The latest from The Everyman Club

18th April 2023

For their penultimate meeting the Everyman Club welcomed local historian David Smith. We are so very grateful to him for stepping in as speaker Julian Earl, a retired Vet, was unable to join us due to illness. David is a long term member of the Club and a very knowledgeable speaker. His subject was the theatres of Cleethorpes. He took us on a 150 year journey through the history of the Empire Theatre, the Coliseum and the Theatre Royal. David illustrated his talk with old photographs and historic plans showing the development of the theatres over time. Needless to say these prompted many happy memories from the members and we all enjoyed a memorable evening. Thank you David!

14th March 2023

For their March meeting the Everyman Club welcomed Paul Scott who gave a most interesting and informative talk on Sir Joseph Banks. Paul explored the life of the young Banks and his early influences which led to his time as an explorer and finally to his significant period as President of the Royal Society of 41 years. Sir Joseph, 1st Baronet GCB, PRS (1743-1820) was recently described by Sir David Attenborough as "the Great Panjandrum of Georgian Science ". His life took us on an incredible journey from the fens of Lincolnshire to a circumnaviigation of the globe with Lieutenant James Cook. Sir Joseph was closely involved with the establishment and development of the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew and was instrumental in sending botanists and gardeners around the world to collect plants. Paul is a trustee and founder of The Sir Joseph Banks Society which is based in Horncastle. His knowledge and enthusiasm for his subject was inspiring. As he pointed out Lincolnshire is far too modest about the many amazing figures from the county who have influenced history.

14th February 2023

For their February meeting the Everyman Club welcomed Bertie Pearce with a talk entitled "Charles Dickens - the man, his life and characters ". This was Bertie's third visit to the Club and he was in scintillating form. He is an excellent speaker with an amazing rapport with his audience. Bertie told us of Dickens wonderful characters with orphans, starving children, misers, murderers and abusive teachers among them. People such as Micawber, Fagin and Magwitch remain in one's literary psyche long after the books have been put down. Bertie looked at the life and places of Dickens whilst interspersing the events with passages from the books quoted from memory which was very impressive. I think l can safely say that we all enjoyed a truly memorable evening. .

10th January 2023

The Everyman Club welcomed Keith Holmes as speaker for their first meeting of 2023. Keith is an old friend of the Club and has visited eight times previously. He reminded us that his first visit was in 1987 when he spoke to 400 members. How things change! Keith's talk was entitled 'A Taste of Cornwall '. His superb photography enabled us to enjoy the delightful harbours, towering cliffs, the lost gardens of Heligan and beautiful fishing villages. We also visited fine restaurants, savoured cream teas and saw how the traditional pasties were made. The members enjoyed a memorable evening.

8th November 2022

David Edwards returned to the Everyman Club on Tuesday for the sixth time. His title ‘Living with the Environment’ proved to be just as topical as we predicted. Cop 27 has just started in Egypt and indeed during question time he commented that he was at Cop 26 in Glasgow and was pleased that people were free to protest and to take part in demonstrations, something that was not going to happen in Egypt! His talk was so packed with information, ideas and thoughts that it is difficult to know where to begin. He showed lots of facts and figures about the changing world- views and scenes that are changing and animals that are disappearing. He asked us to ask ourselves,’What will we miss?’ Will it be birdsong or the buzz of bees or really cold winters? China was also mentioned during question time. He agreed that pollution is really bad there, with lots of coal being used, but he said that thanks to China the cost of solar panels has plummeted and the Chinese are working to turn things round. Finally he advised us NOT to do NOTHING. We must do something. We could write to our M.P. or our councillor. We could put our feelings about nature on Twitter or other social platforms. We could join the RSPB but we must act NOW. It was an excellent talk and these few words only skim the surface.

11th October 2022

This evening's meeting was another change to the programme, unfortunately our booked speaker was unable to attend, but her colleague David stood in for her at the 11th hour. David Ormsby is the Operations Managerat the Grimsby Fishing Heritage Centre.

David delivered a knowledgeable and entertaining talk on the history, growth and development of the docks in Grimsby both before and after the arrival of the railways - the arrival of the railways driving the growth and the development of the fish docks. Grimsby was fairly unique in its fishing systems, trawling in far, middle and near waters, this led to many trawling developments originating in Grimsby. David also covered the hard life of the fishermen, especially following the development of the steam trawlers wherebu the crews on the slower sailing trawlers and crews would stay at sea for up to 6 months at a time whilst the faster steam ships would ferry the fish back to Grimsby and supplies back to the crews out at sea.

Thank you David for an interesting and informational talk at short notice without you we would have been all at sea too!

