At Windlesham Club and Theatre, Kennel Lane, Windlesham, Surrey.  GU20 6AA

We are delighted to welcome entertaining speaker Colin Shindler for a return visit.

Cost to be confirmed but will include tea/coffee and pastries on arrival, two talks and a buffet lunch.

Event is 10am – 2pm, with the first talk at 10.30 and lunch at 1pm after second talk.

Screening the novel – books into films

How do you turn War and Peace into a 2 hour film? Why do some novels make the transition so much better than others? Is there any difference between one adaptation of Pride and Prejudice and any of the others? From Dickens to Austen the classic novels constantly reappear as movies but this lecture concentrates its focus on the successful Gone with the Wind and the disastrous Bonfire of the Vanities.

Behind the scenes – the making of Gone with the wind

In its time it was the biggest, the longest, the most expensive film ever made. It took three years for David O Selznick to turn the novel he had bought in galley proofs into the most famous film ever made up to that date. The story of the casting of Vivien Leigh and Clark Gable, the battle with MGM which Selznick fought and lost, the problem with the black characters and the firing of two of the three directors is a tale that will fascinate those who have never seen the film and those who have seen it ten times.

At Windlesham Club and Theatre, Kennel Lane, Windlesham, Surrey.  GU20 6AA

Our guest speaker Ian Gledhill will entertain us with two talks illustrated with musical examples.

From the influence of American shows like The Student Prince, leading to the successful careers of Noel Coward & Ivor Novello.

Then we’ll hear about the later hits from Oklahoma

to Lloyd Webber’s long-running Phantom of the Opera

one of the most successful shows in theatre history.

 Cost £35, to include two talks, coffee and lunch with a glass of wine or soft drink

At Windlesham Club and Theatre, Kennel Lane, Windlesham, Surrey.  GU20 6AA

We are delighted to welcome entertaining speaker Mary Alexander for a return visit.

In the early 1920s an intoxicating mix of artists, writers, musicians and international visitors, inspired by a seascape of luminous colours, created a new summer season. Sun tans and sportswear soon became 'de rigueur' in the chic new coastal resorts.  

Diaghilev, Picasso, Dufy, Chanel and others merged the worlds of fashion and theatre. Cole Porter and Scott Fitzgerald introduced an American perspective and attracted an influential new set of discerning patrons and collectors. We will 'time travel' to meet them!  

Timings are 10am to 2pm approximately and tickets are £30 to include two talks, coffee on arrival and a buffet lunch. 

At The Link, St John the Baptist Church, Windlesham; 10am – 2pm approx.

Nicola Moorby will present two talks followed by a delicious buffet lunch. 

This is the story of the epic rivalry between the two giants of British art, J.M.W. Turner and John Constable.

As unlike in background and temperament as their paintings were in style, these two creative geniuses transformed the art of landscape.

Our Special Interest Day sets them head-to-head and examines their differences, their similarities, their battles and their shared triumphs.

But who will ultimately be crowned star painter?

As well as giving an overview of Turner and Constable, the subject provides an enjoyable overview of the British art world during the nineteenth century.

(Cost to be confirmed, but includes two talks, coffee and lunch.)

Bustling, noisy, vibrant, New York epitomises the modern city at its best (and occasional worst).

Sailing past the Statue of Liberty, we pass by Ellis Island before marvelling at this skyscrapered leviathan of a metropolis.

Marvel at the Empire State building, the Chrysler, the Flat Iron and the Rockefeller Centre. Wonder at the splendours of the Brooklyn Bridge, the massive Metropolitan Museum of Art, the delicious Frick Collection, Central Park and Frank Lloyd Wright's Guggenheim.

And as for the lavishly refurbished Grand Central....wow!

Venue: The Link, St John the Baptist Church, Windlesham.GU20 6BL

This year, the format is two lectures followed by lunch. There will be no afternoon session.  Arrival and coffee from 10.00, the first talk at 10.30 then a short break before the second lecture. Lunch will be at about 12.50. Ticket price to be confirmed.

At the beginning of the 1900s, Lilian Baylis was given sole charge of

the Old Vic Theatre, then a Temperance Hall with a Coffee Shop and

ginger beer outlet, and was asked to put on suitable entertainments

for the local working­-class population. Using the ginger beer crates for 

scenery, she gave them opera, Shakespeare and, in due course, ballet.

 In doing so, she created the companies for which she is still known:

the English National Opera, the Royal National Theatre and

The Royal Ballet.

We will hear about the achievements of this astonishing and original

woman and the household names of the stars of opera, ballet, stage

and screen whom she drew into her orbit.

Venue: The Link, St John the Baptist Church, Windlesham.

The day will comprise 2 lectures with an interval for lunch. Times and cost to be confirmed

The venue is The Link, St John's Church, Church Road,Windlesham.

This year the format is two lectures followed by lunch. There will not be an afternoon session.  Arrival and coffee from 10.00, the first talk at 10.30 then a short break before the second lecture.

Lunch will be at about 12.50.