The Kirtlington Historical Society, which was founded in 1994, meets on the fourth Thursday of each month from September until April (December excepted) to hear and discuss talks on a wide range of topics, including archaeology and literary and art history as well as themes relating to political and social history. The siege of Malta in the Second World War, satirical cartoons, the Mary Rose, and the authorship of Shakespeare’s works are among the topics covered in previous years. Although the Society is mainly concerned with general history, there have also been several talks on the history of Kirtlington from the time of Victoria onwards. Talks are not aimed at a specialist audience, and interest is more important than prior knowledge: the Society seeks to show that the study of history can be more fascinating than some people remember it to have been at school. The last meeting each session is a members’ evening: this has taken various forms, but on the last occasion we enjoyed a fascinating talk from Shelley Van Loen about the history of her tailor’s mannequin, who featured in the TV programme “The Repair Shop” in 2023.
The Society attracts members from neighbouring villages as well as from Kirtlington, and in light of the current membership it was renamed The Kirtlington and Bletchington Historical Society in 2016.
The programme for 2024-2025 is as follows. We look forward very much to continuing meeting face-to-face in the Village Hall at Kirtlington. Meetings begin at 7.30pm, except in January and February when they will take place in the afternoon, starting at 2.30pm.
September 26th: Stephen Wass: Garden Archeology – “not that kind of gardening” – an overview of recent discoveries in historic gardens.
October 24th: Stephen Barker: The British Civil Wars 1642-51 in Eight Paintings.
November 28th: Mark Smith: William Wilberforce through his Diaries.
January 23rd at 2.30pm: Melanie King: Tricks of the Trade: Spying in the First World War.
February 27th at 2.30pm: Richard O. Smith: Z-A of Oxford.
March 27th: Stephen Kershaw: Alexander the Great.
April 24th: AGM and Members’ Evening.
All are very welcome.
Members’ annual subscription is £15. Visitors pay £5 per meeting.