About our talks

Talk by Dr David Gwynn (Royal Holloway, University of London)

An illustrated talk by Peter Aylmer. London is a great place for walkers, if you know where to look—and if you know what to look for, once you get there. Peter’s guidebook Walking in London, published by Cicerone Press, deliberately seeks out some of the 13,000 species that inhabit its parks and gardens, rivers and heaths—the London Wildlife Trust helped Peter put the guide together. But that diversity couldn’t be possible without a wide range of open spaces, and Peter will also tell of how Londoners created arguably the greenest large city on the planet, often in the face of opposition from the powerful.

Peter is chair of the London group of the Long Distance Walkers Association. He brings a wide variety of perspectives and comparisons to walking in London, having walked most of England’s National Trails and created his own walks from south to north of each of Wales, England and Scotland. He is also the author of the Cicerone guide Walking in Essex. Joint talk with EHHS

Talk by Joe Studman. A look at ghosts, murders and witchcraft in the old parish and the history behind them. £3 per person.

Talk by Georgie Perrot. During her long career at Covent Garden Opera House Georgie worked in a variety of roles, mostly in the Costume Department but latterly working as Administrative Assistant to the Directors of the Opera House. During this time she met many of the famous performers from the Royal Opera and Royal Ballet and says she will be ‘shamelessly name-dropping’ during her talk! Georgie will also display some of the fabulous costumes used in performances at the Opera House along with a pair of Darcy Bussell’s shoes.