Monthly Talks

(Almost) Death in Paradise – The Caribbean, Pirates and Rum

a talk by Neil Sadler

Neil is a retired police officer. Much of his 30 years service was as an operational officer in various ranks across Sussex. He also worked briefly in Hong Kong, Trinidad and Abu Dhabi.
His talk will focus on his time working with police in the Caribbean.

• Working with police in Trinidad and Tobago
• Life in Barbados
• The fictional island of Saint Marie in the TV series: Death in Paradise.
• The real Pirates of the Caribbean.
• What time did pirates go to bed?
• What was marooning?
• The answer’s Rum… now what was the question?

Racing around the world on Great Britain II

a talk by Ian Worley

We have the opportunity to journey with Ian whilst Great Britain II encounters storms, knock downs, raging seas, and icebergs, often while hurtling through raging seas and howling winds, not to mention being struck by lightning shortly after round Cape Horn, and all whilst filming for the BBC Sports programme GRANDSTAND.

Ian was born in Chichester, and later moved with his parents to West Wittering where he learned and honed his sailing skills. He qualified as a Chartered Accountant and worked for some years in the City in stockbroking. He then took the opportunity to enrol as a watch leader, later promoted to 1st Mate on the 78ft maxi racing yacht Great Britain II on the 1977/78 Whitbread Round the World Race.

Southampton Water, Slaughter and Trade – Part II

a talk by Andrew Negus

We shall see how Southampton returned to being a great port and left its foppish ‘Spa-days’ behind it. Many interesting characters will feature, including 2 kings (one being the King of the Pixies), Jane Austen and a very courageous woman. We will have to meet a pirate and a sex fiend who, together, helped create education in the town. For good measure we have cannibals, a lion tamer and sadly the Titanic disaster.

Andrew is a retired History teacher, an around the world backpacker (twice), a Blue Badge guide for central southern England, and he aspires to be a local historian. He also keep chickens, bees and daughters.

Look into my Eyes

a talk by Alan Jones

The History and Mystery of Hypnosis. The use of hypnosis dates back millennia, yet, mention hypnotism today, and people fear being turned into chickens. Discover the history and mystery of hypnosis, plus its modern-day benefits. And you can sit back and relax, you definitely won’t become a chicken!

I have been fortunate to enjoy a variety of careers, including BBC journalist, registered nurse, and hypnotherapist. Each has brought its own unique experiences and events, providing a wealth of anecdotes to fill my talks with fun, information, and discovery.

Peru – The Andes and The Incas’ Peru Explored

a talk by Major (Retd) Paul Whittle

Paul’s civilian career was predominantly in the City of London as a senior human resources manager with a leading British bank. In 1999 he was granted his ‘Freedom’ and appointed a Freeman of the City of London.For 34 years Paul also served in the Royal Corps of Signals, Territorial Army. He took part in many overseas exercises with NATO and attended the TA Command and Staff Course at the Staff College Camberley. To date Paul has travelled to over 70 countries including such relatively unknown lands as Eritrea, Armenia, Romania and Montenegro. He has also crossed the Sahara Desert, and journeyed by train from Vladivostok to central Siberia. He has one grown-up daughter and llives near Woking, Surrey.

Watching the Detectives – A History of British TV Crime Fighters

a talk by Pete Allen

Murder! It’s not big and it’s not clever. But without it our little grey cells would have missed some of the most popular television programmes to ever grace the small screen. This Talk walks the beat through the quiet of St Mary Mead, the golden spires of Oxford, the cliffs of Broadchurch and the killing fields of Midsummer. On the way it unearths the clues that reveal how our fascination with the long arm of the law owes much to the uncertainty, experimentation and innovation of the early days of television.

