Following the outstanding lecture on Charles H. Mackie given at the September meeting by Pat Clark there was a keen interest expressed by several members in spending a few days in Edinburgh in 2020 and visiting the Mackie exhibition that Pat is co-curating.  Please watch this space for further details.

We have decided that we shall not be able to go ahead with this visit.  Many apologies.

Roger Askew, Chair

It is with regret that we are having to cancel this visit.  Many apologies to those of you who signed up for it.

Roger Askew, Chair

Following her lecture in January, "Victoria and Albert, Art and Love" Barbara Askew will be taking us on a tour of the Victorian Galleries in the Museum and then an exclusive tour of the Albert Memorial.  The tour starts at the Museum at 11.30am.

The Victoria & Albert Museum

The Victorian Galleries showcase the finest examples of Victorian decorative art from 19th Century Britain.  The impact of technological innovation, the Great Exhibition, the Battle of the Styles, the Gothic Revival, A.N.W. Pugin, William Burges, the cult of domesticity, the Arts and Crafts Movement, William Morris, Christopher Dresser and Charles Rennie Macintosh are all included in the tour.

The Albert Memorial

The Albert Memorial is as remarkable as the man it commemorates.

George Gilbert Scott designed it not only to celebrate the Prince Consort’s life, but also to explain the ideals and aspirations of the whole Victorian Age.  The memorial’s unique combination of architecture, sculpture and craftsmanship makes it one of the masterpieces of the Gothic Revival and one of Europe’s greatest public monuments.

PLEASE NOTE - transport is under your own steam - Greenline bus 702 will take you straight to the Albert Hall.  Alternatively, train to Paddington, then the Circle Line to South Kensington.  Further details are on the booking form.

Following the lecture "War Artists" on November 21st which marks the centenary of the end of the First World War we are arranging a visit to the Imperial War Museum in Lambeth where we shall be given a private guided tour of their art collection.

Cost to include coach travel and guided tour is £38.00

Following February's lecture, "Capability Brown and the English Landscape Garden", we enjoyed a wonderful day at Stowe House and Garden.  The weather was perfect, our two guides were excellent, well-informed, animated and friendly.  It was a really good day out - we all thoroughly enjoyed it.  Go to the Gallery to see more pictures.

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This guided walk, a follow-up to our September 2016 lecture led by the lecturer Barbara Askew, followed the path of the Fire from its starting point in Pudding Lane to Pie Corner where it was eventually checked.The Fire of 1666, which came only months after the Great Plague, devastated most of the City of London. 13,500 houses, 87 churches and 44 livery halls, as well as many public buildings were destroyed within four days. The Monument to the Great Fire, buildings constructed in the aftermath of the Fire, delightful churches built by Sir Christopher Wren, the Guildhall and St Paul’s Cathedral were some of the features on the route.

On Tuesday May 17th 2016 as a follow-up to Christopher Roger's inspiring April lecture on the cathedral a group of members visited both Salisbury Cathedral and one of the finest houses in the Cathedral Close, Arundells, the former home of Sir Edward Heath.

Barbara Askew led the morning tour of the Cathedral, and at Arundells the group saw Sir Edward Heath's diverse and very personal collection of art work, photographs, sailing memorabilia and political cartoons, and Arundells' peaceful garden of about two acres, fronting the confluence of the Avon and Nadder rivers.

On Tuesday March 22nd 2016 twenty members and their guests visited Woburn Abbey & Gardens, the ancestral home of the Earls & Dukes of Bedford since the 1620s, and currently the home of the 15th Duke and Duchess and their two children. We enjoyed a special guided tour and saw many of the 250+ works of art including the largest private collection of Venetian views painted by Canaletto, paintings by Gainsborough, Rembrandt and Van Dyck, and the Armada portrait of Queen Elizabeth I, as well as 18th century French & English furniture and the family's silver and gold collections in the underground vaults, and their marvellous range of porcelain. The pleasant spring weather enabled us to wander at leisure around the gardens before heading back to Old Windsor.

Information about Woburn Abbey & Gardens can be found on their official website

On Monday 23rd November 2015 a group from the Society visited this excellent exhibition, the first of its kind at the British Museum to examine the development of Celtic art and identity throughout Europe and particularly in the British Isles, from 500 BC to the present day. After visiting the Exhibition, our own lecturer and London Blue Badge Guide, Barbara Askew, took us through the Romano-British and Medieval Galleries, showing us some of the highlights, including the Vindolanda tablets, the Sutton Hoo Treasure, and (pictured) the wonderful Mildenhall Dish, part of a set of Roman silver dishes found in 1942 in Suffolk.

On Monday June 22nd 2015 we made a morning visit to Strawberry Hill, the Gothick residence created by Horace Walpole between 1749 and 1776, followed in the afternoon by a visit to Painshill Park, Cobham, one of the most important English Landscape Gardens in the south of England.

On Friday 27th March 2015, we visited two iconic Victorian residences in west London: Leighton House the home of Lord Leighton, the artist, which is full of his paintings and many other fine works of art; and 18, Stafford Street in Kensington, which was the home of the Punch cartoonist, Edward Linley Sambourne, and which is a wonderfully preserved Victorian home.