Recent-speakers


Click here for full details of our next luncheon
Monday
20th January 2025
Holliday Inn
Gary Burdett

 

My experiences with the Didgeridoo, through stories, history, and sounds”

Having travelled in Australia, I share you the sounds and stories of the ancient land and people.

I  used a Didgeridoo from my large collection to demonstrate the sounds and meanings of this ancient instrument.

 

 

 

I really enjoyed  talking to the Manchester Luncheon Club

about my time in Australia, I considered it a great privilege  to share the

sounds and stories of the ancient land and people.

Monday
16th December 2024
Holiday Inn
Christmas Luncheon

                                            Afterwards we will again be entertained

                                                by

The Bridgwater Hall Singers

following their wonderful performance last Christmas,

they are lead by

Alice and Louise

from

Simply Singing CIC

The Lord Mayor of the City of Manchester with our President Mrs Gwen M Crossley

Feedback from  attendee

“The choir was wonderful, good harmony and musicality, it made listening a real pleasure”

Friday
15th November 2024
Holliday Inn
Ann Boulton

‘ONCE A JENNY, ALWAYS A JENNY!’

 

 

When you hear someone talk about having been in the “services” or nowadays it is the “military” that is usually it without any other explanation.  This is the story, warts and all, of one former Wren who joined the Women’s Royal Naval Service at the age of 18.   She started as a pro-Wren, polishing floors and learning how to understand naval language and, having joined as a Shorthand writer, she had to take the proceedings of Boards of Enquiry verbatim – it was before tape recorders were accepted!

Ann was our Honorary Secretary for several years and also our President.   She has given several talks to the Manchester Luncheon Club and we look forward to hearing her again.

Feedback from  attendee

“I have to say that I thought the room looked great.   So nice to have a silver service.”  

Monday
16th October
Holliday Inn
Brian Topping

Tales of a Customs Officer

Ever wondered what Customs Officers are looking for??

We heard Brian tell of his many years during the 1970s and 80s as a serving Customs Officer in the former department of HM Customs and Excise, at Heathrow Airport. He told us an interesting, and entertaining  of the many situations he came across when dealing with passengers travelling through the airport and his involvement in apprehending and investigating smugglers.

 

We  also heard about ‘Friends of Frankie’, a Charity supported by Brian. 

He thanked everyone for their very generous donations to ‘Friends of Frankie’

Friday
20th September 2024
Holiday Inn
Dr Catherine Kidd, (always known as Katy)

 

The Great Influenza Pandemic of 1918.”

Speaker: Dr Catherine Kidd, (always known as Katy) is a retired doctor who spent almost her entire career working in aspects of the Community Health Services and Public Health. Originally from Oxford, Katy qualified in medicine at Trinity College Dublin in 1973, and worked in Dublin, Cheshire and Wirral for almost 40 years.

As well as clinical work in community women’s services, her wide range of duties in the Wirral included teaching doctors and medical students. Katy did an MBA in Health Service Management at Keele University in the early 1990’s, and this led to significant involvement in medical management. These duties included being Director of Infection Prevention and Control for Wirral Primary Care Trust from 2004 to 2011, which included playing a leading role in the preparation for, and management of, the swine flu pandemic of 2009/10. In the North West of England, detailed preparations for an anticipated flu pandemic had been taking place for several years, and included looking back at lessons which could be learned from the Great Influenza pandemic of 1918/19.

Synopsis: Katy’s talk covered a range of aspects of the 1918/19 pandemic, including its probable origins, the reasons for its spread, both locally and worldwide, and its effects on civilian and military populations. The relationship between the pandemic and the First World War was discussed, including its probable role in shortening the length of this war. Also covered was the topic of how the pandemic was dealt with in the UK, and why, and looking back a few years to our recent Covid pandemic, whether any lessons were really learned.

 Manchester fared so much better than most urban areas in the UK in the Great Influenza pandemic of 1918 

Feedback from  attendee’s

We all learnt so much about so many interesting aspects of this disease, and I was particularly

intrigued by the fact that these pandemics seem to occur every 40 years.

The Speaker was good and her subject most fascinating

Thursday
22nd August 2024
The Monastery Manchester
ANNUAL SUMMER TRIP 2024

to The Monastery Manchester

This Summer’s Trip started at 11-00 am with our host,

Grahame Birtles,

telling us the story of Gorton Monastery, following which he  took us on a gentle walking tour of the building.

Lunch will be served in the Nave.

At 2-00pm, Accomplished Organist Stephen Mann will give a recital on the recently installed Wadsworth Victorian organ.

Stephen was the last organist of the Monastery, playing at the final Mass in 1989.

The original organ was sold for scrap when the church closed. An almost identical organ has been donated to the Trust. Thanks to donations, this organ has been refurbished. Fund raising continues to enable installation in the organ loft of the Great Nave.

