Classes
There is no limit to the number of classes you can choose
CLASS A
Lecturer: TONY TUCKWELL
MONDAYS
Sept 22, 29 and Oct 6, 13, 20 at Christ Church, Warley
10.30am-12.30pm
FEE: £35
Aspects of London: London's Poor: A Continuing Challenge; Britain's Forgotten Manufacturing Heartland; The Impact of the First World War; The Impact of the Second World War; Seeing Aspects of London's History from the Capital Ring Walk.
Dickens and Mayhew popularised the poor in print. Though slums were cleared, their inhabitants created new ones elsewhere. Dockland especially became synonymous with poverty and responded to new socialist ideas. London’s powerful manufacturing base of skilled crafts(wo)men attended to the demands of aristocratic and middle-class wealth; sweated labour to those of the working class. Both serviced London’s huge metropolitan market. All their lives were traumatised by two world wars that revolutionised the value of women as employees and citizens but brought massive housing losses in the 1940s and a post-war exodus of poor Londoners elsewhere. Finally, we walk through London to catch glimpses of its past and some of the glories of Victorian engineering.
CLASS B
Lecturer: ANNE STOTT
TUESDAYS
Sept 16, 23, 30 and Oct 7, 14, 21 on Zoom
10.30am-12.30pm
FEE: £30
A House Divided: The United States and the Coming of the Civil War: Independence, Expansion and Slavery; Slavery; The Mexican War and the Compromise of 1850; The Approach of War: 1850-58; Secession and War; The Civil War.
In 1787 the United States came into existence with the ratification the Constitution, but many issues remained unresolved. How was power to be divided between the states and the federal government? Would territorial expansion lead to conflicts with other powers on the American continent? Above all, how could a nation committed to the idea that all men were created equal accommodate itself to slavery? With the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860, these tensions erupted into a Civil War that was to cost a quarter of a million lives.
CLASS C
Lecturer: MARGARET MILLS
TUESDAYS
Sept 23, 30 and Oct 7, 14, 21 at Hutton Community Centre
2pm-4pm
FEE: £35
Essex Men and Women: The Essex Poison Panic; A Possibility for Being Jack the Ripper; Nurses of the First World War; The Tudor Statesman Richard Rich: a Pantomime Villain or a real one?; The Great Bardfield Artists.
Essex has claims to fame, including a number of interesting people associated with the county over the years. The course looks at some who have entered the history books and made their way to public attention for various reasons, from a famous royal doctor and artists who were described as ground-breaking in the 1950s, to a prolific poisoner whose case had a great impact in changing the law, for which we might all be grateful to this day. Some have been influencers in the wider world sphere, some might be described as good characters, some bad, others a mixture of both.
CLASS D
Lecturer: DENIS SHEPPARD
TUESDAYS
Nov 4, 11, 18, 25 and Dec 2 at Hutton Community Centre
2pm-4pm
FEE: £35
The New Elizabethans: How Britain Changed During the Reign of Elizabeth II
Queen Elizabeth II was a beacon of stability during a time of tumultuous change in Britain and abroad. Using the topics of foreign relations, education and society we will explain and analyse these changes and the role of the queen in them. We will then assess whether on balance the changes improved the lives of the British people, and the importance of the queen in facilitating the right balance between change and stability.
CLASS E
Lecturer: MARIA RAZUMOVSKAYA
TUESDAYS
Nov, 11, 18, 25 and Dec 2, 9 on Zoom
10.30am-11.30am
FEE: £25
Jazz and 'Serious Music' Collide: Gershwin, Ravel, Shostakovich, Bernstein and others.
The history of music and its culture has a tendency to be curated by things being ‘off-limits’, and ‘in bad taste’. Between the worlds of ’serious’ music and ‘jazz’, the psychological effect of forbidden fruit tasting the sweetest has created some of the most daring, pioneering, and sometimes controversial music. Its impact, however, has redefined what musicians want to create, how they see themselves in society, how and where they work, and their techniques, approaches, and technologies on both sides. Audiences have had to navigate a perplexing battle of the two apparently opposing sides, where enjoying in secret and enjoying en masse somehow co-exist almost simultaneously. These sessions explore the tangled up guilty pleasures - and how people reacted to those temptations - that the intersection of jazz and serious music had to offer.
CLASS F
Lecturer: CHERRY BURROUGHS
WEDNESDAY
Nov 18 at Christ Church, Warley
10:30am-11.30am
FEE: £5
The Essex Floods of 1953: The great North Sea flood of 1953 was an event which is embodied in our local history, not just because of the tragic loss of lives but also because it reminds all of us of our own vulnerabilities when faced with the power of nature. It is a theme that is as important today as it was in 1953.
CLASS G
Lecturer: Kirston Yeates
TUESDAY
Dec 9 at Hutton Community Centre
2.00pm-4.00pm
FEE: FREE
AGM and a presentation: A free talk on Christmas traditions from Denmark born Kristen Yeates.