Programme for 2022-23
The programme for 2022-23 will consist of three multiple-session courses and six single-day events. This is an increase on the four events of previous years. All activities will take place at All Saints Church Hall, Park Road, Southport, PR9 9JR. The longer course sessions are held on Mondays at 10.30 am and the single day events on Fridays at 2.30 pm. Sessions in the long courses last two hours and in the shorter meetings talks take approximately 45 to 60 minutes. Refreshments of a drink and biscuits are always provided and without any extra charge.
Era of the Crusades (Autumn 2022)
Peter Firth
9 Sessions: September 26; Oct 3, 10, 17, 31; November 7, 14, 21, 28
Course fee: £45
When we think of the word Crusades, it might immediately evoke images of battles in the Middle Ages between Christians and Muslims in the Holy Land. We might also recall the feats and valour of Richard the Lionheart, as well as the appearance of military orders, such as the Templars and Hospitallers, protecting and looking after Christian pilgrims. Most histories of the Crusades focus on the period from the call to defend the Christians in Jerusalem by Pope Urban II in 1095 to the fall of Acre in 1291. However, the term, crusading, embraces far more than these two centuries of religious warfare. It includes a rich history of events in western Europe, Byzantium and around the Baltic Sea. It can even be argued that crusading rhetoric was still being applied to events as late as the beginning of the eighteenth century. Whilst focusing on events in the Holy Land, this nine-week course will provide a much wider context and understanding of crusading during the second millennium.
Art and Architecture of the American West (Winter 2023)
Roger Mitchell
8 Sessions: January 9, 16, 23, 30; February 6, 13, 27; March 6
Course fee: £40
This eight session course comes into the ‘and now for something completely different’ category, but like my Country House Courses, its central theme is how people and buildings interact. The landscapes are remarkable, the history is extraordinary and the buildings are fascinating.
We range from Anasazi cliff dwellings through Spanish churches and Victorian towns to Frank Lloyd Wright at Taliesin West, mid-20th century architecture in Palm Springs and 21st century excess at Las Vegas.
It is a truly epic story and as well as the architecture, it produced some great art, especially landscape paintings by Albert Bierstadt and Thomas Moran, one of whose pictures is shown above.
Uncovering the Mystery in Chemistry (Spring 2023)
Alan Potter
6 Sessions: May 8, 15, 22, 25th (Thursday); June 5th, 8th (Thursday)
Course fee: £30
Please note that this course has 4 of the usual Monday morning meetings (May 8th, 15th, 22nd and June 5th) but also 2 Thursday morning meetings (May 25th and June 8th). This is necessary to fit in with the availability of the speaker and the room and gives us a chance to experiment with a slightly different course structure.
It is fascinating why chemistry, an aspect so fundamental to everything in our lives, and indeed life itself, is a subject we often know so little about since leaving school. In this course, simple examples and everyday language will be used to explain the nature of chemistry from the emergence of the first particles and substances to the nuclear and micro-world we live in today.
This journey will recognise the early experiments and new discoveries of alchemists and chemists to highlight the struggle through which the human race has sought to uncover the mysteries of chemistry in order to use and control it. In the latter sessions, aspects of everyday life from food and farming, to drugs and dyes and from glue and gouache to nylons and nature itself will be used to help to reveal the exciting world of chemistry.
Single Session Events
Members are able to attend these meetings without charge.
| 16th September | Caravaggio | Father Leo Daley |
| 28th October | The Family at Scarisbrick Hall 1809/1945 | Mary Ormsby |
| 9th December | Gerard Manley Hopkins | Will Daunt |
| 3rd March | The Ecology and Conservation of River Birds | Stuart Sharp |
| 31st March | Hospice: ‘No Thanks’ or ‘Yes Please’ | Dr. Karen Groves |
| 23rd June | Victorian Visitors to Southport | Michelle Caldwell |
| 12th July | AGM/The University Extension Society Movement | Peter Firth |
Access to all events is available on payment of an annual subscription of £10 per person to SUES. There will be no further charge for single-day events, but there is a fee equivalent to £5 a session for each of the multiple-session courses. These fees compare favourably with other similar events provided by universities etc., and they are subsidized out of the funds available as a result of the recent bequest to SUES.
Application for SUES membership and registration for a multi-session course (or courses) should be made to the membership secretary whose details are outlined on the application and registration form. This form should be copied, completed and then posted or emailed to the membership secretary at the postal or email address outlined at the bottom of the form.