,Monthly Meetings:
All members are invited to our Monthly Meetings, we start at 10.30am and usually finish around noon.
Meetings will convene in the St Patricks Golf Club on the Saul Road.
Each month we have a guest speaker, who will give a talk on a subject of interest and there is always time to ask questions. We than have an update on activities and other events which might be of interest to members. This is also an opportunity to put forward suggestions or ideas for new activities. Finally, there is the opportunity to meet up and have a chat with other members
Below are the dates for forthcoming meetings and, where speakers have been confirmed, the name of the speaker and the topic they will be covering.
Also listed below are details of some of the speakers we have had over the last couple of years.
If you have any suggestions for speakers who may be of interest to the group, please let us know.
We do not normally have a formal meeting in June but instead arrange a social event ahead of the summer break when we do not meet during July & August. The December meeting is normally replaced with a seasonal lunch earlier in the month.
Previous Meetings:
25 April 2022
Mary Ward was the subject for speaker Shirley Lennon. Mary Ward was an accomplished artist, scientist, writer and astronomer who spent time at Castle Ward as the wife of Henry Ward, who would go on to become 5th Viscount Bangor after her tragic death. In an era when women were not expected to have any scientific ability and were rarely educated beyond the domestic sciences, she was a naturalist, astronomer and an early pioneer of the microscope. She was given a microscope as a gift by her parents as a child. As well as her scientific interests, Mary was an accomplished artist and some of her paintings remain at Castle Ward. From her diaries, we get a window into Mary’s life, with important events such as the birth of her children. They also reflect her role in developing their interest in learning. In one diary, the death of one of her children, little more than a baby, is recorded. Mary was born on 27 April 1827, married Henry in 1854, and sadly was killed in an accident in 1869. When Henry became the 5th Viscount, he came to live at Castle Ward, bringing with him many of Mary’s possessions.
28 March 2022
Marian and Frank McGreevy were our speakers this month and they took us on a virtual tour to South Africa. The talk was in two parts, focusing on the flora and fauna in two particular areas. South Africa is similar in size to France and Spain together, so there is great diversity, especially in the flora. However, our tour started with Marian and Frank sharing their experiences when they went on walking safaris, taking in several game reserves and National Parks. Some lovely photographs showed the animals they got to encounter at quite close range, even getting told not to touch on one occasion. There were elephants, giraffe, lions, cheetahs and hyenas. The second part of their talk covered a journey the undertook themselves along the garden route right at the southern tip of the country. Starting out in Capetown, where they visited the Botanic Garden which is now a World Hertiage Site, they made their way eastward, enjoying both the plant and wild life. Again they accompanied their talk with beautiful photos they had taken along the way.
LIST OF PREVIOUS SPEAKERS
| 2007 | |
|---|---|
| Mike King | Down County Museum - Building |
| Florence McFarlane | U3A Movement |
| Cathie McKimm | Downpatrick Opera Fringe |
| Terence Bowman | Life & Times at Mourne Observer |
| Dr Campbell | St PatrickÕs Centre & Life of St Patrick |
| Eddie McGrady | Life of an MP |
| George Rice | History of Ardglass |
| 2008 | |
| Emma Thorpe | Northern Ireland Screen (Historical Film Clips) |
| Jim Manly | Artist |
| Yvette Shapiro | Journalist & Broadcaster |
| Senator Maurice Hayes | Career |
| Professor Ronnie Buchanan | Merchants and Planters |
| Albert Baird | Impact India |
| Olive Broderick | Voluntary Arts Ireland |
| 2009 | |
| John Killen | Linenhall Library |
| Clive Scoular | Sarah Purser Ð The life of |
| Pat Devlin | Genealogy |