Pete is the Director of The RC Sherriff Trust, a charity set up through the Will of the playwright and author RC Sherriff. Prior to this he was The Arts Development Officer for Elmbridge Borough Council where he was responsible for The Royston Pike Lecture Series. Previous to his work with Elmbridge Borough Council, Pete was co-founder and artistic director of WhirlygigArts which ran CRYPT (Cranleigh Young People’s Theatre), CMYT (Chequer Mead Youth Theatre) and The Big Picture Young People’s Film Workshop. He co-founded Storm the Stage Young People’s Theatre for Mole Valley District Council and was the Director of The Together in Waddon Community Project. He has also worked extensively as a professional theatre director and film-maker.

A Career in Broadcasting

a talk by Pam Marsden

Pam Gillard (now Marsden) worked for the BBC for 27 years and has a fascinating view of live broadcasting in BBC Local Radio in the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s in the UK and abroad. Her interesting and informative talk, with photos and BBC memorabilia, takes you through the innovative years of Local Radio when ‘the wheel had to be invented’, as much had not been tried before. Pam has a wealth of stories to tell about a bygone age of BBC Radio.

Stories from the South Downs

a talk by Ian Everest

A fully illustrated talk about some of the less well-known aspects of the Downs. Ian spent his childhood on a Downland farm and has some fascinating stories to share. Expect to find out about the Home Guard Cavalry, a College for Lady Gardeners, a Grand National Winner, Poverty Bottom – and much more!

Ian was brought up on a farm on the South Downs and after attending Agricultural College in the late 1960’s, he worked in the agricultural sector with the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, before being employed in commercial activity with an animal feed supplement business. His growing interest in family and military history led to a career change in 1987 when he was appointed manager of Newhaven Fort in Sussex, a scheduled monument, which he prepared for public opening the following year, and continued to manage for fifteen years. Following this, a further change in career as the Newhaven Town Clerk for ten years – and then retirement.

Political Satire or Nursery Rhyme

a talk by Susan Ackroyd

A history lecture decades ago stuck in my mind. In retirement from teaching (high school and adult migrant), law and regulation in the VET sector, I finally tackled the intriguing history of ‘nursery’ rhymes. My little book, ‘Rhyme and Reason’ was published in 2025. What do our Nursery Rhymes really mean? What can they tell us about the politics, economy, society, religion of England from the 1200s to the 1700s? There are 26 rhymes in the new edition of Susan’s book, including Old Mother Hubbard who was seeking an annulment!

‘A Beginning, a Muddle and an End – writing a novel’ Where do novelists get their ideas?

a talk by Bobbie Darbyshire

Winner of the 2008 fiction prize at the National Academy of Writing and the New Delta Review Creative Non-Fiction Prize 2010, Bobbie is the author of five novels, including “The Posthumous Adventures of Harry Whittaker” and “The Third Bus”. She lives in London and hosts a writers’ group. Drawing on the experience of many well-known authors, Bobbie will explain how the complex fictional world arrives in a novelist’s mind.

Journeys in Biology II – DNA, Genes and Who we Are

a talk by Darren Gowers

In this second talk, my aim is to look more closely at DNA, with a basic history of genetics, leading on to why understanding genes and genomes is so powerful for understanding health and disease. I aim to leave time for a fun genetics experiment and plenty of questions! There will be opportunities to handle and explore some 3D-printed molecules, so you can see up close how lumpy and bumpy the molecular world is.

Since my college days in Brighton, I have been fascinated by biology and the amazing diversity of life on our planet. I have been fortunate in following a path in bioscience research that has allowed me to understand life at the very tiniest: at the cellular level. This has been via a PhD at Southampton (1995-1998), postdoc at Bristol (1998-2004), to my present position as a Senior Lecturer in the School of Biology at UoP (2005-present).

The Body through the Porthole

a talk by Steve Herra

Steve tells the true story of the disappearance of a female actress whilst sailing from Cape Town to Southampton in 1947, the audience act as the jury. Steve is third generation of Cunard seafarers and has been delivering talks to Probus, U3A, WI and many others over the last nine years.