SIXTEENTH SEASON - 2021
Existing Subscriptions Waived this Season
New Members £35 single £65 Couple
We are sincerely hoping to re-commence our Lectures again in April - but, of course, this all depends on the "State of the Nation" and whether Westerham Hall is able to open again to hold public meetings.
[as of 4th January 2021]
Founders and Treasures of the Wallace Collection

Wednesday 7th April 2021 - Stephen Duffy - recently retired as Senior Curator of the Wallace Collection; he will relate how this collection of paintings, furniture,porcelain, timepieces, arms and armour was brought together by five generations of the same family. This lecture tells the fascinating story of its formation and presents many of its finest treasures.
"Indians, Buffalo and Storms: the American West in 19thC Art"

Wednesday 12th May 2021. Artists were never very far behind the explorers who opened up the west of America in the 19th century. This is a story on a big scale, and who better than Toby Faber to use paintings to illustrate and chart the history of the arrival of the railroad, the confinement of the native American into reservations and the extermination of the buffalo.
"A Machine that Makes Art" from early Computer drawing to the Art of the iPad.
"Matisse - Master of Colour"
Wednesday 7th July 2021. Matisse is known for his mastery of colour - but how did this happen? His early life and inauspicious start as an artist did not bode well! Liz Strang will take us through his life and tell us how his work flourished - so that, by the time he had completed the chapel at Vence he truly was a "Master of Colour"
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"Jennie Churchil: Style Icon,Pushy Mother and Ambitious Seductress"!

Wednesday 1st September 2021. Jenny Jerome was born in America with the belief that it was her destiny to make a great marriage and achieve something in the world. Anne Sebba has written a book about the life of Lady Randolf Churchill and feel that she has been treated unfairly in history, as a woman who took over 200 lovers; but in the 21st C, almost 100 years after Jennie's tragically premature death, surely it is time to re-evaluate her legacy.
"A Life in Music: West to East and back"

Wednesday 5th October 2021. The well known jazz Saxophonist Chris "Snake" Davis is a UK Solo Artist and Session Musician. His lecture will include live demonstrations of a large selection of saxophones, flutes and ethnic woodwinds. He will talk about the business, the art of music and life on the road, and how his love of music has opened the doors to Japanese Culture.
"Denys Lasdun & the National Theatre:"

Wednesday 3rd November 2021. The architecture of the National Theatre divides opinion. Famously, Prince Charles once described it as a nuclear bunker! Was he right? In this lecture Alan Read looks at the life and work of Denys Lasdun and pleads for an appreciation of the austere beauty of this architectural masterpiece.
"It's not just Tchaikovsky!!"

Wednesday 8th December 2021. Nigel Bates takes us on a wide-ranging exploration of the music chosen by ballet choreographers through the years; proving that the right piece with the right moves, and the right designs, can create modern masterpieces and timeless classics.
SEVENTEENTH SEASON - 2022
"BOOBS, BOMBAST and GIN - the Restoration & After"

Wednesday 5th January 2022. Given by Giles Ramsey is an independent Theatre Director and Producer. His directing credits are too numerous to mention! He is a Course Leader in Theatre at the V & A Museum. This talk is a fascinating slant on History - how the theatre of the day reflected this most saucy of eras. [Rescheduled from 2021]