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Hazel Fort’s Thoughts on the Jane Austen Lecture

At our last meeting we were pleased to attend a lecture by Kathleen ‘O’ Leary on the novelist Jane Austen. Amply aided and abetted by her husband, David, Kate gave us an insight into the life and works of Jane Austen. It was interesting to note that her first novel, ‘Sense and Sensibility’ was published…
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John Sharp’s Thoughts on the Jane Austen Lecture

There was another encouraging turn-out for our meeting on 12th April, at which Kate O’Leary and her husband, David, talked to us about Jane Austen. The opening section dealt with the appearance of Jane Austen, as derived from written descriptions and pictures. This was a tantalising quest, as no portrait can be regarded as absolutely…
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Annual General Meeting 2019

The Annual General Meeting followed the talk on 12th April 2019. 1.  Hazel Fort began by describing the current state of SUES before opening a wider discussion about its future. The coming year will involve a major new initiative, in which SUES will sponsor the University of Liverpool Continuing Education Department in providing three long…
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John Sharp’s Thoughts on “Living & Dying in the Middle Ages”, by Peter Firth

This might have sounded a rather daunting title for a lecture, but Peter Firth’s presentation was anything but melancholic.  At its heart it involved a detailed – and fascinating – examination of two works of art. One was a wall painting from an English parish church, the other a devotional table designed by Hieronymus Bosch…
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Hazel Fort’s Thoughts on the David Lewis Lecture

Today, we had a most informative talk on the subject one of Liverpool’s most prominent nineteenth century philanthropists, David Lewis. Our own John Sharp told us of the life of this most remarkable man. He started life as David Levy, the son of a London Jewish tailor, but instead of joining the family business, in…
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Annual General Meeting 2018

The delayed AGM was incorporated into our lecture meeting of 23rd February. Hazel Fort reported on some of the difficulties we have experienced recently in establishing venues and times for meetings, problems which have been offset by the quality of the lectures which have been presented. We are currently working on plans for future events.…
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John Sharp’s Thoughts on the Pompeii lecture by Paul Lawrence

At our meeting on 23rd February we had another fascinating lecture from Paul Lawrence: this time the subject was Pompeii. The interest in this location stems, of course, from the volcanic eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD, an event which was recorded by ancient writers and which had the effect of preserving a moment…
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John Sharp’s Thoughts on Istanbul – Portrait of a City

Paul Lawrence lived for several years in Istanbul and is, therefore, ideally placed to paint a portrait of this most fascinating of cities. SUES benefited from his knowledge and insight at our last meeting, when he made a compelling presentation, backed up with well-chosen photographs and informative maps. Istanbul has a long history, starting its…
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John Sharp’s Thoughts on the Dementia Lecture

Hazel Fort and Rosemary Hart made an interesting presentation on the subject of Dementia at our last meeting. Their emphasis was on popular perceptions of dementia and reactions to it. We learnt that dementia affects a significant number of elderly people, but it is not confined to them. It is a disease of the brain,…
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Judith Hermida’s Thoughts on ‘Shakespeare’s World’

At the meeting on Thursday, 20th July, 2017, we were treated to a most excellent lecture by Kathleen O’Leary, from the University of Liverpool School of Continuing Education, entitled “An Introduction to Shakespeare’s World”. Kathleen’s enthusiastic and expert delivery kept us enthralled as she explained how Shakespeare would have kept his audiences entertained and satisfied…
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