Directory of Previous Talks

This was part 1 of a double presentation showing the changes that took place along the Sheaf valley during the widening of the lines by the Midland Railway in the short period around 1900. Part 1 covered the stations and facilities from Dore and Totley, through Beauchief and Millhouses to Heeley. Each location was illustrated … Read more

In 1957 Mike was in the RAF and was posted to Christmas Island as part of the military involved in the British H-bomb tests (code named Grapple X). Conditions were primitive.  Troops were billeted in tents in temperatures of 95 degrees and 95% humidity, with only 5 gallons of desalinated water for 6 men each … Read more

Tom is a solicitor in Belper as well as a very knowledgeable and obsessed devotee of Sir Winston Spencer Churchill.  He rates Sir Winston on a par with Albert Einstein as the most memorable “good” men of the twentieth century.  His talk was so far ranging and captivating that for this short report, I will … Read more

Inspired by ‘The Spirit of the Hills’ by Frank Smythe who reached 28000 feet up Everest in the 1930s,  and also the poetry of Geoffrey Wynthrop Young, John Driskell and David Peckett  dreamed of spending a year, getting as close to Everest as they could, with 3 others, in the early 1960s. Two Yorkshire men … Read more

What a humorous, fascinating talk! Reg was born and brought up in Dronfield where he got up to the usual tricks that boys do. At the age of 14 he joined the A.T.C. (the Air Training Corps) where immediately became smitten with flying and at the age of 16 he joined the RAF. When he … Read more

A most interesting talk on the Snake Road ( not Snake Pass as many of us know it).  Whilst using Snake Road as the prime example, Howard gave us a fascinating insight into travel in the 1700’s and 1800’s with packhorses, turnpike roads, coaching inns and tolls. The population of Sheffield was 3500 in 1700 … Read more