SPEAKERS IN 2026

ANDREW FRENCH told us all about the history of The Beatles. We learnt some fascinating facts about the group - George Harrison, John Lennon, Paul McCartney and Ringo Staff, listened to some of their great music and thoroughly enjoyed the talk. Andrew's presentation was excellent and well worth listening too.

EMMA BARON-SCOTT gave a very interesting and entertaining talk about the history of sweets. We learned some fascinating facts, were given free samples of sweets, and were able to purchase lots of different types of sweets. Very good speaker who gave us lots of information.

KEITH FARR entertained us in March with his very good guitar playing and singing. He encouraged us all to join in with a few Cliff Richard songs, plus other music by artists such as Elvis Presley and The Beatles to name a few. Very good afternoon and we look forward to seeing him again.

ANDREW LOUND gave an excellent presentation about The Carpathia, the ship that went to the rescue of the Titanic. This was an excellent talk, lots and lots of very interesting information about the ship itself and its history. Andrew also told us about the crew, the passengers and facilities on board, and also what happened to the Captain afterwards and also the ship itself. Excellent talk, everyone was enthralled by Andrew's very knowledgeable presentation and we would highly recommend him and this talk about The Carpathia.

SPEAKERS IN 2025

LYDIA RAE entertained us very well at our Christmas party with a variety of songs for Christmas and also some lovely Doris Day songs which we could sing along to. Lydia has visited us several times before and we always enjoy her music. The Twelve Days of Christmas went down very well too. Thank you Lydia, and hope to see you again.

ANDREW LOUND gave a very interesting and informative talk about The Titanic and her maiden voyage. Andrew described the events leading up to her launch, the passengers from different walks of life, and the lifeboat installations. He also told us about the devastating collision with an iceberg and what happened to the crew and passengers. Very good presentation and we are looking forward to hearing his next talk in January about The Carpathia that went to the aid of Titanic.

ANDREW FRENCH joined us again in July to talk about The Man Who Never Was. His talk was extremely interesting and told about how we fooled the Germans in WWII by allowing them to believe our invasion plans were detailed in papers we planted on a body, which they ultimately discovered in the sea, This was a set up and our plans were completely different. We learned a lot about the whole plan and it is very worthwhile listening to Andrew talk about this. Great talk and very well researched.

ANDREW FRENCH came along to our June meeting and enthralled us by telling us all about Billy Butlin and how he started off in life and set up his Butlins Holiday Camps throughout the UK. He was a real entrepreneur, a cross between Richard Branson and Del Boy, a very successful businessman whose holiday camps were very successful in the 50's, 60's, 70's and 80's. Quite a few famous people started off as Red Coats and later became famous including Jimmy Tarbuck, Shane Ritchie, Des O'Connor, Cliff Richard, Dave Allen and Stephen Mulhern. Andrew's talk was very good and very well presented.

MAX KEEN gave a really interesting talk all about the life and travels of Sir Francis Drake, a real hero. Max tells his story well, at times serious, at times really funny. Enjoyed by us all and looking forward to another presentation from him [even though he is a Wolves supporter!!!].

KEITH FARR [Singer/Guitarist] entertained us very well at our April meeting, singing a variety of songs and playing some well known tunes on his guitar. Members enjoyed singing along with Keith and he finished his session with Sweet Caroline, a song everyone knew and joined in with the words and actions. We look forward to Keith paying a return visit to us next year. Well done.