SWLC GALLERY
The season of 2025-2026 gave us some very interesting speakers.
NOVEMBER 2025 - Adam Smith made a return visit at members' request. He spoke about the History of Musical Theatre and sang many songs from different times.
OCTOBER 2025. The season started when Tess Dunlop spoke about Women in World War II, their recruitment and commemorations.
DECEMBER 2025 - Ruth Goodman a TV Star of many programmes about Victorian and Tudeor Christmases gave us a history of the many Christmas traditions.
JANUARY 2026 - After Paul Hudson, the weatherman, announced a severe snow weather warning we decided it was necessary to postpone our speaker David Edwards (Talking about Volcanoes). We look forward to seeing him in 2027.
FEBRUARY 2026 - Christa Ackroyd gave us all things to think about! The LOrd Mayor of Sheffield Safiya Saeed joined us too.
MARCH 2026 Jonathan Moseley gave a stunning Spring Flower demonstration. We had screens around the Ballroom so everyone had a good view. Some members were lucky and went home with lovely arrangements.
APRIL 2026 - Kim Streets, CEO of Sheffield Museums reminded us about the various museums in Sheffield, their history and future plans.
MAY 2026 - Philippa Langley had a question and answer session when she explained how she found King Richard III's remains under a Leicester car park and her recent research into the two princes in the Tower of London.
The Grapevine magazine had a very interesting article about us.
Sadly one of our longest standing members and past President (Two times) died during the year. Linda Wildgoose was an incredible lady.
July 2019
Incoming President Joy thanking former President Lynda for all her hard work whilst in office, with a gift from all our members.
December 2018
The Mercure Hotel looking very festive for our Christmas lecture and delicious lunch.
PREVIOUS YEARS HAVE BEEN EQUALLY INTERESTING
Dennis Taylor was our first speaker of this year ... and what a wonderful, humorous and engaging start to our 2019/20 season it was!
Christmas 2019 at
The Mercure Hotel
Sheffield
Sue Jackson came to visit our club in December, with a delightfully seasonal talk on 'The Art of Snow and Ice'.
In November 2019 Agnes Grunwald Spier captivated us all with her talk on Women of the Holocaust.
OCTOBER 2021
Our first face-to-face lecture since March 2020!
We all enjoyed a lovely meal with friends, old and new, before listening to a very interesting talk from Mich Turner MBE, the founder of The Little Venice Cake Company.
President Joy with
Mich Turner and Lecture Secretary Daphne.
In November 2021 Amanda Owen, the 'Yorkshire Shepherdess' visited The Mercure. We all enjoyed her talk and had the opportunity to purchase one of her books!
John Benjamin, whom you will have seen on Antiques Roadshow, came to SWLC in February 2022 and his visit was a huge success with our members!
In March 2022 Nick Baker was our speaker. His talk was inspirational and we all went home quite determined to support the ecological care of the countryside.
AGM July 2022
On behalf of all the Committee, President Margaret presented Acting President Lynda with a bouquet of flowers and thanked her for 'stepping up' and for all her hard work during some very difficult times in 2022.
SEASON 2022 - 2023
Rosemary Shrager joined us in November 2022, a wonderful 'stand-in' for
Edwina Curry, who was unfortunately ill.
Rosemary gave an extremely entertaining talk and members were keen to ask lots of questions afterwards, which Rosemary was more than happy to answer ...
a lovely lady!
The Broomhall Community Choir came to sing for us in December ... they sang beautifully and were very much enjoyed by us all!
Paul Hudson came to SWLC in January 2023, and we had a huge audience ready to listen to him!
He was very entertaining and certainly gave us an awful lot to think about ....
Members of the wonderful SWLC committee, enjoying their lunch and looking
forward to listening to our speaker!
In February 2023 we were pleased to welcome Nick Bailey to our club.
He entertained us all with many anecdotes from his life and work on television and radio.
