LECTURES 2009/10  (all at 6:30pm in the Church Hall)
Friday 30 October -  ‘The Rise and Rise of Lady Latymer and the Fall of Albert Herring.’
Sir Stephen Oliver (Recent trustee of the Britten – Pears Foundation)

In Britten’s opera Albert Herring (1946) none of the possible Carnival Queens was deemed virtuous enough by Lady Billows, the benefactress of ‘Loxford’. So Albert Herring was chosen as Carnival King. In Aldeburgh, so the story goes, the Carnival Queen in the early 1930s fell short of Lady Latymer’s standards. She put her foot down and the Carnival was nearly boycotted. Later Britten came to live almost next door to Lady Latymer’s home, The Rest in Crag Path. Could Lady Latymer have been the Lady Billows of Britten’s opera? Stephen Oliver has been researching this and will tell us all that he has discovered about the links between Lady Latymer and Albert Herring.

Friday 27 November -  ‘Essex Man and Suffolk Woman: The Iconography of British Voters.’
Professor Tony King (University of Essex. TV commentator on elections.)
In view of the coming general election, Professor King examines some of the stereotypes of British voters that have been deployed in recent election campaigns and asks whether the choices of British voters are best understood in class and demographic terms or in terms of voters' responses to immediate political and economic circumstances.  If Labour loses, why will it have lost?  If Labour wins, why will it not have lost?

Friday 29 January -  ‘Commons Reform of the Lords - Pots and Kettles, or What?’.
Andrew Phillips (Lord Phillips of Sudbury – ex “legal eagle” on the Jimmy Young show on Radio 2.)
Removing most of the hereditary peers was supposed to be only Part 1 of House of Lords reform. Now, with public trust in Parliament in the dust, along with the City, should the Commons reform itself first? And would electing the Upper House really solve anything?

Friday 26 February -  ‘The Design and Building of Glyndebourne Opera House.’

Lady Hopkins of Michael Hopkins and Partners, Architects (and Blackheath House)
Glyndebourne, one of the most significant opera houses in the South of England, is home to one of the most stunning tensile fabric canopies in the country. The theatre as an institution is somewhat contradictory, symbolising the glamour of the city life and showing off the most modern of architecture, while being located in idyllic rural England.

Architects Michael Hopkins & Partners were charged with the development of the old opera house into a stunning modern landmark building, and it cannot be doubted that they succeeded. Lady Hopkins will tell us about the challenges that this entailed.

“12th” night party RESCHEDULED.
Wine, Soft Drinks Food .
Friday 19th February 2010
Community Centre.
Details CLICK HERE.
BEAT THOSE WINTER BLUES