ALICE ELGAR – OUT OF THE SHADOW. By Wendy Hill For this 2026 CHRIS JOHNSON MEMORIAL TALK, Wendy will speak about Caroline Alice, Lady Elgar (nee Roberts, 1848-1920). She was an English author of verse and prose fiction, who married the composer Edward Elgar....
 Dame Laura Knight (1877-1970). By Martin Griffiths. This talk will be preceded by the ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING, at the earlier time of 7 p.m.​ Dame Laura Knight was an English artist in the figurative, realist tradition, who embraced English Impressionism. In her long...
VINTAGE fILM NIGHT: LEDBURY OX ROAST, 1953 For this HEREFORDSHIRE HISTORIES FESTIVAL EVENT we will be showing the film of the Ledbury Ox Roast. Where were you on Coronation Day in 1953? Perhaps you were huddled round your new-fangled gadget called a television set,...
 THE HISTORY OF STAINED GLASS. By Jim Budd JOE HILLABY MEMORIAL TALK Coloured glass has been produced since ancient times. Evidence of stained-glass windows in churches and monasteries in Britain can be found as early as the 7th century. Stained glass, as an...
  CAN RAILWAYS PAY? By Stephen Cheetham Railways continue to occupy a special place in the British imagination: over 40,000 people attended last year’s 200-year celebration in Derby. But what is a railway? A business, a piece of public infrastructure, or a nostalgic...
THE MASEFIELD MATTERS PROJECT. Speaker to be confirmed John Masefield was a best-selling poet and author from Ledbury, who was Poet Laureate from 1930 until his death in 1967. Since then, he has faded from public memory. The Masefield Matters project was set up to...
