We no longer hold a General meeting every month.
Instead we will have a General Meeting only in March (AGM), June and October when we will be pleased to see as many members as possible. These meetings will comprise reports from the Committee and a chance to ask questions followed by a presentation by a speaker.
In other months we will hold a social event when members can mix with friends old and new and we can welcome new members to the association.
All meetings are published on the Calendar along with details of where and when and what is happening. Click here to see what’s on.
If any member hears of any good speakers, please do not hesitate to get in touch with us by sending a message here
Below is a list of presentations that have either been given by Zoom or recorded whilst being given – click ‘read more’ on any title of interest to find a button to watch the video.
General Meeting 27 October 2021
See the Calendar for more details of the meeting - click HERE Our speaker will be John Hopwood - The History of the Eiffel Tower The Eiffel Tower was built in 1889 as the centrepiece of the Exposition Universelle which was intended as a celebration of the French Revolution. It was, for forty-one years, the tallest construction in the world ...
Virtual Monthly Meeting 30 June 2021
Valencia - Past and Present by Peter Atkinson What a fantastic presentation we had from Peter Atkinson today on our local capital city Valencia. We heard about the numerous times the city was destroyed by advancing and retreating armies and of the damage caused by flooding of the River Turia. Through the ages the city has acquired many architectural styles ...
The Franco Years and the Restoration of Democracy in Spain 1939 to the present
Presentation by Alan Oliver The Civil War ended on 1st April 1939. The German and Italian forces that supported Franco left Spain after the Victory Parade in Madrid. Franco consolidated his rule through the Falange, and constantly changing his government ministers. It was effectively a one party fascist state, with the Catholic Church playing a major role. Franco had a ...
The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World -by Angela Chantry
Follow in the footsteps of an intrepid tourist from Ancient Greece, as he travels from Athens to Babylon, visiting and being amazed at the seven wonders of the ancient world. Discover why they were built, by whom and what happened to them. Watch the Video ...
Guernica: ‘The Biography of a Painting’ by Peter Atkinson
Picasso’s inspiration for Guernica came when, at Franco’s request, German aircraft bombed civilians in the Basque town of Gernika. It is a huge painting in black, white and grey, a powerful statement of the horrors of war and one of the world’s most recognisable works of art. Our main focus is the picture itself: the way in which it evolved; ...
The Panama Canal – by Alan Oliver
Physical and environmental difficulties caused the failure of the French attempt to build the canal. If the US were to build it, they required that the adjacent land (the Canal Zone) had to be under their control. The Chagres river had to be tamed and the Culebra cut excavated, but in 1914, the canal was completed. Recently a new set ...
Architectural Legacy of Moorish Spain – by Peter Atkinson
The presentation is concerned with the architecture left behind by the Moors and their descendants, created between the 8th and 16th centuries together with a little-known revival between 1880 and 1930. It is a rich and varied legacy, comprising much more than Córdoba’s Great Mosque and Granada’s Alhambra. In Andalusia, we shall also visit Seville, Málaga, Almería and Ronda; elsewhere, ...
A Trip around the Coast of Spain and Portugal: Dénia to Jávea the Long Way – by Peter Atkinson
We shall travel up the coast from Dénia to the French border; follow the north coast from San Sebastián to A Coruña; move south around Galicia and through Portugal to the Algarve; and continue east along the coast of Andalucía, with a final leg from Almería to Jávea. It will be a 3,500 kilometre journey with a little history, a ...
Intersecting Lives: John F Kennedy & Lyndon B Johnson – by Peter Atkinson
The presentation will look at the lives, personalities and careers of the two men and at the difficult relationship between them. They had very differentbackgrounds, the privileged New Englander and the humbler Texas farm boy, and each had significant strengths and flaws. There will, of course, be an emphasis on the 1960s, the decade of theirpresidencies, when the principal issues ...
The Life and Work of Antoni Gaudí – by Peter Atkinson
The brilliant and innovative Antoni Gaudí (1852-1926) was the most prominent architect in the short-lived Art Nouveau movement (‘Modernisme’ in Catalunya), around the turn of the 20th century. His buildings are stunning but he was a difficult man to work with: arrogant and confrontational with no respect for time, budget, or planning regulations. Nearly all his work is in Barcelona ...
