
2025 / 2026 Lecture Programme
Talks are free with Friends’ membership and members are encouraged to bring guests.
For guests we currently operate an honesty policy and ask for a donation of £10 cash at the door or £8.00 min via our JustGiving web page.

Tuesday 3rd March 2026
Next Lecture
Professor Paul Coldwell on ‘Ink, Paper, Chisel, Grain; The resilience of Woodcut from Durer to the present’
Join Professor Paul Coldwell, author of the forthcoming book – ‘Ink, Paper, Chisel, Grain; A Remarkable History of Woodcut’ for this illustrated talk exploring how artists have used the process of woodcut to shape their thinking and visualise their ideas. Paul will delve into the way artists have found ways to make such an ancient process new and relevant through to the 21st century.
Paul is a practicing artist and Emeritus Professor at UAL. His practice includes prints, book works, sculptures, and installations. He has exhibited widely and his work held in numerous public collections. He is on the editorial board of the journal Print Quarterly and has written extensively on printmaking including on, Banksy, Kentridge, Moore, Morandi and Rego. His new book on woodcuts will be published by Penguin in September
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***Special offer for guests and visitors. Free entry to the talk and £10 discount if you take out Friends’ membership running from now to September 2026***
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7.30pm at St Andrew's Church Hall, Kimbolton Road.
​Generously sponsored by Julian Polhill DL
Tuesday 24th March 2026
Perry Staker on Women in the Civil War
7.30pm Zoom Lecture
Generously sponsored by Marion Maule.
Tuesday 21st April 2026
Dr Helen Langdon on Salvator Rosa
7.30pm at St Andrew's Church Hall, Kimbolton Road
Tuesday 8 September
Tony Ploszajski on The Birds of Bedfordshire
7.30pm at Venue to be confirmed
Tuesday 13 October
Tim Knox, Director of the Royal Collection, on Royal Patronage
7.30pm at The Quarry Theatre
Sponsored by Cheffins
Tuesday 3 November
Damien Odell on Haunted Bedfordshire
7.30pm at Venue to be confirmed
Tuesday 7th April 2026
Sarah Flynn on The Neiger Brothers and Egyptian Revival Jewellery
7.30pm at St Andrew's Church Hall, Kimbolton Road
Generously sponsored by Barovic Jewellers
Tuesday 28th April 2026
Jane Ewart on An American Aristocrat and His Remarkable Collection of English Silver:
Lord Fairhaven’s silver at Anglesey Abbey
7.30pm at Venue to be confirmed
Tuesday 29 September
Martin Snaith, on The 1931 Schneider Trophy Race
7.30pm at Venue to be confirmed
Tuesday 27 October
David Longman, on Tales from Bedfordshire Churches: The Admiral, the Rector and Long John Silver
7.30pm at Venue to be confirmed

