The next Day of Special Interest will be on Friday 18th October 2024 and will have three lectures on “Sport and Play – the ethos, architecture and artefacts of the British at play”. 

It will be held at The Warwickshire Country Club, Leek Wootton, CV35 7QT.

Following tea/coffee on arrival, there will be two lectures in the morning:

The first lecture will be “A Healthy mind in a Healthy Body” – how the Victorians made us all jolly good sports – a light introduction to the subject.

The second lecture will be: “Making a Stand – sporting architecture, list it or lose it?” – there are currently over 316,000 listed buildings in England, but only a tiny proportion of those are related to sports or recreation.

Then a two-course lunch with wine and coffee/tea. The third lecture is entitled “A Load of Old Balls” – how has the design and manufacture of balls evolved? Why were some games eg. lawn tennis and ping pong made possible only in the mid-19th century and why are rugby balls such an odd shape?

The presenter will be Simon Inglis who studied History and History of Architecture. He specialises in the history, heritage and architecture of sport and recreation. Simon tailors his presentations to include local connections, of which there are many in Royal Leamington Spa.

Price: £55 per person. Please email to book and only pay after your place has been confirmed. Tickets are now available, and non-member partners and friendsds are welcome.

Please email: dosi@tasrls.org.uk