SIHG holds regular short  talks at Leatherhead Oddfellows Hall and by Zoom between September and April, and also occasional days out. Membership is FREE until April 2026. To join, please email membership@sihg.org.uk

Our programme covers a variety of topics from wide-ranging talks on railways, air transport or canals, to talks on very specific (usually local) industries, to talks with a strong element of social history, often focussing on the lives of industrial workers of days gone past.​ We'll even have a few talks with a strong arts and crafts content in 2025.

Many, but not all, of our talks pertain to Surrey industry, which has included aviation, brewing, automobile development, brickmaking, glassmaking and iron working – and many others.

Our talks cover all eras up to today, a large number of our talks have related to the Industrial Revolution of the late 18th and 19th century, when  the introduction of steam power transformed England from an agricultural to an industrial nation- indeed, the first industrial nation. More recently, however, we have included talks on the social history aspects of industrialisation, with several talks focusing on people including both great inventors / engineers / entrepreneurs and "the man on the shop floor") and also talks that include a strong element of arts, crafts and architecture.

SIHG grew out of an adult education course on industrial archaeology in 1975. It differs from other groups in the Surrey Archaeological Society (SYAS) in that, because of the nature of SIHG's activity, it is not necessary to belong to SYAS in order to become a member of SIHG.

SIHG is a founding member of the Southeast Region Industrial Archaeology Conference (SERIAC) and is affiliated to the national Association for Industrial Archaeology (AIA).