13th September 2022

There was a sudden change of program to the start of our final season, unfortunately our booked speaker is seriuosly ill and had to cancel a few days prior to the event, we wish him well.

At very short notice, Karen Lepley of Grimsby Shoeboxes stepped in to fill the hole in the scedule. Karen gave an interesting talk on how these shoeboxes filled with essentials such as soap, toothpaste and toothbrushes along with small toys and other essentials are filled in Grimsby from dotayed Items and sent around the world to needy children. They initially started shipping out to Romainian Orhanges, but now send to other parts of the world.

10th June 2022

13th March 2020

10th March 2020

For the March meeting of the Club the members and guests welcomed speaker Judy Williams who gave a talk entitled 'Bess of Hardwick'. What a wonderful treat! Chairman Ann introduced Elizabeth, Countess of Shrewsbury, and out she stepped looking magnificent in authentic Elizabethan costume. She then outlined her life in the style of Bess who was a notable figure in Elizabethan society. By a series of well made marriages, she rose to the highest level of English nobility and became the second richest lady in the land after Queen Elizabeth 1. Judy made us feel that we had met Bess and then she gave us a guided tour of Hardwick Hall where she had been a volunteer for 22 years.

11th February 2020

At the last Everyman meeting Steve Lovell took us on a very interesting journey around Cuba. His enthusiasm for the island was obvious. He did not just look at one aspect of his subject. He is a keen nature and bird lover so we were treated to some photos of spectacular birds and flowers. He went into some detail about the history of the island and talked about the amazing classic cars he hired to get around Cuba. All in all it was a very enjoyable evening

14th January 2020

The Everyman Club greeted 2020 with a visit from an old friend of the Club, John Pilkington who gave a talk entitled 'Eritrea and Ethiopia, Retracing a Victorian Expedition'. John took us back to 1868 when Queen Victoria's government mounted an extraordinary bid to rescue a small clutch of European hostages in the Abyssinian highlands. They built a Red Sea port, then a railway across the coastal plain and finally brought in 44 Indian elephants and took on 26,000 local people to serve the soldiers and carry their heavy guns into the heart of Africa. One hundred and fifty years later John has followed their route, partly on foot and with a donkey to carry the baggage and compared Eritrea and Ethiopia then and now. He found today's inhabitants spirited and energetic, living in dramatic and extremely challenging lands. It was history and adventure combined!

5th November 2019

For our final meeting of 2019 we had a topical subject. As Christmas approaches we welcomed Caroline Holmes, a Garden Historian as well as a lecturer, broadcaster and design consultant with a talk entitled "Step into the Christmas Card". For the last150 years Christmas cards have been adorned with Nativity scenes, holly, ivy, mistletoe, rotund Father Christmases, stockings and trees. They have ranged from sacred to profane; have covered plant symbolism, cards echoing the Nativity with animals, shepherds and kings, New Year wishes and cartoons. So what on earth do Christmas Cards portray - are they tasteful or tasteless? Caroline explored these ideas using beautiful slides of ancient religious paintings, mainly from monastic books and Renaissance art, alongside more modern interpretations of Christmas symbols. Needless to say fashion plays a part and we are left with choosing whatever portrays our feelings. In the present day the permutations are endless! Wishing all our members and friends a Merry Christmas and a Happy and Healthy New Year. Our next meeting is on Tuesday 14th. January 2020 with a talk by John Pilkington entitled 'Eritrea and Ethiopia'.

8th October 2019

For our October meeting we had a talk by Denise Heywood entitled 'Sir Stamford Raffles '. This was Denise's fifth visit and it was good to welcome her back. Denise is an art historian, author, photographer and journalist. She worked in Cambodia in the 1990s and has been a scholar of Southeast Asian art ever since. Raffles, whose name is synonymous with a luxury hotel rather than the greatest Buddhist temple in the world, was the enlightened colonial administration of Java, Indonesia. He discovered the 8th century temple of Borobudur, hidden under volcanic ash, in 1814, acquired wondrous artifacts in Java, such as shadow puppets and textiles, which are now in the British Museum and founded Singapore, the most important trading port in the East.

10th September 2019

For the first meeting of our 58th. season we had a most interesting talk by Professor Joyce Hill entitled 'In and Under the Vatican'. Joyce was privileged to have a private visit to the excavations beneath St. Peter's. She gave us an insider's view of this remarkable city state and an outline of its history. We were also told of her exploration of the excavations showing how they related to Constantine's 4th century basilica which was built above them and how the present St. Peter's relates both to the basilica and to the excavations. Professor Hill is a very knowledgeable and enthusiastic speaker who got our new season off to a great start. Our next meeting is on Tuesday October 8th and the speaker is Denise Heywood with a talk entitled 'Sir Stamford Raffles'.

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