All posts by Martin Hornbrook

Authors and Art in South Devon – short break 23 -27 September 2024

Authors and Art in South Devon
23rd to 27th September 2024

The trip will include:

Four nights’ accommodation on a half board basis at The Grand hotel,
Torquay (4 star), with welcome drink on arrival, and Porter service, and with five days travel by executive coach and return ferry trip from Dartmouth to Greenway. There will be visits with guided tours to Forde Abbey, Torre Abbey, the Royal Naval College,  and an Agatha Christie themed walking tour of Torquay. 

With further visits to Coates English Willow, which will include lunch, and visits to two National Trust properties, Greenway, and Coleton Fishacre.

Bookings will be taken initially at the lecture on Wednesday April 3rd.

Click below for brochure details.

South Devon Short Break Details

7th August 2024 – Rodmarton Manor and Corinthian Museum

7th August 2024 – Rodmarton Manor and Corinthian Museum

Rodmarton Manor
Rodmarton manor was built using local materials and local
craftsmen, between 1909-1929 by Ernest Barnsley. Barnsley was a
follower of William Morris, who was at the time one of the leaders of
the English Arts and Crafts movement.

Used with permission of Rodmarton Manor


At the time it was felt that furniture was being mass produced and
poorly made, and the house went on to be described by the designer
Charles Ashbee as the single best example of the Arts and Crafts
movement. Today, it remains as such, full of beautifully crafted
furniture and hanging tapestries. The gardens consist of a glorious
plot of 8 acre Cotswold garden, beautifully and lovingly tended.

Used with permission of Rodmarton Manor

Corinium Museum
The Corinium Museum in Cirencester, houses one of the largest
concentrations of Roman mosaics in the country outside of London.
Its highly significant finds and antiquities result from Corinium
Dobunnorum being the capital of Britannia Prima.

Picture by P Weinbren

The day will consist of: Travel to Rodmarton by coach
Tea/Coffee & biscuits on arrival
Guided private tour of the house
Free flow of gardens
Buffet Lunch at Rodmarton
Travel by coach to Corinium museum
Return coach home

Picture by P Weinbren

The cost for the day is £58 per person . Tickets will be on sale at the May meeting one hour before each lecture, and at future meetings if tickets remain.

Arts Volunteering – 2023

Arts Volunteering 2023 – Poppy Hinde

Poppy Hinde was our Bursary Award winner for the Best Foundation Student 2023-24 at Warwickshire College of Art, based at Royal Leamington Spa College.

Poppy’s work included notebooks, oil paintings and weaving, which was shown in the School of Arts end of year exhibition. 

One visitor was so impressed she decided to buy one of the project’s oil paintings for her house, giving Poppy her first professional sale. 

A total of 42 students on the college’s Art and Design course were in the running for the award, with the originality of Poppy’s work and her dedication to learning winning her an unanimous first place. 

The bursary award will be given over a three-year period to support Poppy during her studies at the celebrated UAL Camberwell College of Arts, where she will study a BA in Fine Art: Drawing.

She said: “I was delighted to have won the award, it is great to be recognised by my tutors and I’m really grateful to The Arts Society for the award and the bursary. The bursary funds will help with building up my arts supplies and materials throughout my course”.

May 15th 2024 – Grimsthorpe Castle, Gardens and Park Tour

May 15th 2024 – Grimsthorpe Castle, Gardens and Park Tour. The castle will be open especially for our visit.

Used with permission of Grimsthorpe Castle

In 1516 Grimsthorpe and its lands were presented by Henry VIII as a wedding gift to William 11th Lord of Willoughby de Eresby and his Spanish bride, Maria de Salanas, lady in waiting and confidante of Henry’s Queen Katherine of Aragon.

It now houses a remarkable collection of art and furnishings, and in addition boasts one of the largest collections of royal thrones and furnishings outside of the Royal  Palaces.  It is indeed a delightful mixture of Tudor and Baroque splendour!

The beautiful gardens consist of intricate parterres and box hedges, and includes a walled garden housing work from the Lettering Arts Trust.  The grounds themselves extend to almost 3000 acres, and red deer can frequently be seen roaming in the park.

Used with permission of Grimsthorpe Castle


The day will consist of:
Coach travel to Grimsthorpe Castle
Tea/coffee & biscuit on arrival
Private guided tour of castle
Free flow of gardens
Afternoon tea in ‘The Barn’
Guided coach tour of parkland with opportunities to disembark at various points.
Final tea/coffee break
Coach home

This event is SOLD OUT.

Wednesday 6th September 2023 – Edward Hopper: Painter of Loneliness

Wednesday 6th September 2023

Edward Hopper: Painter of Loneliness

Speaker: Lydia Bauman

Lydia Bauman gave a very interesting lecture on the 20th Century American Artist, Edward Hopper, known as the Painter of Lonliness and who became the poster-boy of the Pandemic.  His dramatic paintings showing very few people compared to his contempories mirrors his character, he was a man of few words, uncomfortable in company and an outsider.  His wife, on the otherhand, was tiny, vivacous, talkative and a painter in her own right. She was his subject and muse throughout their marriage.  He endeavoured to capture the way sunlight falls on a building and sundown was his favourite time.

