newcastle newspapers indicate that there may be a different story to be told involving a cellar-full of wine and a small black dog!
David Butler is interested in the local history of Durham, especially Durham City and is currently researching the county’s turnpike roads. As a volunteer history guide at Gibside, he became interested in exploring aspects of the history of the estate that are not normally covered in the usual history presentations.
WHERE'S THE BODY: An Eighteenth Century Mystery - David Butler
The chapel at the National Trust property of Gibside was begun by George Bowes and he was eventually buried in its crypt 53 years after work began.
The conventional belief is that he and his second wife were the first occupants of the crypt, but discoveries in eighteenth-century Newcastle newspapers indicate that there may be a different story to be told involving a cellar-full of wine and a small black dog!
David Butler is interested in the local history of Durham, especially Durham City and is currently researching the county’s turnpike roads. As a volunteer history guide at Gibside, he became interested in exploring aspects of the history of the estate that are not normally covered in the usual history presentations.
Saturday 15th February 2020 at 2.00pm
ELIZABETHAN AND GEORGIAN DURHAM - Dr Adrian Green Adrian Green teaches history at Durham University. He first came to Durham to undertake a PhD on historic buildings in the region, focusing on County Durham between the reigns of Queen Elizabeth I and King George II. Adrian has wider interests in the history of buildings in England and English settlements in North America. He has published The County Durham Hearth Tax and a collection of essays on Economy and Culture in North-East England, 1500-1800; as well as Building for England: John Cosin’s Architecture in Renaissance Durham and Cambridge. |

CANCELLED
Thursday 19th March 2020 at 7.00pm
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING AND LECTURE
HISTORY OF STREATLAM CASTLE - Jonathan Peacock
Following the AGM, Mr Jonathan Peacock will give us a talk about the history of Streatlam Castle. Streatlam was a baroque stately home near Barnard Castle, owned by the Bowes-Lyon family- Earls of Strathmore and Kinghorn. Unlike Gibside, which had come to lay within a major coalfield, near Gateshead, and considered to be spoilt by the surrounding coal fields, Streatlam sat amidst the beautiful Durham Dales. So, what happened to the house?
Thursday 19th March 2020 at 7.00pm
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING AND LECTURE
HISTORY OF STREATLAM CASTLE - Jonathan Peacock
Following the AGM, Mr Jonathan Peacock will give us a talk about the history of Streatlam Castle. Streatlam was a baroque stately home near Barnard Castle, owned by the Bowes-Lyon family- Earls of Strathmore and Kinghorn. Unlike Gibside, which had come to lay within a major coalfield, near Gateshead, and considered to be spoilt by the surrounding coal fields, Streatlam sat amidst the beautiful Durham Dales. So, what happened to the house?
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