Events
Events 2010/11
please click here to view
our 2010 programme of events
DO NOT MISS!!!....
Autumn Walking Weekend Saturday 9th - Sunday 10th October 2010
A combined event with the Jurassic Coast Trust
Saturday 9th October Abbotsbury Abbotsea
10.15 am - Meet at Abbotsbury village main car park, Rodden Row (NGR SY853581) for a circular walk with some gentle climbing. We will climb to the ridge then follow a westerly route before descending to the Chesil Beach. Lunch stop at Abbotsbury Sub Tropical Gardens Restaurant. Return to the village via St. Catherine's Chapel. Led by Sue Clarke.
6.00 pm - Tour of the Brewery Square development site, led by Andrew Wadsworth, founding director of Brewery Square Ltd.
7.00 pm - Evening meal at Panini's restaurant, 11 Weymouth Avenue (in the Brewey Square development); followed by a farewell presentation to Andrew & Marilyn Leah - to mark the ending of their 16-year tenancy and stewardship of Max Gate; the evening will conclude with a programme of Hardy's poetry, as recorded by Argo in 1968. Tickets: £12 Please book by 1st October
Sunday 10th October Outer Casterbridge: A Tryst in 3 Ancient Earthworks
10.00 am - Meet at the Hardy Statue near Top-'o-Town, Dorchester for an eight mile circular walk to Pummery, Mai-dun and The Ring, visiting en route the Barracks, the Cemetery and the Workhouse. Bring refreshment or packed lunch. Led by Tony Fincham.
Thursday 11 November 2010. The Thomas Hardy London Lecture
7.30pm - at Birkbeck College, 30 Russell Square, London WC1, sponsored by Birkbeck School of English and Humanities. Professor Julian Wolfreys from Loughborough University: 'English losses: Thomas Hardy and the memory of Wessex'. Admission FREE
Saturday 4 December 2010. 'Going The Rounds'
6.00pm for 6.30pm - Meet at Thorncombe Wood car park (NGR SY726921). A walk, with music and singing, in the footsteps of the Mellstock Quire, led by Furse Swann, Mike Bailey and 'The Madding Crowd'; via Higher and Lower Bockhampton, progressing to St Michael's Church, Stinsford, where the Valley Morris Mummers will perform, and mulled wine and mince pies will be served.
A Hardy Memorial Service in Westminster Abbey Sunday 16th January 2011
12.15pm - Meet at the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior (just inside the main west door) for a short service of poetry and prayers in Poets' Corner, during which a wreath will be laid - to mark the 83rd anniversary of Hardy's funeral at the Abbey on 16th January 1928. Participants are welcome to attend the Eucharist service in the Abbey at 11.15am
JOIN US FOR A WEEKEND IN ALDEBURGH
Friday 25 to Sunday 27 March 2011
Aldeburgh, most famous now for Benjamin Britten, was visited several times by Hardy. He went there to stay with his friend, the writer Edward Clodd; to attend the 150th anniversary celebrations for the poet George Crabbe, a native of Aldeburgh; and, most famously, to spend some time with Florence Dugdale.
Clodd lived at Strafford House, on the seafront, which the Society is hiring for this weekend. Events will include a welcome supper followed by Hardy readings on the Friday evening, walks along the River Alde and the coast, a talk on Hardy and Crabbe, a talk by Dr Claire Seymour on Benjamin Britten, and a musical evening focusing on Britten's settings of 'Winter Words'.
Accommodation can be either in Strafford House or you can arrange your own from the wealth of holiday lettings in the town.
Contact the Society for further details.
---------
A date for your diary...
The Twentieth International Thomas Hardy Conference And Festival
Saturday 18th - Sunday 26th August 2012
Dorchester
Dorset
England
---------
Walks & Tours
Join us in exploring the ‘real’ part of Hardy’s ‘partly real, partly dream’ countryside of Wessex – the chalky uplands, the valleys of Great and Little dairies, Casterbridge… 'outer Wessex’.
Please note: In view of the popularity of walks, please let the Programme Secretary know in advance if you are coming, so that a second leader can be arranged if necessary.
Music & Dance
Hardy’s love of music and dance is remembered in some of the Society’s events, both in concerts and social gatherings; concert performances of musical settings of his poems are given from time to time.
Lectures & Readings
Lectures are an important part of the annual programme and are the backbone of the biennial and weekend conferences. World-renowned Hardy scholars are invited to lecture. There is also plenty of opportunity to listen to readings from Hardy's poetry and prose.