What we do and how to join
We are an informal, friendly group; spouses and friends are most welcome to come to meetings, and many do. We have neither formal membership nor annual fees, but circulate information to all on our mailing list, and raise funds for Girton by including a contribution in the charge for each meeting. Meetings cover a wide area, bounded to date by Hereford, Usk, Cheltenham and Beaminster.
We visit places of interest, many of which are not generally open to the public, or meet in members’ homes for lunch followed by a talk. Dr Dorothy Thompson and
Dr Eileen Rubery have come from Girton to talk about their research into papyrology and early Christian art; Dr Mary Tiffen has spoken to us on the life of the women of her family in nineteenth-century China; we have heard about the life of a British entrepreneur in eighteenth-century India, and had an insider’s view of the system for the appointment of senior clergy in the Anglican Church; a descendant of the Marquesses of Bute has spoken to us about their role in the development of modern Cardiff, and the medievalism of Cardiff Castle and Castell Coch; and we have had talks on sustainable farming, on mathematics, on Persian gardens, and on historical textiles.
For further information, to book for an event, or to be added to the mailing list for future events, please email the group organiser, Fiona Hallworth, at wwga@girton.cam.ac.uk.
Forthcoming Events
2021
The following three meetings are planned for 2021. For further information, to book for an event, or to be added to the mailing list for future events, please email the group organiser, Fiona Hallworth at wwga@girton.cam.ac.uk. If you need transport to a meeting it is often possible to arrange it.
In June, Josephine Flood will speak on 'From the Heights to the Depths: Himalayan Mountaineering and Aboriginal Archaeology', at Elkstone Village Hall, near Cheltenham, preceded by lunch at the Green Dragon, Cockleford (date to be confirmed).
12 October, we meet in Devizes. After lunch at the Bear Inn, we shall make a private visit to the Wiltshire Museum for their special exhibition, Eric Ravilious: Downland Man, of the artist's paintings of the Wiltshire and Sussex Downs.