The new season of Grange Association talks will begin on Tuesday 15 October 2024. This web page is to give you a heads-up of what to expect through the talks season – allowing you now to get the dates into your diaries.
The talks will all take place in St Catherine’s Argyle Church, 61-63 Grange Road on the third Tuesday of each month. From October to February, the doors will open at 7.00pm, with tea and coffee being available from then until the talks begin at 7.30pm – lasting about an hour, including time for questions.
In March, doors will open at 6.15pm, the Association’s AGM will follow at 7.00pm and the final talk of the season will follow that at about 7.45pm. We have a fine and eclectic range of speakers and topics lined up for you, as follows:
15 October 2024: ‘The Cold Hand of Charity’. Writer and historian, Alastair MacDonald, will look at the establishment of the model Edinburgh City Poorhouse at Craiglockhart in 1870 and how it operated, including stories of the staff and inmates.
19 November 2024: ‘How to Map a Country – the Atlas of Scotland: A Vision of a Nation’. Andrew Redmond Barr, a local writer and artist who hand draws maps, will share his passion for map-making, illustration and the art of making Scottish history more accessible to all.
17 December 2024: ‘The Athens of the North: Greek Inscriptions in Edinburgh’. Ian McHaffie, former teacher of Classics and Religious Education at George Watson’s College, will discuss and illustrate the more than 40 Greek inscriptions in Edinburgh. As Ian says, this is not a dull list of inscriptions but a fascinating dip into history.
21 January 2025: ‘Scottish Lighthouses’. Alison Morrison-Low is a retired Principal Curator for Science at National Museums Scotland and her talk will outline the story of Scotland’s earliest lighthouses through to many put up around the coast during the 19th century by the remarkable Stevenson family.
18 February 2025: ‘Eric Henry Liddell – the Legend, the Legacy and the Inspiration’. Just after we have celebrated the centenary of Eric ‘Chariots of Fire’ Liddell’s Olympic Gold Medal, Grant Jarvie, Professor and Chair of Sport at the University of Edinburgh, will examine Liddell’s extraordinary life and legacy.
18 March 2025: ‘James Clerk Maxwell, the Edinburgh Mathematician who Shaped the Modern World’. Peter Grant, for 14 years a Trustee of the James Clerk Maxwell Foundation, will introduce us to the extraordinary life and work of Maxwell, who was born in Edinburgh in 1831 and whose work provided the foundation for modern radio or wireless transmissions.
We will, as always, be sending out reminder emails to all Association Members a couple of weeks in advance of each talk. We will also, before each talk, be distributing laminated posters for display. These are sent out to those members who have kindly agreed to attach them to their gate or some other prominent position.
If you would feel able to be added to this list, please email Mark Batho at mark.batho@grangeassociation.org and he will ensure that you receive a poster before each event.
We look forward to seeing as many of you as possible at these events which are always stimulating, educational and a good opportunity to meet the neighbours!