TRACING YOUR FAMILY HISTORY – why do it?
– with MARY TURNER

What is the attraction of family history? Does it matter to you who your ancestors were? If you knew, would it have a bearing on who you are, or think you are? Is family history best buried or dug up?

Author, historian, and specialist in the field of women’s lives, Mary Turner looks at questions related to personal and family histories.

STARTING YOUR FAMILY HISTORY:
a beginner’s guide, with MARY TURNER

If every person has a book inside them, then every family has books galore! But does every person and every family have a writer inside them?

This two-hour hands-on workshop is for anyone who would like to trace their family history but is not sure where to begin. Mary will help you get started!

You will come away from this workshop equipped to carry on writing your own family history.

MIRANDA GLOVER – on Soulmates, and how to write and bring up children

‘We all have stories to tell, stories about our lives, the lives we remember living, the things we remember seeing or think we saw.’ So begins the Prologue of Miranda Glover’s newest novel Soulmates. From the heart of London to a Swedish archipelago, this is a story that explores the power of love, patterns of behaviour, nature and nurture.

As well as motherhood, Miranda Glover has had a career in publishing, specialising in art, design, and editing. Her first novel was shortlisted for the Pendleton May First Novel Award.

RICHARD HOLMES – on Marlborough, England’s Fragile Genius

Who was Britain’s greatest ever soldier? Many say John Churchill, Marlborough, who mastered strategy, tactics, and logistics, and had four great battles: Blenheim, which saved the Holy Roman Empire; Ramillies; Oudenarde; and Malplaquet. But here was a commander of armies on the one hand, a prodigious money-maker on the other, and a deeply controversial figure to boot.

One of the country’s foremost military scholars, erstwhile teacher at Sandhurst, and Professor of Military and Security Studies at Cranfield University, Richard Holmes is a celebrated historian, author, and television presenter.

DEATH & TAXES – a look back, forward, and sideways, with Marcus Moore

‘In this world, nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes,’ asserted American writer and statesman Benjamin Franklin way back in 1789.

Does this still hold true, or, in times where we are encouraged to ‘initiate policy review strategies’ and ‘think outside the box’, are even these two bastions under threat; and do we have other certainties to contend with?

Writer of clues for television’s Call My Bluff, wordsmith, poet, and mischief-maker Marcus Moore explores loop-holes in the rules governing mortality, and suggests ways of ignoring the problem of money. He unveils the findings of focus groups and proposes radical alternatives.

Warning. Death & Taxes contains choice language, reference to smoking, a few poems, one smutty rhyme, and a Latinate word that goes to the groin.