Celebrate Lieutenant-Colonel Ferdinand Simeon Le Quesne VC RAMC Plaque unveiling and Talks
Sep 2, 2023
FORTHCOMING EVENTS.
The talks are held in the Apostle Room of the Catholic Cathedral in Pembroke Road at 8.00 p.m.
Doors open at 7.15 when wine and soft drinks are served. This is a time when members can meet each other and the committee.
The car park [entrance from Worcester Road] is available to those attending the meeting.
You are welcome to bring friends and visitors to the talks – we charge a nominal £1.00 per person.
Saturday 2nd September at 11.00. at 6 Victoria Square.
Dedication of a commemorative plaque to Lieutenant-Colonel Ferdinand Simeon Le Quesne VC, RAMC.
This will be a splendid celebration of a most courageous military surgeon. Plans for the event have not be finalized and may change from below but it will be on the CHIS website and instagram. There will be brief speeches including one from a family member; the last post will be sounded and the Lord-Lieutenant, Mrs Peaches Golding OBE CstJ, plans to attend and do the formal dedication.
Tuesday 19th September. 8.00 pm in the Apostle Room.
Professor Ronald Hutton will give a talk on ‘Vampires’.
A ‘not to miss’ talk for the start of the season.
We are fortunate to have Ronald Hutton returning to give us another of his fascinating and erudite talks. Ronald, Professor of History at the University of Bristol, is a leading historian on paganism, witchcraft and magic. He links ancient ritual and beliefs with modern tradition to demystify his enigmatic areas of study. His subject this year is ‘Vampires’. Those of us who have heard his previous talks know that we will have an evening that not only will be enjoyable but will open our eyes to an area of folklore most of us know next to nothing about.
Tuesday 24th October. 8.00 pm in the Apostle Room.
A brief CHIS AGM followed by a talk by Sheila Hannon on ‘Sarah Guppy’.
Sheila Hannon is the co-founder and creative producer of The Show of Strength Theatre, which started in 1986. She is an expert on Sarah Guppy and will give us an enlightening talk on this remarkable woman. Sarah [1770-1852] - a Bristolian by marriage not by birth - was a very talented lady with a host of accomplishments. She is credited as being the first female engineer to patent products, including a suspension bridge before Brunel. Sheila will tell us more about this incredible woman – who made her way in a then male-dominated world. It is worth hearing.
Tuesday 21st November. 8.00 pm in the Apostle Room.
Professor Michael Benton will give a talk on ‘The Building Stones of Clifton’.
What is your house built of? This is not a question posed by a nursery rhyme - and the answer from most people in Clifton would be that it is of ‘stone’. House agents often use generic terms such as ‘built of local stone’. But have you ever wondered exactly where that stone came from? Probably not – but now you could find out. There are many quarries in the area and each one yields a different stone – come along and learn more about the geology of our area and the building material of our houses.
Mike Benton is Professor of Vertebrate Palaeontology at the School of Earth Sciences at The University of Bristol. He has made fundamental contributions to understanding the history of life, particularly concerning how biodiversity changes through time, nonetheless he is a geologist and knows his stones!
Tuesday 17th January 2024 at 8.00 pm in the Apostle Room.
Ian Caskie will give a talk titled ‘The S.S. Great Britain From Launch to Re-launch’.
Ian was born and raised on Merseyside, where he spent many hours watching the arrivals and departures at Liverpool’s busy Pier Head in the 1950s and 60s. This led to his lifelong passion for ships – especially ocean liners.
He was a Primary Headteacher and School Improvement Adviser in Bristol for many years, and has been a Visitor Experience volunteer and tour guide with the SS Great Britain Trust since 2007.
In this illustrated talk Ian will tell us the ship’s remarkable story from her original design through the different phases of her working life. It also describes life on board and her incredible salvage and return to Bristol in 1970, and finally her restoration, preservation and ‘re-launch’ as a multi-award winning museum of international renown.
Next: Professor Ronald Hutton on ‘Vampires’Previous: Celebrate Sarah Guppy 11.00am Sat 25th March 2023