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2021 We offer prospective members a free “try before you buy” first visit.
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Wed September 15th
(note: one-off date - not 2nd Wednesday of month as normal)
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Len Holden
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Len Holden: Paddy Logan and his suffragette daughters
John (Paddy) Logan (1845-1925) was a radical and outspoken entrepreneur, engineering contractor and property dealer. He made a fortune building railways and docks. He built himself a large country house at East Langton and in 1891 became MP for Market Harborough. He gifted the town the play area and housing development around Logan Street as well as paying half the costs of the Harborough swimming pool. Less well known is that he had two daughters who became suffragettes and played a significant role in promoting women’s rights and suffrage in Leicestershire. Len Holden will tell their story.
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Wed October 13th
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Mike Stroud
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William Knibb of Kettering
William Knibb 1803 - 1845 was a Baptist minister from Kettering who took up the cause of fighting slavery in the West Indies. To him the whole concept of slavery was totally abhorrent, and he determined to do all within his power to "slay the monster" that was slavery. He followed the Kettering Baptist Minister Andrew Fuller 1754 - 1815 who in 1792 co-founded the Baptist Missionary Society. Indeed leaving school aged 12 he worked as an apprentice printer to Fuller’s son. William Knibb became a missionary to Jamaica, much influenced life there where he died aged 42. Mike Stroud will recount the life and work of this great man.
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Wed November 10th
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Denis Kenyon
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“Девятнадцать девятнадцать 1919: The Red, The White and The Green”
Denis will recount the fascinating story of Hallaton’s Walter George Butteriss MC. MM. of The Green Howards (Yorkshire Regiment) in that little known conflict against the Bolshevik Reds in the snows of Archangel and Murmansk. This carried on after the Great War Armistice of November 1918 through to the middle of 1919 .It is a tale of mutiny, high drama on the sea passage, awful conditions and dealing with a very unclear enemy in a muddled, ill-conceived conflict. The illustrated talk will explain the complexities and chaos of the many competing forces and conclude with a 15 minute contemporary film.
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Wed December 8th
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Harborough Movie Makers
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An evening with the Market Harborough Movie Makers
For sixty years the Movie Makers have been making films recording events in the town, and making documentaries on aspects of life, places, work and history in the town and surrounding area. They will present a selection of some of their many films, including the story of the Cottage Hospital (closed 2018). They last informed and entertained us in February 2016. Since then they have made many more films, some of which we shall see.
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2022
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Wed January 12th
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Ned Newitt
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“The 'Spanish' Flu Epidemic in Leicester”
In 1918-1919, influenza caused the death of about 1,600 people in Leicester and a similar number in the County. This talk tells the story of the epidemic in words and pictures and looks the public health advice, the medical knowledge and social attitudes of the time. It also draws out parallels and the differences between the Spanish Flu and the Covid pandemics and looks at the reasons for the terrible death toll in 1918-1919.
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Wed February 9th
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David Burditt
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“The Lost Mediaeval Villages of Leicestershire and Northamptonshire”
The study of the loss, decline and remains of many mediaeval villages was started some seventy years ago at the University of Leicester by the pioneer Maurice Beresford through fieldwork and the study of historical documents. Although found throughout the country, there are very many lost villages in the East Midlands, including locally at Knaptoft, Great Stretton, Theddingworth and Stanford on Avon. Enclosures, sheepfarming and the monasteries played their part. David will enlighten us on the topic of the lost villages.
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Wed March 9th
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Kam Cadell
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Geddington: a mediaeval royal centre – the Royal connections
Why was an elegant monument erected in the centre of Geddington , a remote Northamptonshire village, to the memory of Eleanor, the beloved wife of Edward I ? Kam Cadell will tell the story of Geddington and its Royal connections. He will explain the role that Geddington played in mediaeval times and how signs of this can be seen today in its large church and in the village.
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Wed April 13th
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Rosalind Willatts
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Six cheeses for Cromwell – the story of Launde Abbey
Launde Abbey, 12 miles from Market Harborough, was founded in 1119 as an Augustinian Priory in a remote part of Leicestershire. The priory captivated Thomas Cromwell who, on its dissolution, took it for his own use. It remained as a private country house for over 400 years. For the last 60 years its role has been as a Christian Retreat Centre enhanced by its remoteness, its setting and the remains of the mediaeval priory embedded in its fabric and in its chapel. Rosalind will talk about its history, its buildings and many of the people associated with it over 900 years.
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Wed May 11th
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Colin Hyde
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Oral History in Leicestershire
Colin Hyde is the East Midlands Oral History Archive Researcher and Outreach Officer. His involvement with oral history goes back to the original Leicester Oral History Archive which was set up in 1983. He works closely with community organisations in Leicestershire and Rutland, both to retrieve existing oral history recordings, and to encourage and support new work. Oral History is the history of ordinary people and their lives collected orally rather than by the written word. It records spoken memories of life, places or institutions from people with a shared or similar past. Colin’s talk will encompass some of the recollections from Market Harborough in the archive.
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