My last talk of 2020 was 'Votes for Women' to Craven U3A, and a  break now until January when it will be 'The Discovery of the Tomb of Tutankhamun' to the Mole Valley Probus on the 7th.

My bookings continue to be via the Zoom platform well into 2021, and I wonder when 'normal service will be resumed'.

In the meantime I'm up-grading my Internet service so as to provide a more stable platform for this new way of working.

I will continue to offer virtual talks for as long as they are required and 'in person' ones as soon as the restrictions allow.

Thank you all those who have supported me during theses difficult times and I pray that you all keep safe and well.

 

Whilst there is no real substitute for face-to-face meetings, and the social interaction that flows from these, one advantage to societies of using Zoom for their regular meetings is that they are no longer constrained to engaging a speaker within reasonable travelling time of their venue.

With Zoom they can select the talk they want, no matter where the speaker might live.

This is well illustrated by the talks I currently have booked:

Probus clubs in West Sussex and Surrey, Women's Institutes in Stratford-upon-Avon, Shropshire and Sheffield, a Rotary Club in Kent, and U3A branches in Kent and Shropshire.

All my talks, all 18 of them, are available as virtual presentations complete with a full Power Point slide show.

If this is something your organisation might be considering, but don't know where to start, please get in touch with me and I will be only too happy to guide you through the process, with no obligation to book one of my talks.

 Zoom meetings are rapidly becoming the 'new normal as more and more societies use this way of keeping in touch with their members.

The 1st, 2nd and 10th of September, the 22nd of October and the 3rd of November are all Zoom bookings for my talks but some organisations are experimenting with face-to-face meetings using masks, track-and-trace and social distancing to meet the various restrictions we are rapidly becoming accustomed to.

As always I remain available to talk to your society either virtually, using Zoom or any other similar platform, or face-to-face wearing my new full-face mask for safety.

As there are no travelling expenses involved with a virtual meeting my fee for a \Zoom (or similar) talk is a flat-fee to all societies of just £35.

I've just finished what is my 18th talk, 

'Votes for Women'

The story of the Suffragettes and Suffragists and their struggle for emancipation from 1865 to 1928.

It includes an account of Emily Wilding Davison's death in the 1913 Epsom Derby and a pen-picture of some of the leading protagonists, who they were and what happened to them.

It also describes the political situation after the First World War and why the government finally agreed to give women the vote.

As with all my talks it is very well illustrated with over 30 PowerPoint slides with lots of contemporary photographs and a video of the 1913 Derby.

Virtual talks using Zoom are really taking off, two done in the last week, and another  two already booked.

The talk to Sale Probus, 'After You're Dead' was very well received and I'm now looking forward to talking about 'Barnbow' to the Rotary Club of Rounday.

Could this be the face of the future?

Contact me if you think this would benefit your society for advice, even if you don't book me as a speaker.

Tonight was my first virtual talk using Zoom for Pontefract Civic Society on the WWI  Munitions Works at Barnbow, one of my most popular talks.

The talk took the usual 45 minutes and the chat board was a very useful way for participants to post questions, which I answered at the end of the presentation.
There was some nice comments as well and I'm now looking forward to other virtual talks I have booked with other organisations over the next few weeks.

Having 'proved' the format works, if you are thinking of going down this route then please let me know and we can talk through the mechanics of setting up a virtual talk.

Even after the present restrictions have been lifted, if your society or group are perhaps too far away to consider a face-to-face meeting this new way of working would mean you could still have one of my talks in this virtual format using any one of the various platforms available.

Just drop me an email and we can talk through the issues involved.

During lock-down, and maybe beyond if there is a call for it, I am now offering my talks in a virtual  environment.
For those not familiar with the process I would set up an on-line meeting room and all those participating would then be sent an invitation to join.
Alternatively, this could be done in reverse with a society's secretary or speaker finder setting up the meeting and inviting me to join once all the members are logged-on.

There is no special equipment required, you would see the presentation on your computer screen and see me inset in the bottom corner while I deliver the talk,

Whilst the applications that facilitate virtual meetings, Zoom, Hangouts etc will work on  a smart phone they are better on a computer or a large-format tablet.

If you think this might be of interest then please get in touch and we can talk through the possibilities.

As I'm like everyone else, in lock-down, I decided it was an ideal opportunity to compile a new talk, and it's now finished.
Entitled 'Model Villages and the rise of the Philanthropic Movement' it tells the story of how forward thinking industrialists like Sir Titus Salt and the Cadbury and Lever families set about transforming the lives of their workers by providing decent housing at a fair rent, together with a host of other social facilities which today we take for granted.

Prince Albert's Cottages, 1851

Like all my talks it's accompanied by a Power Point presentation, in this case of 37 slides.

I hope you will find it of interest to your society or group, telephone or email me to discuss possible bookings once the current crisis is over.

During the current crisis groups and societies have understandably cancelled or postponed their usual meetings so I won't get to meet old friends and new during my talks.

I sincerely hope that all group and society members come through this difficult period unharmed and I look forward to meeting you all again when these troubled times are behind us.

February has been a bleak month for talks with nothing in my diary. Thankfully March is here and a talk on Monday the 2nd to the Carleton Ladies Group on the subject of the Pontefract Sessions House.

It will be good to be back in the saddle with another three talks on a variety of subjects to come before April.

January saw me giving three talks, to the Morley Monday Club on Canals and the East Keswick Local History Group, the Castleford Historical Society and Sherburn-in-Elmet Country Womens' Association, all on The Kingdom of Alms, my talk on the history of almshouses.

Originally a talk which was predominantly about Pontefract's almshouses, and as such had a limited interest at venues outside Pontefract, it has now been widened in scope to take in almshouses and their development in other parts so as to tell a better story.

Judging by the positive reception at all three venues it seems I am on the right track.

So if the subject of almshouse might be of interest to your group then rest assured it will not be just about Pontefract.

As well as a generalised over-view of almshouses I always try to include those local to the area I'm visiting so as make in personal to my audience.

The Joseph Crossley Almshouse at Halifax

A belated Happy New Year to all my followers and especially those who have booked me to speak to their society.
The new year brings a plethora of talks on Almshouses, no less than three presentations of this particular talk just in January and which uses a more generalised version suitable for any audience, and where applicable includes some reference to Almshouses in the area I'm talking to at the time.

These are Almshouses built in 1868 by the industrialist Titus Salt for the retired workers at his model village of Saltaire; these and many others are described in my talk.