Talks
Our talks are held in the Ashcroft Centre until our move in December 2025 to the Baptist Church on Chesterton Lane, Cirencester. Parking is available at the church and nearby.
The doors open at 7pm for the 7.30 pm talk.
FREE to members, visitors are always welcome – a donation of £3.00 per person is invited on the door.
Our 2026 programme of talks will be revealed shortly.
The first 100 years of the Old Museum
November 17th @7.30pm
Ashcroft Centre Cirencester
Dr Caroline Hill
Caroline, Collections & Education Manager at the Corinium Museum, will speak about the history of the Corinium museum from its founding to its move to Park Street, and its brief resurrection for the Festival of Britain. Caroline believes that museums remain important and can provide a positive social experience and can help to reduce social isolation as well as provide learning opportunities and skills develop. Museums raise a sense of community and can increase opportunities for finding meaning. Caroline Morris has a PhD in cultural history from UWE.
Cirencester’s pubs: past and present
December 15th @7.30pm
Cirencester Baptist Church Chesterton Lane Cirencester**
John Tiffney
Hear former chair of the society, John Tiffney, describe how the town contained not only several small brewers but numerous public inns, many of which have now sadly closed.
**please note the change of venue
Previous Talks have included:
The Cirencester Green Spaces Strategy 2025-2041
Arts and Crafts Churches of Gloucestershire
The waterways of Cirencester
Soviet Maps of Gloucestershire! How and why?
Lidos and open air pools: Cirencester’s pool in context.
Historic Towns Trust: mapping our heritage
Cotswold Arts and Crafts and folk music
400 years of Stroudwater textiles
Unearthing the Mammoth graveyard
Atkyn’s Gloucestershire: the county 300 years ago
Garden Visiting: A very British tradition
Restoring the Cotswold Canals
The Town Centre Masterplan
The Steadings – a development for community, health and wellbeing
The early landscape around Corinium