Andrew Shorthouse

Stephen Gay by  Sheffield’s Great Central Railway war memorial is a series of panels within a wooden frame – upon the panels are the names of those who fell in World War I. It is on display outside the Crowne Plaza Victoria Hotel – the original hotel to the Victoria Station. This wonderful talk about … Read more

John Laurie said, and it was said again by Peter Jackson at our meeting, “We’re doomed, we’re all doomed!” Here in Sheffield it’s really scary with a prediction that Millhouses Park, as well as East Anglia, Lincolnshire, northern Germany, the Low Countries and many other low lying lands around the world will be part of … Read more

Martin Thomas is a retired vascular and thyroid surgeon, keen sailor and a very old friend. He came all the way to Sheffield from where he lives in Bosham, Sussex, especially to deliver this talk. He was a commodore of the Ocean Cruising Club. He has sailed to the Antarctic twice and then seven years … Read more

This was a detailed and fascinating talk about the history of Westminster Palace. A memorised (rather than read) delivery using the beautifully prepared slides as prompts would have been for me the icing on the cake. I particularly liked the Dennis Skinner quotes; there are a few extra ones slotted in at the end. Thorn … Read more

David Templeman’s excellent talk was about the history of a handful of the multiple ancient suburbs of Sheffield which, prior to the industrial revolution, had remained tranquil agricultural settlements, and of some of significant beauty – difficult to imagine today. Speed’s map of Sheffield 1645 shows some of these places already established centuries before. Place … Read more

The talk began with a brief resumé of how the protestant Dutch revolt against Spanish rule lead to independence and the Golden Age. The Dutch accrued enormous wealth from trade and became Europe’s storehouse for grain and timber, the staples of food, housing and shipping. Amsterdam was the hub. It was a time of great … Read more