The Talks programme for the current season is listed below, after some basic information.
Venue
These talks will be given at:
The Hastings Room
St Andrew's Church Centre
Roger's Lane
Stoke Poges,
SL2 4LN
There is a car park here and so parking should not be a problem. The Hastings Room is best accessed via the outer door by the sign "Lighthouse Cafe".
Day & Time
2nd Friday of the month Sep - Jun, 7.30pm.
(except where the 2nd Friday clashes with Good Friday).
Cost
Talks are free to members and £2 to visitors.
Talks are followed by complimentary tea, coffee, and biscuits.
Previous talks
To get an idea of the range of talks we hear, Click here to see our previous talks.
Talks programme for the 2025/26 season are listed below:
Fri 12 Sep 2025, 7:30pm: The History of Heathrow Airport Richard Smith
The history of Heathrow, from a rural village to Terminal 5 and beyond - a canter through history in the development of one of the world's major airports.
Richard joined the then British Airports Authority at Heathrow in 1977 and retired in 2016, a total of 39 years, followed by 4 years as a part time consultant. During this time he rose from the office boy to the senior management level in a variety of roles.
He was there for most of the major incidents during that time which included the IRA mortar attacks, the collapse of the Heathrow train tunnel, Virgin Atlantic Airbus A340 and British Airways Boeing 777 aircraft crashes, along with numerous 'lesser' incidents.
Richard will also comment on the on-off-on plans for the third runway.
Fri 10 Oct 2025, 7:30pm: VE/VJ 80th anniversary Tony Birkett
This presentation was prepared for the 80th Anniversary of VE and VJ Day, reflecting on the events that followed these pivotal moments in history. Within living memory for some, a historical record and its present day impact.
The talk was first given back in May at Farnham Common Community Library, after the unveiling of a bench, donated by the Royal British Legion, on Farnham Common Village Green.
Fri 14 Nov 2025, 7:30pm: Caroline Herschel - The First Woman Astronomer Richard Emerson
The story of a poorly educated woman from a working class background who shed her role as family skivvy to become internationally famous as the first professional woman astronomer, discoverer of eight comets, Royal Astronomical Society Gold Medal award winner and feminist icon.
Fri 12 Dec 2025, 7:30pm to 10:00pm. Roman Villa at Yuletide -or- Brutus goes to town Brian Withington.
It's a Roman family saga: a couple of eventful days following the Wycombe Rye villa owner on a business/shopping trip to Verulamium. Many slides show the Rye villa layout with pictures of the decor, mosaics, etc. and finds in similar villas and town houses in Verulamium.
Fri 9 Jan 2026, 7:30pm: Suez Tony Torrance.
The 1956 Suez crisis is rightly seen as a turning point of Britain’s post war history. The fiasco of the invasion of Egypt, when Eden was forced into declaring a ceasefire after 36 hours of military action, is well documented. Less is known of the prevarications, both military and political, which preceded the debacle. Tony’s talk will focus on this.
Tony has an MA degree from the University of Buckingham on this subject.
Fri 13 Feb 2026, 7:30pm: Friggatriskaidekaphobia Colin Oakes.
With this talk and the next being on a Friday 13th, it's an opportunity to look into the history of this superstition.
Many are afraid to go out, or do anything on Friday the Thirteenth. See how brave you all are coming out when the Norse Gods saw a grisly Death, The Disciples of Christ the Lord's impending doom and treachery and The Knights Templar were annihilated. We look at Caspar the cat and join him in the story of this fateful day.
Fri 13 Mar 2026, 7:30pm: D-Day in Focus Nigel Smales
Eddy 'Smiler' Smales didn't make history but, as an accidental pioneer in British feature films in the 1930s, combat filming in the 1940s and television news from the 1950s, he filmed lots of it happening. Eddy was one of the original recruits to the ground-breaking Army Film & Photographic Unit, a bunch of irregulars based at Pinewood Studios which filmed and photographed the unfolding Second World War in North Africa, Europe and the Far East. This presentation will share AFPU headlines then focus on its coverage of the D-Day landings on 6 June 1944.
Fri 10 Apr 2026, 7:30pm: The Graveyard where James Bond's wife is buried Richard Beckingsale.
Richard is the Hon Verger and Sacristan at St Giles Church, Stoke Poges, with special responsibility for the graveyard, which is the subject of this talk.
Fri 8 May 2026, 7:30pm: Gandhi Bernard Foot.
The story of India's greatest hero. It describes his life, and then examines his broad spectrum of beliefs before going on to give a critique of what he did – both supporting him and criticising him.
Fri 12 Jun 2026, 7:30pm: AGM 2026 followed by: Talk to be announced Speaker to be announced.
Traditionally, after our AGM we have one of our member to give a talk.