| Ed Kilgore | Mourne Mountain Rescue Team |
| Sean Nolan | The Story of ÒMy Lagan LoveÓ |
| Walter Love | Life and Times |
| 2010 | |
| Dr Phillip Donald | Working in Guinea |
| Iain Davidson | Down Arts Centre |
| Clive Scoular | Dr Hans Sloane |
| 2011 | |
| Linda McKenna | Crime and Punishment in Co Down 18th & 19th Centuries |
| Jo Whatmough | A Life in Wildlife Conversation |
| Howard Goslyn | 18th & 19th Century Plant Collectors |
| Helen Honeyman | A Tour of Iran |
| Finbar McCormack | History and Folklore of Holy Wells |
| Kevin Quinn | A Tour of Ireland Through Poetry |
| 2012 | |
| Sarah McCandless | Patient & Client Council |
| Peter McCann | Rennaisance Art |
| Madeleine McAlister | History of Underwear |
| Helen Honeyman | Travels in Uzbekistan |
| Avril Milligan (Rowallane) | Herbs |
| Brian Kennedy | History of Modern Irish Art |
| Janice Holmes | A Social History of Down |
| David Park | Writing |
| Michael Healy | Waste Not, Want Not |
| 2013 | |
| Susie Millar | Two New Pennies Ð Grandfather lost on the Titanic |
| Julian Greenwood | Birds of County Down |
| Brian Black | Sailing in the Artic Ocean |
| Raymond & Sheila Crea and Maureen Kelly | Travels in Vietnam and Cambodia |
| Avril Milligan | Spring Plants |
| Clive Scoular | Henry Blackwood |
| 2014 | |
| Stuart Pollard | U3A Trust |
| Janet McLean | National Gallery Celebrating 150 years |
| Roma Tomelty | Career Highlights |
| David Anderson | Hospitality at Hillsborough Castle |
| Diana Gledhill | Travels in Kamchatka |
| Julian Greenwood | Birdlife in South of France |
| 2015 | |
| Lisa Mallon | AlzheimerÕs Society |
| Tony & Rose Murphy | Travels in Isreal |
| Dot Blakely | Water Birds on Quoille |
| Dr Brian McElroy | Chiropratric Treatment |
| Maria Noble | History of Black People in the British Isles |
| Susan Price | Nepal |
| Tony McAuley | Writer & Broadcaster |
| George Busby | Secret Listeners of Gilnahirk |
| Norman Kerr | Harry Ferguson |
| 2016 | |
| Frank McGreevy | Camino Walk |
| Manson Blair | The Sinking of the Titanic Ð the Alternative Story |
| Alan Drysdale | Ards TT Races |
| Acting Up Group | |
| Rosemary Doherty | Father Dan CUmmings |
| John Hanna | Confessions of a Collector |
| Neil Porteous | The Development of Mount Stewart Garden |
| Marie Mullan | The Geneva Window by Harry Clarke |
| 2017 | |
| Catherine McAnallen | Volunteering Overseas - Any Granny Can |
| Ernie Wilson | Mourne Ramblings |
| Sandy Smith | CS Lewis's links with County Down |
| Alan Bucknall | Power to our Children |
| Ernie Cromie | Ulster Aviation Society |
| Tim Campbell | The St Patrick Way |
| Anna Lo | Her Life & Political Career |
| 2018 | |
| Samuel Reid | The Dogs Trust |
| Norman Weatherall | How we used to shop in Belfast |
| Simon Maltman | Crime Fiction Writer |
| Sheena Wilkinson | Her life story as an author |
| Gerry Miller | Creating a Memoir |
| 2019 | |
| Marie Therese Rogers-Moloney | The Sins of my Mother |
| Martin Carey | Mourne Heritage Trust |
| Richard Parkinson | Colditz |
| Leslie Simpson | Recipes from Down Museum Archive |
| Maria Noble | The History of Black Music |
| Richard Gill | Dealing with Scams - Ulster Bank |
| Nicola MacDougal | Energy Efficiency in the Home |
| Vicky Chambers | Ulster Wildlife Trust |
| 2020 | |
| Michael McKeag | Heraldry |
| Billy McCullough | Local Cinemas |
| Helen Honeyman | Travels on the Silk Road |
| Cecil Lowry | The Life of Frank Pantridge |
| Anne Donnelly | NI Film Archive |
| Doreen McBride | Tales from County Down |
| 2021 | |
| WRDA | Bowel Screening |
| Dr Patricia Marsh | 1918/19 Flu Pandemic in Ireland, Ulster & Downpatrick |
| Hubert Curran | From Killyleagh to the Galapagos Islands |
| Ken Tait | NI Family History Society |
| Rev Hector Wanliss | Life as an Army Padre |
| Dougie Marr | The Story of the St Ayles |
| 2022 | |
| Chris Lynn | |
| Marian and Frank McGreevy | African trip |
| James Elliott | The loss of the Mount Stewart with all Hands on Strangford Lough |
| Leo McGurnihan | An introduction to BBC Outside Broadcasts |
| Billy Kohner | Talks about the Holocaust |
| Mary Alice Blaney | Talk on Clifton House |