Nighthawks – Wikimedia open access

Wednesday 4th October 2023 – Banksy: Fraud or Genius?

Wednesday 4th October 2023

Banksy: Fraud or Genius?

Pepe Martinez

This lecture traced the story of Banksy’s meteoric rise from a tagger on the streets of Bristol in the 1980s to one of the most recognisable names in the art world. It covered his early work, contemporaries, major exhibitions, and how the art worlds dramatic change of perspective shifted through time.

Dover 2019

Since qualifying as a London blue badge tourist guide in 2011, Pepe has specialised in the graffiti and street art of East London. Prior to becoming a London blue badge guide he worked as a tour manager, travelling extensively all over the world.

Wednesday 1st November 2023 – Irving Finkel: The Lewis Chessmen and What Happened to Them

Wednesday 1st November 2023

The Lewis Chessmen and What Happened to Them

Speaker: Irving Finkel


We finished our lecture season before breaking for Christmas on a high.  Irving Finkel gave us a very entertaining and funny personal account of his involvement with the Lewis Chessmen, which he has been passionate about for over 50 years. The pieces are carved out of walrus tusks and would have originated from Scandinavia in the 12th century. Further reading:

https://www.tasrls.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Lewis-Chessmen-further-reading.pdf

Wednesday 7th February 2024 – Sarah Lenton: Lilian Baylis: All Done on Ginger Beer

Wednesday 7th February 2024

Lilian Baylis: All Done on Ginger Beer

Speaker: Sarah Lenton

We were royally entertained at the Arts Society when Sarah Lenton gave a superb talk on ‘Lilian Baylis: All Done on Ginger Beer’.  Lilian was a formidable lady in the 20s and 30s and founded three of our National treasures – The National Theatre which started life at The Old Vic; English Opera at the London Coliseum and the National Ballet at Sadler’s Wells.  Sarah took us through the developmental of all three supported with fabulous photos and music.

Lilian Baylis by Hugh Cecil, Grafton Street, W1 – The Tatler, wikipedia.org

Lilian had a strong sense of vocation and even though her actors and dancers received little money she encouraged them and they had very good training; many went on to be very familiar names.  Why Ginger Beer – her Aunt who owned the Old Vic also owned the cafe fronting the building and this was a coffee and ginger beer house.  The ginger beer crates were saved and used as all sorts of scenery.

Sarah Lenton has spent her working life in the theatre, at the Royal Opera House, English National Opera, Glyndebourne Festival Opera and Garsington Opera. She is a cartoonist who also writes programme articles, radio and play scripts, gives lectures on the operas and ballets and broadcasts regularly for BBC Radios 3 and 4.

Wednesday 6th March 2024 – Patrick Craig: La Serenissima: The Golden Era of Music in Venice

Wednesday 6th March 2024

La Serenissima: The Golden Era of Music in Venice

Patrick Craig

Patrick concentrated on the 200 year period 1527 – 1741, the Golden Age of Music.  We were introduced to a number of lesser known composers and superb pictures and music to liven the talk. What later became Opera was known as Musica Venezia and the composers composed music for voices accompanied by the organs.  San Marco had two choir stalls each with their own organ known as no. 1 and n.2 and the musicians and choristers followed one large sheet music. Later was introduced a third choir stall in the Doge’s private chapel at the back of the cathedral. At this time Venice was the home of musical publishing. Patrick also sang to us.  It was a lively, colourful interesting lecture.

Monteverdi by Bernardo Strozzi (c. 1630) public domain

Patrick Craig is a Vicar Choral at St Paul’s Cathedral. For twenty years he sang with the renowned early music consort The Tallis Scholars. He founded and conducts the country’s leading all-female professional choir, Aurora Nova.

Wednesday 3rd April 2024 – Helen Oakden: Marina Abramović

Wednesday 3rd April 2024

Marina Abramović

Speaker: Helen Oakden

In 2023, the Royal Academy hosted the first ever UK exhibition of the work of Marina Abramović, a pioneer of performance art. Over her 50 year career, with its dramatic beginnings, the artist has developed her work to reflect her changing perceptions of the world. She has a superbly powerful presence and creates a very intense relationship between performer and viewer: but Helen Oakden will look at the question of whether performance art can outlive the performance itself.

Marina was also the subject of Desert Island Discs recently.

Here’s the link:
Desert Island Discs

Marina Abramović – The Artist Is Present – Viennale 2012 Wikimedia


Helen is the Head of the History of Art Department at St Mary’s School Ascot. She studied at Manchester University and achieved her Master’s Degree in architectural history from the Courtauld Institute of Art. Based in London, she has previously worked for the Royal Academy and National Gallery, as well as leading specialised art history courses across Italy.

Click here for details of next month’s lecture.