Meetings & Events

TUESDAY 12TH MAY 2026 – TIM O’BRIEN – “THE LAST POST AT RAF NEWTON”

Tim is an artist (contestant for 2026 Sky Arts Artist of the Year) Author and Tutor. This talk scratches the surface of the content included in his book, “The Last Post at RAF Newton”.

Newton was one of numerous airfields built during the late 1930s as part of the UK government RAF expansion programme. It was completed in 1938 and at its peak Newton was able to accommodate 1773 males and 304 females. The airfield was a popular posting for those stationed there because of its close proximity to the city of Nottingham. In June 1940 Newton was under the control of No.1 Group Bomber Command and 103 Squadron and 150 Sqn were posted in after their return from France in July. Both squadrons were flying Fairey Battles at the time and they were held mainly in reserve for the expected invasion. Both undertook numerous training tasks to prepare for this eventuality but also made a small number of night bombing raids to targets on the continent. In October 1940 both squadrons were re-equipped with Vickers Wellington bombers. After a period of training on the new type 103 and 150 Sqns were heavily involved in bombing operations against targets, mostly in Germany and France. Tim details the history of the base from it’s founding through the WW2 period, the post war developments and the squadrons that would call this base home. There are also accounts of the wartime missions and activity right up to it’s closure.

TUESDAY 9TH JUNE 2026 – SARA DELLAR – “THE SLEEPER TRAIN TO HARIDWAR”

An illustrated talk on Anglo – Indian history. It traces Sara’s family’s economic migration to India, mixing online research into family history from 1908 to 1939, as well as travels to India to bring that research to life. Lacking a birth certificate, the starting point was a squiggle in a passport in bringing together the story of how the family ended up living in India and where they lived. Sara gives a PowerPoint presentation full of pictures of her travels and research which bring to life her father’s and grandparent’s stories.

TUESDAY 14TH JULY 2026 – STEPHEN BOOTH – “THE PSYCHOLOGY OF MURDER”

Stephen is a locally-based award-winning crime writer whose 15 novels, set in the atmospheric and beautiful Peak District, are based on the detective pairing of two young police detectives from Derbyshire named DS Diane Fry and DC Ben Cooper. A TV series, “Cooper and Fry”, based on the books, was screened on Channel 5 in November 2025.

During his early career, Stephen had been a teacher; he then entered journalism as a reporter covering rugby. Later assignments were wide ranging, from reporting on village Women’s Institute meetings to coverage of the hunt for the Yorkshire Ripper. He has said that working on the serial murder case had a direct influence on his leap to fiction writing. He began to look at the subject in a new light when his wife pointed out that even he could be a suspect in the case, and that she could not provide him with an alibi during the hours he worked the night shift!

TUESDAY 11TH AUGUST 2026 – PETER SLATER – “DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM?”

Peter has previously visited us. He is a Radio Sports commentator who was adopted at birth. This is his story about tracing his birth parents.

TUESDAY 8TH SEPTEMBER 2026 – DAVE ANDREWS – “100 YEARS OF AUNTIE”

Dave Andrews worked at BBC Radio Leicester from 1996, where he presented most of the daily and weekend programmes. He was the commentator for BBC Radio Leicester during the services for the re-interment of Richard III at Leicester Cathedral. Dave delivered a very interesting talk to us in April 2025 about the life of King Richard III life and the amazing story of the search for his bones, which were eventually discovered under a Leicester car park.

This month’s illustrated talk tells the story of the BBC’s 100 years from the early days under Lord Reith through to the present. It covers the great days of radio and TV and some of the incredible changes in broadcasting over those 100 years. It also features nostalgic audio and video clips from programmes and events of the past such as the first Christmas broadcast from King George V, clips from Muffin the Mule, The Archers, and the late Queen’s coronation, the opening of Radio1 and many other extracts.

TUESDAY 13TH OCTOBER – ANDY SMITH – “SONGSMITH AND OTHER STORIES”

Andy comes with some really good testimonials . His talk covers the challenging and sometimes funny world of songwriting and performing. ” A chance to laugh ,cry , cringe and sing along “

TUESDAY 10TH NOVEMBER 2026 – JAYNE DARLING

Jayne will give us a performance (during Remembrance week) of Second World War 40’s songs in the style of Vera Lynn , Glenn Miller etc.

*** “REVIVAL”60s NIGHT – FRIDAY 4TH OCTOBER 2024 ***

Based in Nottingham, Revival have been performing now for over 34 years, entertaining audiences across the country. The group specialise in recreating the sounds of the 1960’s, 70’s and 80s. They are not a tribute band although their aim is to recreate the sound and excitement of the original artistes from that era. Much more info on the band’s website at – http://www.revival-web.com/default.htm

This very successful event was attended by almost 80 members. The comments in our Facebook group the day after included these:-

“What a fabulous, fun evening yesterday, bopping to the music of Revival. A wonderful pick-me-up. Thank you everyone.”

“I had the best time ever, thank you to all those who arranged it.”

“Fantastic evening. We had a great time. Thank you to Rob and all the Committee.”

“It was a great evening. Thank you to all the organisers.”

“Great evening was had by all, really good night – Thanks to Rob Johnson for organising.”