Directory of Previous Talks

Energy consumption is ever increasing to keep up with the demands of a growing population. Many believe the increased demand could be met by the extraction of shale gas through the process of fracking which is a technique to recover gas and oil from shale rock. Drilling companies have estimated that trillions of cubic feet … Read more

We all knew how it would finish, of course, but Peter Stubbs kept us enthralled to the very end of the second part of his talk on the War at Sea, 1914 to 1918. Peter briefly recapped on his previous week’s talk, when we left the British Navy and the British public in good spirits … Read more

Collingwood was born in Newcastle in 1748. He was named Cuthbert after the saint from Holy Island. His father was a Newcastle trader and not a wealthy man. He began his naval career at the age of twelve on HMS Shannon under the command of his uncle Richard Braithwaite. After five years he became a … Read more

Peter Stubbs is a retired solicitor who has developed an interest in naval history, he has given 2 talks previously to the Club.  The history of the British Navy during WW1 is a big subject and his talk is in two parts and this report refers to the first section. Until the 16th century warships … 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

This theatre was the brain child of Lawrence du Garde Peach, known as ‘Laurie’. He was born in 1890 in Sheffield, but brought up in Great Hucklow, Derbyshire, where his father was the pastor of the Unitarian Old Chapel. Educated at Manchester Grammar School, Manchester University and  Gottingen University, where he learnt fluent German, and … Read more