Programme Membership year 2025/26 The lecture programme is subject to change so keep checking back to the website for the latest information about lectures. The meetings start at 7.30pm. The membership year ends with the September meeting below. From the October meeting we will have a new venue and a new meeting time in the day. Click here to find out more. 24th June 26 Change to previous lecture advertised. At the Sue Townsend Theatre Barry Venning Paintbrushes at Dawn: the World's Greatest Artistic Feuds, Rows and Quarrels The late Christopher Hitchens, who knew a thing or two about feuds, once wrote that a really first rate bust up requires one of at least two things: a clash of strong personalities, and a conflict of principles. The history of art is peppered with first rate bust ups: between the great early Renaissance artists, Brunelleschi and Ghiberti, between Constable and Turner in the early 1830s, between Salvador Dali and the Surrealist leader, Andre Breton in the 1930s and, most recently, between the graffiti artists Banksy and ‘King’ Robbo, who painted out and amended each other’s works. There are many more. Banksy vs Robbo. The original Banksy read "I don't believe in global warming", with the bottom words halfway below the waterline. paul nine-o from London, England Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 There are no meetings in July or August 23 September 2026 at the Sue Townsend Theatre Brian Stater When Britain Clicked: Photography of the Swinging Sixties. British photography enjoyed a golden age in the 1960s. Young, talented newcomers broke out of the conventional studio to revolutionise perceptions of fashion, portraiture and popular culture. This lecture looks at a range of superb images from photographers such as David Bailey, Terence Donovan, Lewis Morley, Tony Ray­Jones and Jane Bown.  Brian Slater Further details of the Society Programme shortly