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Lecture Programme

All our lectures commence at 10.45 am coffee is available from 10.00 a.m.

11November Wednesday
Lecture Programme

The Glorious Dead’: Grief, Politics and Art in Memorials to the Great War

Time: Wednesday, 11 November 2026 10:45 am - 12:00 pm / Garner Hotel, Samlesbury, Preston New Road, Preston PR5 0UL
CHANGE OF LECTURE .  David Haycock has had to withdraw due to an unavoidable personal commitment.  We hope to be able to re-schedule for a future date.  Our Programme Secretary, Ann Jolly, works 18 months to 2 years in advance, so 4 weeks presented a challenge and we didn’t want to compromise on quality.  Therefore […]
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09December Wednesday
Lecture Programme

Opium: Seduction, Greed, Art – Amanda Herries

Time: Wednesday, 9 December 2026 10:45 am - 12:00 pm / Garner Hotel, Samlesbury, Preston New Road, Preston PR5 0UL
The source of the stuff of dreams, the poppy is a beautiful, fragile flower with immense power. Opium (from the greek ‘opion’ – poppy juice) is a hypnotic bringer of sleep, delightful lethargy and relief from pain. It is also highly addictive. Greed led to the introduction of this hugely desirable substance first to China, and then to Europe. […]
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13January Wednesday
Lecture Programme

Bloomsbury Group: The art of Vanessa Bell – Julia Musgrave

Time: Wednesday, 13 January 2027 10:45 am - 12:00 pm / Garner Hotel, Samlesbury, Preston New Road, Preston PR5 0UL
Avant-garde painter, designer, decorator, inspired colourist, mother and muse, Vanessa Bell was the warm heart of the Bloomsbury Group, a set who Dorothy Parker once described as “living in squares and loving in triangles”. Navigating the tides of sexual and artistic revolution with tolerance, irreverence and wit she had a central role in the social […]
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10February Wednesday
Lecture Programme

Can Computers Cry? Art touches human emotion which machines cannot feel – Justin Reay

Time: Wednesday, 10 February 2027 10:45 am - 12:00 pm / Garner Hotel, Samlesbury, Preston New Road, Preston PR5 0UL
Art of all kinds can touch us and make us respond, often beyond the expectation of the artist. Happiness, sadness, pity, compassion, a spiritual uplifting, curiosity, all human emotions which even the most sophisticated digital programming will never match. Justin demonstrates how art arises from human imagination to feed our emotions, and discusses the difference […]
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10March Wednesday
Lecture Programme

Impressionist Music and Art – Peter Medhurst

Time: Wednesday, 10 March 2027 10:45 am - 12:00 pm / Garner Hotel, Samlesbury, Preston New Road, Preston PR5 0UL
As the word ‘impressionism’ was first used in painting as a term of abuse, so the first recorded use of the word in connection with music – in 1887 regarding Debussy’s Printemps – was derogatory as well.  However, by 1905, the term was applied frequently to musical compositions and it was Debussy himself who maintained that music […]
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12May Wednesday
Lecture Programme

Treasures of the Silk Road: The Art of Asia and beyond – Chris Bradley

Time: Wednesday, 12 May 2027 10:45 am - 12:00 pm / Garner Hotel, Samlesbury, Preston New Road, Preston PR5 0UL
The Silk Road extends over 8,000 kms from China through Central Asia to the Mediterranean. The route acted as a highway for beliefs, ideas, inventions and art, whilst silk was just one of the many valuable commodities traded for 1,400 years. With the Greek invasion by Alexander the Great, early Persian routes spread east towards […]
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09June Wednesday
Lecture Programme

The Divine Sunflower in Art and Culture – Twigs Way

Time: Wednesday, 9 June 2027 10:45 am - 12:00 pm / Garner Hotel, Samlesbury, Preston New Road, Preston PR5 0UL
Worshipped by Aesthetes and cultivated by Impressionists the sunflower casts its golden rays across art and culture. A personification of the divine and the regal, we trace its history from classical myth to twentieth century painting via Van Dyck and Van Gogh, Clytie and Klimt, Monet, Rivera, Wilde and Watts.  Green and gold, human and […]
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08September Wednesday
Lecture Programme

Climbing Great Buildings – Jonathan Foyle

Time: Wednesday, 8 September 2027 10:45 am - 12:00 pm / Garner Hotel, Samlesbury, Preston New Road, Preston PR5 0UL
In 2010, a BBC series Climbing Great Buildings featured 15 of Britain’s greatest landmarks over the last 1,000 years. It was presented by the speaker, who reviews the selection and shares the secrets found in carved and structural details that are often invisible from ground level, but which tell a fuller story of some of the […]
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13October Wednesday
Lecture Programme

The Borgias: The most infamous family in history? – Sarah Dunant

Time: Wednesday, 13 October 2027 10:45 am - 12:00 pm / Garner Hotel, Samlesbury, Preston New Road, Preston PR5 0UL
Murder, poison, corruption and incest: all perfect ingredients for sensational popular culture. But in an age known for its brutality and church corruption were the Borgias really so bad? This sumptuous illustrated lecture reveals the real story of the family that dominated the Papacy and Italian politics during the last decade of the 15th century: […]
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10November Wednesday
Lecture Programme

Paul Nash: A life in pictures – James Russell

Time: Wednesday, 10 November 2027 10:45 am - 12:00 pm / Garner Hotel, Samlesbury, Preston New Road, Preston PR5 0UL
Based on my book Paul Nash in Pictures: Landscape and Dream, this lecture tells the story of Paul Nash’s life through a selection of his finest paintings, supported by photographs and other material. From his own writing we learn that Nash was witty, playful and passionate. Investigating paintings like Event on the Downs we discover […]
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Garner Hotel, Samlesbury, Preston New Road, Preston
PR5 0UL

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The Arts Society Samlesbury is registered with the Charity Commission for England and Wales (514394).

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