SWLC 'PUBLICITY DRIVE'
We decided to place a particular emphasis on publicising
the SWLC by creating the post
of Publicity Secretary at the start of this
season (2022-23) ... apparently some
people haven't heard about us!
Here are a few of the articles and
advertisements Daphne has placed in our
local papers and magazines.
Have you seen any of these?
Our speaker in March 2023 was Lord Burlington, who was kindly 'standing in' for his wife, Lady Burlington.
He talked to us about his home Chatsworth House, giving us some fascinating insights into life at Chatsworth, both past and present.
We were also fascinated to be privy to one or two of his plans for the house as he begins to take over from his father, the Duke of Devonshire, who is retiring to the Chatsworth village of Edensor.
Jeremy Mainwaring-Burton came to talk to us at the end of March 2023. An officer in the Irish Guards, he became an equerry to HM The Queen Mother and spent much of his time with her, in Scotland, at the Castle of Mey. Jeremy was a delightful dinner companion and very entertaining speaker, with many a tale to tell!
Season 2023 - 2024
We began the new season in October, with a visit from Erin Boag, whom we all remember from Strictly Come Dancing.
She brought some fabulous dresses to show us and had everyone on their feet!
In November, Mark Thompson came to talk to us about his life as an astronomer, broadcaster and author. We all learned a lot of surprising information about our universe!
Judith Holder was our speaker in December. She was the co-writer of the Grumpy Old Women stage shows, and had many amusing anecdotes to entertain us.
February's speaker was Joanne Harris, an award winning Anglo-French novelist, whose books include Chocolat. She talked about 'Food in Fiction and Folklore'.
Our March speaker was Kerry Daynes, a Consultant Forensic Psychologist. Often involved with major police investigations, her talk was entitled 'The Dark Side of the Mind'.
Eric Knowles, probably best known from The Antiques Road Show, was our first guest speaker in January 2025. His talk, entitled Confessions of an Auctioneer, was a light hearted look at his journey through life!
In April, we were very lucky when Lindsay Jackson, the director of The Chatsworth Players, agreed to come for lunch. Lindsay gave a very entertaining talk about the amateur dramatic company which is based in the theatre in Chatsworth House.
The Broomhall Community Choir revisited the SWLC to sing for us in December ... they sang beautifully and their music was much enjoyed by everyone!
Eddie Edwards, probably better remembered as Eddie the Eagle, was our guest speaker in May, He told us the fascinating story of life!
Season 2024 - 2025
Michael Rosen, one of the best known figures in the world of children's books, was our guest at The Novotel, for our first meeting in October. He was an extremely entertaining speaker and charming company!
Michael Rosen with Sionad Mair, the former Lord Mayor of Sheffield, who joined us for lunch.
In November 2024, Meg McCubbin was our speaker. She is a zoologist, TV presenter and photographer, among other talents. Her talk, illustrated with beautiful photographs, was entitled Stopping Extinction - An Atlas of Endangered Species,
Anne Sebba came in February to talk to us about the fascinating life of Wallis Simpson and her background, and who was the subject of her book 'That Woman'.
To start the new year 2025, we invited Sarah McLeod to join us. Sarah is the CEO of Wentworth Woodhouse and spoke about what is involved in the regeneration of historic sites.
Linda Kelly, the Director of the Manor Operatic Society, was our guest in December. She told us exactly what it takes to get the pantomine ready for the Christmas production.
Our guest speaker, in March, was Ann Treneman. During her adult life she has been a political sketch writer, theatre critic, a Times columnist and a landscape gardener! Not surprisingly, she spoke about Starting Over ... And Over.
Our 2024 - 25 season came to a close in May, when we welcomed Brenton West, from The Repair Shop, and Raj Bisram, familiar to us from Antiques Road Trip.
A previous visitor to SWLC, Peak District farmer Peter Slack, charmed and entertained everyone when he came to speak to members again, in April.
