We are pleased to announce that, for the December meeting of our winter talks series, we will be holding a in-person meeting at East Horsley Village Hall. A talk by James Bromwich on 'Commemorating the Dead: mausolea, towers and caskets' will be followed by a Christmas social event. This is for members only, giving RSG members the chance to socialise in person rather than meeting on Zoom.

Mike Fulford has kindly offered to talk to us on 'The Silchester Environs Project'. He led a research team in a five year project to explore the later prehistoric use of the c.140km2 landscape around Silchester Roman Town and its underlying Late Iron Age oppidum. Its base was an extensive desktop assessment containing a vast array of data, both old and new, which was incorporated in a project-wide GIS. It was further supported by various geophysics techniques, lidar, earthwork surveys, walkover reconnaissance, coring exercises and excavation.

A Zoom  talk on 'The Hallaton Helmet: A Conquest Period Mystery 

A free Zoom event has been arranged where three members give short presentations about their work.

Bill Powell will discuss his current research on Mesolithic and Neolithic mobility in Pembrokeshire as affected by the geology of the region

Jan Blatchford will talk about her involvement with the excavation at the Ness of Brodgar, Orkney

James Crouch will present How to Build a Roundhouse: A Volunteers Experience

A welcome return for "Guy in the Sky", who gave us a brilliant talk on Concorde last year.

More details to follow

Coming Soon: Richard Morgan

This talk will cover the gadgets and methods spies have used across the world and throughout history. It was inspired by the speaker’s recent visit to the Berlin Spy Museum–if you haven’t been there, it’s highly recommended. We’ll be hearing about some of the wildly creative schemes, and just plain weird devices, creative people from Britain, America, Russia, Germany and elsewhere have devised over the years.

This talk will narrate the history of the Channel Tunnel through the 18th & 19th centuries, featuring the proposals that were put forward over this period, up to the final decision to build a tunnel.

Before 1909, there were no purpose-built automobile racing tracks in the world. All racing was carried out on normal roads. Hugh Fortesque Locke King decided to build the first track on his estate at Brooklands. The building virtually bankrupted him and certainly put a strain on his health. Brooklands also became the birthplace of British aviation, with some of the most famous innovators and flyers basing themselves there.