PLEASE NOTE: During the Covid-19 pandemic the Society was unable to meet in person after the February talk. The April talk was cancelled. We moved to online talks via Zoom; we held the AGM in September and rescheduled the March talk to October.
Monday 20 January 2020, 7.30pm
Boston Manor House: old records, new stories
An illustrated talk by Steph Hagan, researcher for the Boston Manor House restoration project, on the records that reveal previously unknown stories behind the origins, owners and evolution of Boston Manor House
Monday 17 February, 7.30pm
The Mulberry Garden Project at Hogarth’s House
A presentation and discussion with John Collins, Heritage Manager, and Elizabeth Kopplin, Learning & Engagement Officer, about the new learning studio and the re-designed garden, and the preparations for re-opening later in 2020
Monday 16 March, 7.30pm rescheduled – see below
The Hidden Horticulturists
Fiona Davison, Head of RHS Libraries & Exhibitions, and author of the book of the same title, presents an illustrated account of her research into the young men who trained at the Horticultural Society’s Chiswick garden grounds in the 1820s
Monday 20 April, 7.30pm
How Brentford got its Bypass: 1901-1914
Brentford didn’t want it but powerful motoring lobbyists did. Tracey Logan reveals her PhD research which shows how locals lost the fight for their High Street against London’s visionary road planners, and the Great West Road was born
Monday 21 September, rescheduled from 18 May, online via Zoom, 7.30pm
Annual General Meeting
The Brentford & Chiswick Local History Journal 29 would have been distributed at the May AGM, but we were pleased to be able to mail it to all members in May
Monday 19 October, online via Zoom, 7.30pm rescheduled from 16 May
The Hidden Horticulturists
Fiona Davison, Head of RHS Libraries & Exhibitions, and author of the book of the same title, presents an illustrated account of her research into the young men who trained at the Horticultural Society’s Chiswick garden grounds in the 1820s
Monday 16 November, online via Zoom, 7.30pm
Chiswick Writers
Six members of the Society’s Chiswick Writers Research Group present some of their favourite authors. The Group has been researching authors’ biographies to enhance the Chiswick Books & Writers pages of the Chiswick Book Festival website.
Francis Ames-Lewis comparing Samuel Richardson, England’s first novelist with ‘Pamela – or Virtue Rewarded’ (1740) & Don Taylor, playwright and director and a leading light in the Chiswick Youth Theatre
Meg Clarke on Robert Fortune, the 19th century manager of the Horticultural Society of London’s Chiswick hothouses. He then became their plant-hunter in China and Japan, discovering (among other plants) teas and kumquats
Hazel Dakers on Daniel O’Connell, the Irish lawyer & politician known as ‘The Liberator’, who campaigned for home rule and Catholic emancipation
Diana Oppé on the Tuke family, Victorian specialists in the care of the mentally ill, who had asylums at The Manor House and Chiswick House
James Wisdom on 3 generations of the Barnaby family, naval architects and Thornycroft’s chief designers
Val Bott on Jessie MacGregor, artist, teacher and writer, author of ‘Celebrity Gardens and Gardens of Celebrities’
Monday 21 December, online via Zoom, 7.30pm
St Lawrence’s Church, New Brentford, and its burial grounds
B&CLHS members David Shailes and Jim Storrar present an account of the history of the church and what the burial records reveal about its community in the past. They have been keeping a close eye on St Lawrence’s while refurbishment work is in progress as part of the redevelopment of Brentford