Feedback from attendees

What an enjoyable day it was, both interesting and captivating historically. Graham’s talk was

excellent he really painted a picture of the Franciscans in Gorton, the catering was excellent and the

music was just wonderful.

We purchased a book so now appreciate the work that was involved with a dedicated band of people

who had faith and trust that their project would work.

I wonder where the Stations of the Cross have gone, wouldn’t it be a miracle if they were found and returned?

 

 

 

Friday
19th July 2424
Holliday Inn
Sue Holden

 

Past lawyer, present entertainer and now a story teller. Sue seeks to inform with humour and has been entertaining people for as long as she can remember and worked as a lawyer for slightly less a time (36 years.) Sue enjoyed a fulfilling and interesting career with a passion for learning.

“The law is something that touches and confounds us all from time to time and in my professional life I strived to convey both my enthusiasm and learning. In my retirement I seek to couple my interests to bring you an entertaining insight into the subject of my talks.”

 Sue’s subject today was

“They should’ve asked me husband”

A light hearted look at husbands (and wives) the famous, the infamous and the completely unknown. Illustrated through fact, fiction, comedy and verse.

Monday
24th June 2024
Holiday Inn
Joanna Williams

‘Abel Heywood

Manchester’s Radical Mayor‘

 

Joanna M Williams is a native of the Manchester area and studied History at the University of Manchester at undergraduate and post-graduate level. After lecturing for the Department of Extra-Mural Studies, she taught History at Altrincham Grammar School for Girls. Her particular fascination with the nineteenth century was inspired by the enthusiasm of her sixth form students, and she has published biographies of important Manchester Victorians, Abel Heywood and Lydia Becker.

Monday
20th May 2024
Holliday Inn
Carol Lee

Carol  told us about this local disaster and her granddad’s involvement in the rescue

“It was in the early hours of Tuesday 28 April 1953 when, without any warning, locals first noticed a loud rumbling followed by a rushing sound and an almighty crash of falling masonry.  The section of the Clifton Hall Tunnel, better known by the locals as the Black Harry Tunnel, collapsed in on itself and No. 22, No. 24 and the end wall of No. 26 Temple Drive, Swinton was sucked into the 20ft crater that appeared.

 My grandad was a reserved fireman involved in the disaster, we herd how the story unfolded and his role in the hours that followed.”

Monday
22nd April 2024
Holliday Inn
Paul Hindle

Our friend Paul returned, to complete his talk from September 18th 2023.

Bringing us up to date with his fascinating illustrated talk

Salford and The Quays through Time

Gwen M Crossley

100th AGM

followed by

 

President and Honorary Secretary of the Manchester Luncheon Club

Told us more about our illustrious Speakers, from

1922 to 2024 

Gwen has lived most of her life in Manchester and has a keen interest in the history of the City. Since retiring from Nursing, she has been an enthusiastic and committed member of the club, becoming Honorary Secretary 2014 and President in 2022.

In preparation for the Centenary Celebrations of 2022, she spent many hours reading papers relating to the club’s history and used much of the information for the Souvenir Booklet produced at the time.

As there was insufficient space to record all the details, Gwen gave a talk to the club in January 2023.

The History of Manchester Luncheon Club and the people who made it.

That talk concentrated on the members, there was not enough time to give details of the vast number of speakers.

Members were keen to hear more.

The occasion of our 100th AGM

 seems a most appropriate time to do this.

Feedback from an attendee

‘I never knew that the ‘Club’ had, had so many prestigious and influential Speakers.’

Friday
23rd February 2024
Holliday Inn
David Skillen

  David describes himself as a “consumer of history” and is an engaging, animated and entertaining professional speaker on a variety of historical subjects. David worked for 35 years in the Civil Service speaking to audiences from 5 to 500 people. Since retiring in 2012 he has travelled extensively across the UK giving fully illustrated talks to numerous groups including, Local History Societies, Probus, WI, National Trust, Car and Aviation Clubs and U3A.

Married to Lynn he lives in Belper Derbyshire, where he was a guide at the famous Belper North Mill for three years. During David’s studies of the American Civil War, they travelled widely across the United States visiting battlefields from the War as well as the Alamo. David and Lynn were members of the Towton Battlefield Society in Yorkshire providing a strong interest in the Wars of the Roses. David was also a battlefield guide for the Society for 7 years.

‘A line in the Sand’

 

(The fall of the Alamo, the Rise of Texas)

In 1836 a small group of Texans were besieged and then wiped out by a much larger Mexican army at a mission station in San Antonio Texas. For many Americans the Alamo has assumed a near mythical status in their history and the John Wayne film of the 1960s tells it all. But what did happen there in those 13 days?

We met William Travis, Jim Bowie and Davy Crockett and saw how the defeat at the Alamo led to the state of Texas being formed.

Feedback from an attendee

“It was fascinating to hear David separate fact from fiction”