Talks programme for 2026:

Thursday 29 January

“Wish You Were Here” - Social, cultural and community histories from the Ken White postcard collection shared by Dr John Price and members of the Museum of Everyday Life team. Funding has been procured to digitise and transcribe this significant archive.

Thursday 26 February

Dr Tony Reddings will give a talk on the human cost of the 1957 St John’s rail crash.

Thursday 26 March

The evening will begin with the Society’s AGM including updates on our activities. This will be followed by “Putting on the Ritz”, a talk by Dr John Price and members of the U3A SE London Heritage Group about the historical collection of ladies’ and gents’ personal accessories that they recently catalogued for the Museum of Everyday Life.

Thursday 30 April

“Britain’s prefabs - building the post-war world” with Jane Hearn of the Prefab Museum Archive giving us an introduction to prefabrication and how innovative solutions contributed to solving the post-war housing crisis and produced much loved homes.

Thursday 29 May

“Educating Deptford” - hear from Dr John Price on the Deptford Ragged School and its place in the community.

Thursday 25 June

Venue and date subject to confirmation - likely to be an event in conjunction with St Dunstan’s College summer festival.

Thursday 30 July

Continuing the educational theme from May, school governor Pat Billings will share something of the history of the Addey and Stanhope school in Deptford.

August

Summer recess - no talks planned, but check for updates on possible trips and tours.

Thursday 24 September

Franki Webb who last year shared her researches into Lewisham’s very early history returns to take her exploration of the borough’s archaeology onwards into the medieval period.

Thursday 29 October

“Ernest Dowson: Lewisham’s Decadent Poet” - Tragic nineteenth century poet Ernest Dowson was born, died and is buried in what is now Lewisham. In his short life he created some of the most memorable lines in English poetry. His biographer, local writer Jad Adams, last year re-released his classic biography Madder Music, Stronger Wine to mark 125 years since Dowson’s death.

Thursday 26 November

How can something as large as a whale’s shoulder blade end up in a south London pub, get lost and found again? Hear the tale from one of those of the Fourth Reserve who saved this icon (as well as Gorne Wood) and learn about the experts who helped them in the quest.

Thursday 10 December

Our Christmas “show and tell” social.

Other events

Summer Events

LLHS stalls to come and chat or buy books and other publications are planned at various events throughout the summer:

• Nunhead Cemetery Open Day: Saturday 16 May

• Hilly Fields Fayre: Saturday 20 June

• St Dunstan’s Festival: Saturday 27 June (provisional)

• Ladywell Society Summer Festival: Saturday 28 June (TBC)

• Brockley & Ladywell Cemetery Open Day: Sunday 12 July (TBC)

Volunteers are always needed to help at these events – please get in touch, and there is so much more we could do, such as Local Walks, Outings to Kent (or further afield), Reminiscence Group or Book Club

If you are already involved in such activities and want to extend your outreach by affiliating with the Society, or if you fancy starting anything along these lines (or something entirely different!) please get in touch with Tamsin (Programme Secretary). Details on the Contact page.

Archive: Talks Programme for 2025

Thursday 30 January

Carol Harris of Crofton Park History: A Good Night Out

How our families used to entertain ourselves before we had television.  Featuring those venues we still have like the Rivoli, and those long lost like the Gaumont and the Empire

Thursday 27 February (postponed to 25 September)

Andrew Mayfield, archaeologist: Community Archaeology in a Royal Park

A multi-million pound National Lottery Heritage Fund scheme, to restore and conserve Greenwich Park.  Covering work on sites across the park, from Saxon barrows to a Magnetic Observatory and from an air raid shelter to a Charles II landscape!

Thursday 27 March

The Society’s AGM: The usual formal business, plus discussion on potential change of meeting time and venue.  Full papers to be sent to members in advance.  All welcome but only members can vote.  After the AGM there will be a taster from Roger Mead about the Society visit to the Woolwich Royal Arsenal in April (see Other Events below), and an update from Dr John Price on progress with the Museum of Everyday Life.

Thursday 24 April

Dr John Price, Public and Community Historian: The Forgotten Heroes of Postman's Park

The Watts Memorial to Heroic Self-Sacrifice in Postman’s Park, London contains fifty-three memorial tablets, each dedicated to an act of life-risking bravery. However, new research has revealed that eighty-four individuals, who were intended for commemoration on the memorial, are missing; their bravery and their legacy lost in the past. In this talk, historian Dr John Price will uncover some of the missing cases and discuss how our thinking about the memorial, and about 'everyday' heroism, would be different if the monument had been fully completed as originally planned.

Note: this talk replaces the one advertised previously on the clergy of Deptford.

Thursday 29 May

Franki Webb on Lewisham archaeology. This talk will explore the borough's history from prehistory all the way to the early medieval period.  Lewisham has a unique archaeological background with key finds being discovered during the construction of recent developments from prehistoric settlements to Roman Bathhouses that shed some light on the area's early history and origins.

This talk was postponed from July 2024.

Thursday 26 June

St Dunstan’s College – from the City of London to Catford leafy suburb

Shea Hollis, St Dunstan’s Archivist and Alumna, will talk on the origins of St Dunstan’s College, how and when it came to Catford; featuring documents and artefacts from the College’s archives

Please note: this talk will take place in the St Dunstan’s College Theatre (access via the West Gate entrance), and NOT the Jubilee Pavilion.

Thursday 31 July

In the 150th anniversary year of the first county cricket matches being played by Kent at the Private Banks Cricket Ground (now the Jubilee Ground), Stuart Hallifax will give a talk on those early days

Thursday 25 September (postponed from 27 February)

Andrew Mayfield, archaeologist: Community Archaeology in a Royal Park

A multi-million pound National Lottery Heritage Fund scheme, to restore and conserve Greenwich Park.  Covering work on sites across the park, from Saxon barrows to a Magnetic Observatory and from an air raid shelter to a Charles II landscape!

Thursday 30 October

Not Forgotten – The Crooked Billet, a V2 attack on Bromley

A disaster, its aftermath and how its victims are remembered.  A story of great perseverance shared by Jennie Randall, with a Lewisham connection  too.

Thursday 27 November

Andrew Dawson: The Making of A Walking Guide to Algernon Road

This talk will examine the process of compiling the guide and some of the personalities discovered, as  well as the changing social character of the street over time.  (The Guide is part of a bigger video project entitled “Our Road, Algernon Road”)