December's lecturer, Ian Gledhill, who was to have spoken on Pantomime, has had to withdraw from his visit to Southwold.  We shall be staying in the theatre, however, and we are very  pleased to be welcoming Sarah Lenton whose lecture is 300 Years of Christmas at Covent Garden.

The image is of Cinderella's coach getting a hasty repair job offstage.

You can find the details of Sarah's talk in Lectures.

Our Study Day this year will consider how we look at paintings and how we can gain more from the experience.  It will be led by Chantal Brotherton-Ratcliffe who has previously given us an entertaining talk on how, throughout the centuries, works of art have been transported round the world.  That lecture had to be by Zoom so we are pleased to be welcoming Chantal in person this time.  All details of the day can be found on the Special Interest Days page.  

There will be two talks separated by a sociable break for tea and scones.

Date and Time:  Wednesday 16th October from 1.30-4.30pm

Cost:   £20 for members,  £25 for guests

Booking:  by email to Jenny Allen, email address jennyanddick@aol.com

Payment:  either by cheque made payable to TAS Southwold and sent to Mrs Allen at Wolsey House, Chapel Road, Blythburgh IP19      or by bank transfer: Account Name:  TAS Southwold,  Sort Code:  30-13-64,  Account Number:  00451472,  Reference:  SIA and your own name.

The subject of our June lecture, which was to have been Brunelleschi's great achievement in building the dome of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence, has had to be changed as the speaker, Ross King, is unable to be here.

We're pleased to be welcoming Dr Antonia Gatward Cevizli to speak about Venice and the East.  It promises to be an absorbing talk about the rich history of one of the most visited cities in the world.

The details of Antonia's talk are on the Lectures page of the website.

Two new visits are planned:

the first is to Huntingfield Church on Wednesday 5th June with lunch at the Huntingfield Arms

and the second to Thorington Outdoor Theatre on the evening of Thursday 11th July.

Details of both can be found on the Visits page.

Unravelling the Silk Road:  Travels and Textiles in Central Asia  which has just been published is the latest book by Christopher Aslan Alexander.  Chris is the speaker at our October lecture, A Carpet Ride to Khiva, which is the subject of his well-received first book of the same title.

The December lecture on Medieval Books of Hours by Christopher de Hamel promises to be interesting and informative.  Christopher is a leading expert in his field (do look at the brief biography on the Lectures page of the website) and David Attenborough's advice was "immerse yourself in the medieval world of Christopher de Hamel."  

Come and enjoy the talk, a suitable one for Christmas, and a cup of tea and a mince pie afterwards.

After all the disruptions of the last two years, our long-established and successful series of Study Days will resume on Thursday 20th October when Caroline Shenton will speak on The Houses of Parliament: 1000 Years of a British Icon, covering history, architecture and art, as well as the drama of the fire and the subsequent rebuilding.  It promises to be an absorbing look at one of our greatest institutions and its importance in the life of our nation.

Caroline Shenton was formerly the Director of Parliamentary Archives and her writings have been praised by Mary Beard and Lucy Worsley among others.

The day will begin at 10.00am with a break for coffee and a lunch break from 1.00-2-00pm. Thwere will be a third session in the afternoon and the Study day will end at 3.00pm.  The cost is £37.50

Tickets are still available for this most interesting special interest day.

The programme for 2023 is on the Lectures page.  We hope that you will find it to be an enjoyable mixture of subjects;  we certainly enjoyed putting the programme together.

The notes for each lecture have been provided by The Arts Society.

Mike Grundy who spoke to the Society last year on The Art of the London Underground returns on 1st April with a day on The Art of the Underground:  Paris and Moscow.

We were sorry that this study day, a follow-on from Mike's previous enjoable Zoom talk on The Art of the London Underground, had to be cancelled because of Covid in the speaker's family.

8 Buildings For 8 Faiths

1. Bevis Marks synagogue                                                 Bevis Marks, London EC3A 5DQ

2. Wesley's Chapel                                                           49 City Rd, London EC1Y 1AU

3. St George's catholic cathedral                                       Cathedral House, Westminster Bridge Rd. London SE1 7HY

4. Hagia Sophia Greek orthodox cathedral                          Moscow Rd, London W2 4LQ

5. London Central Mosque                                                 Mosque Tower, Outer Circle, London NW8 7RG

6. Buddhapadipa temple                                                   14 Calonne Rd, London SW19 5HJ

7. BAPS Sri Swaminarayan Mandir                                     Pramukh Swami Rd, Neasden, London NW10 8HW

8. Gurdwara Sri Guru Singh Sabha                                     Guru Nanak Rd, Southall, London UB2 4NP