Lectures
2011 - 2012 Lecture Programme
Meetings are held in Edge Hill University, Ormskirk, Room M40, Main Building on Monday evenings commencing 7.30 pm.
3 October Professor Kevern Verney
Barack Obama
A look at Obama's life and career also assessing whether or not his election marks a new post-racial era in U.S. electoral politics.
17 October Brenda Murray
Ten influential and interesting people living in Seaforth in the 19th Century
Included are Gladstone, Muspratt, Forwood, Peter Stuart, Bower and three women.
31 October Dr Graeme Milne
Liverpool sailors on the waterfront in the 19th Century
Nineteenth century Liverpool was a great world city made rich by global trade. Its waterfront streets played host to a transient army of seafarers without whom the international shipping industry would have been impossible. Sailors had a lasting influence on the reputation and cultures of cities like Liverpool but were sorely exploited in the process. This talk explores the myths and realities of life on shore for seamen, their families and communities in the age of sail and in the long transition to steamships in the decades before the Great War.
14 November Mr Alan Davies
The Pretoria Pit Disaster
On Wednesday 21 December 1910 889 men and boys travelled the two 434 yard deep shafts at Hulton colliery also known as Pretoria Pit. An explosion of methane gas occurred followed by a more powerful coal dust blast. A total of 344 men and boys died, 145 from Westhoughton, making this the third largest diaster in British coal mining history.
28 November Dr Ron Cowell
Prehistoric Roman & Mediaeval Excavations at the M62 interchange
Evidence from the excavation revealed a range of occupations outside the normal pattern and also the relationship of the dwellers with the landscape.
12 December Members Social Evening: Our esteemed member Mr Henry Mullarkey will present slides of Ormskirk and Aughton to promote recollections and discussion amongst members. It is usual for members to bring 'goodies' for a social evening .All are most welcome.
16 January Dr Alyson Brown
The Dartmoor Prison Mutiny 1932
On the morning of Sunday 24 January 1932 in Dartmoor Convict Prison in Devon about 40 convicts broke from their ranks in the exercise yards. They ran around the parade ground accumulating others until an estimated 150 or more inmates were out of control of prison officers and seized effective control of the prison for an hour and a half. During this time extensive damage was done before authority was established with the help of reinforcements from the Plymouth police.
30 January Dr Liz Stewart
At Home: Liverpool Court Housing
Courts were a form of high density back to back housing which became common in northern cities from the late 18 Century and deteriorated into slum housing before almost all the last examples were demolished through the early-mid 20 Century. Maps, photographs, contemporary descriptions and census data paint a picture of life in Victorian courts.
13 February Mr John Quirk
Nicholas Blundell, a reluctant Church Warden
The talk is based on diary entries from the Journal of Nicholas Blundell vol II and looks at his time as a church warden of Sephton church. Other aspects of his life and family, and several ancillary matters are explored.
27 February Mr John Dickinson
Misericords of NW England
A wife beating her husband with a ladle, a bare breasted mermaid and a noble griffin savaging a richly dressed man are just some of the intriguing images depicting the struggle between sin and virtue carved underneath choir stalls in major churches in the North West. A misericord - also known as a mercy seat-is a small wooden shelf underneath the folding seats in churches which offers some solace to the weary monks, obliged to stand during long periods of prayer. The carvings underneath these seats are also known as misericords. These carvings are some of the very best examples of mediaeval craftsmanship but when they were carved their subject matter was not considered fit for the eyes of the general public. They were hidden away in the holiest part of the church where no-one save the monks and priests were allowed to venture. "The carvings depict the real humour of the world as it was understood by late mediaeval monks, clergy and carvers in the North West. Some are humourous, worldly wise, rude or even anticlerical. Their messages and teachings are far more complex than those images found elsewhere in churches".
12 March Dr John Virgoe
Causes of death in a rural southwest Lancashire community in the late 18th Century
From 1789 until 1801 the parish register of St Cuthberts, North Meols recorded the cause of death and the age of a large percentage of individuals dying in the parish. This information is examined and discussed in the context of the location of North Meols, other sources of information on causes of death and medical knowledge of the period. The contribution that it makes to knowledge of mortality in the late 18 Century and medical understanding in the area is considered.
26 March Clemency Fisher
The unusually royal history of Toxteth Deer Park
Toxteth was once a Royal Deer Park, founded by King John in 1204. Being "beyond the pale" (the boundary palings) led to settlement by religious dissenters such as Puritans,with their strong artisan ethic. Toxteth became known for fine craftsmanship such as watchmaking and pottery and was the birthplace of Jeremiah Horrocks, the "Founder of Astronomy".
