Meetings
Wickham History Society holds meetings at 7.30 pm on the fourth Tuesday of the month. Our programme includes a variety of guest speakers who cover both local history and wider history topics. We also organise visits to places of interest in the Summer.
The annual charge for Membership is £10pp. Guests are welcome to attend meetings for £3pp.
To join the Wickham History Society, please contact the Secretary.
AUTUMN 2025 PROGRAMME
23rd September 2025 – Geoff Phillpotts
The Story of Wickham Common & the Purlieu
Geoff traces the history of Wickham Common, how it came to be common land for the Wickham community, the uses made of it and the growth of the community around it. The story includes Wickham’s ‘purlieu’ land, accessed through the Common and used since prehistoric times for grazing until its enclosure in the nineteenth century.
Please note this meeting will be held at Park Place Pastoral Centre, Winchester Road PO17 5HA (not the WCC)
28th October 2024 – Wendy Greenish
My Grandfather’s ‘Continental Trip’ – 1915 to 1919
My paternal grandfather, William Midmer, served in the British Army throughout the First World War. Not until after his death did his family have any idea of his role or activities during that war. During his lifetime, the only acknowledgement he made of that period of his life was to refer to it as his ‘Continental Trip’.
25th November 2025 – A theatrical presentation by Jane Glennie
The Friendship of Jane Austen & Martha
Martha Lloyd, ‘experimental housekeeper’ and Jane Austen’s best friend, gossips with her neighbours as she packs up their house in Castle Square, Southampton. Using original letters by Jane Austen we will find out about her close friendship with Martha and their happy time living in Southampton.
9th December 2025 – Alan Brindle
A Magic Lantern Show: Victorian Humour
Alan’s show will feature lantern slides from the early Victorian period to 1880. All of the slides in the show were professionally produced and represented cutting edge technology in that period. These spectacular shows provided exciting entertainment long before the birth of the cinema. We will revisit a time when magic lantern slides thrilled and amazed their audiences and were fun!! The young loved the jokes played by little rascals and the tricks done by monkeys and other such animals. The old loved the morals and philosophy behind the stories. This show includes the most famous moving slide ever produced, The Rat Swallower. Be warned!! Some of these Victorian humour slides are not what you would call politically correct nowadays but they were totally acceptable in this bygone era.
Please note this meeting is the SECOND Tuesday of the month.
Please note: Programme subject to change depending on availability of speakers.
