The Group has been running now for over 6 years. We study different topics and look at different aspects of that topic over time. Each person in the Group presents a paper.

We have studied Crime and Punishment; a county, and a famous building within that county, and we each prepared a paper on either that building, or a person connected with it. We have also studied various aspects of colonialism, and covered a very wide range of colonial expansions from ancient to modern times. We also researched a person who we knew of, but did not know very much about. Some of us researched an aspect of a famous person that we did not know about. It was very enlightening.

We are just completing a repeat of “A Year in History” where we take a year, or an event in a specific year, and present a paper on that subject. It has produced some interesting choices such as 1337 and 942! We will then start a repeat series on a famous person, and again this has produced some interesting choices!

We have had some external speakers to give us talks, and have also undertaken a couple of visits. However, members prefer to do the research, as they say it gives them the most fun.

Our current topic is Maritime disasters and marine safety. We started this off with a talk on the history of the shipping forecast, which proved very interesting, especially as it revolved around Robert Fitzroy, who sailed with Darwin on the Beagle, and is actually buried in South Norwood. Two members of the group went on a bus expedition to find his grave, which they managed to do.

We also looked at the Wreck of the White ship, and the profound that had on the English succession, and the slightly more recent shipwreck and ecological disaster - the Torrey Canyon.

Future papers will be on the Baltic, Piracy, the Costa Concordia, and a similar incident involving another cruise ship - The Oceanos. We will also have presentations on the Princess Alice, The Titanic, and The Indianapolis

We are planning to undertake more visits to historic places.

For more information, please contact the group leader Mike Br

The Group is currently full, but there may be space in History Group 2.

Some of the topics that this group has covered historically (sorry) - can be found here History 1 Historic Topics