Events and Meetings
The following meetings are planned for the 2024 to 2025 season. All are planned to be at Macclesfield Library as usual. All meetings start at 7.30 pm.
Meetings are usually open to both members and non-members; however non-members pay a £5 fee. 18s and under are normally admitted without charge.
For some of the talks that have already taken place you can click on the title for a summary.
Tuesday, 1st October 2024
Stained Glass – A Mystery Trade
Stained Glass craftsman Ian Tomlinson describes the history of stained glass and the methods and equipment used to construct windows. Elizabeth Tomlinson talks briefly about stained glass' "fun" side. Glass (some available for sale), tools and equipment will be on display.
Thursday, 31st October 2024
A Lab of One’s Own: Cambridge Women in the First World War
The First World War saw women successfully carrying out jobs usually done by men. Female scientists, doctors and engineers took over responsibility both at home and abroad. Historian of science Patricia Fara is President of the Antiquarian Horological Society.
The AGM will follow the talk and discussion
Tuesday, 26th November 2024
Made in Manchester: how the City Shaped the Modern World
Brian Groom is the author of the best-selling Northerners: A History, from the Ice Age to the Present Day. He is a former assistant editor and political editor at the Financial Times and editor of Scotland on Sunday.
Thursday, 23rd January 2025
A Place on the Page: Macclesfield and Surrounding Areas in Historical Fiction
Local author Elisabeth Hobbes talks about her use of Macclesfield and the surrounding area as a backdrop to her writing in periods from the Norman Conquest to the early twentieth century.
Tuesday, 25th February 2025
The Puzzle of the Isles
Mike Copper describes ongoing work on Neolithic Hebridean "islets". First discovered a little over 10 years ago in freshwater lochs on the Isle of Lewis they are surrounded by a scatter of stone tools and sherds of well-made elaborately decorated pottery.
Thursday 20th March 2025
A Lot of Hot Air
Matthew Patterson describes how the jet stream controls our weather and how it might change as the climate alters. Matt is a Postdoctoral Research Assistant in the Department of Meteorology at Reading University. His research interests include the long-term predictability of seasonal weather patterns as the climate changes.
Tuesday, 15th April 2025
Place, Hope and Community: What does it mean to Love a Region that is Dying?
Adam Farrer is an author and editor based in Manchester. His first essay collection, Cold Fish Soup, won the NorthBound Book Award in 2021. His writing has appeared in many publications including The Guardian. Currently he works at Salford University where he is Writer in Residence for Peel Park.
Thursday, 15th May 2025
Who was Elizabeth Gaskell?
Libby Tempest is Vice-Chair of the Gaskell Society. Now retired she worked for 20 years for Manchester Public Libraries. Libby talks about the life of author, biographer and Unitarian Elizabeth Gaskell. Elizabeth fought for working class people, especially women, to have a voice and to be heard. Her friends included many of the literary figures of her time including Charlotte Bronte, whose biography she wrote after Charlotte's death.