NORTH STAFFS BRANCH OF THE CLASSICAL ASSOCIATION
Report for the Year 2010/2011
As the Treasurer reports elsewhere, we maintained our healthy financial position with a further increase in membership. We now have 63 paying members, all at the full £5. (58 and 1 at the old £3 standing order last year.) Unfortunately our attendances seem to have settled at the lower level recently noted.
In the Autumn we began with a lecture at Keele by Kate Cooper (Manchester) to mark the 1600th Anniversary of the fall of Rome in August 410. The planned lecture by Philip Burton (Birmingham) on the early Latin Bible unfortunately could not take place in November, but we had a play reading of Sophocles' Philoctetes at The Leopard, Burslem.
As agreed at the last AGM we did not hold a January Social this year, and the first meeting of 2011 was a play reading of Aeschylus' Agamemnon at Keele, preparatory to the Hellenic Society joint talk, also at Keele, on the play by David Carter (Reading). We are grateful to Keele SCR for free use of the room for these meetings and also for the March lecture, by Roger Brock (Leeds), on Wine in Ancient Greece.
In March and April we tried a new form of reading, Book IV of the Aeneid instead of a play, and were pleased by how well this worked, in two parts a month apart, with pauses for discussion. Members present were in favour of something similar this year. The Roman Society joint meeting in May was by Susan Walker (Keeper of Antiquities at the Bodleian) on Mummy Portraits in Roman Egypt. This was at Clayton Hall Business & Language College, to which we are again grateful. Our annual coach trip, in May, was as usual open to other bodies and was to Lincoln Museum and remaining Roman sites in the city, followed by a visit to Southwell Minster on the return leg. We are grateful as ever to Andy Fear for leading us round Lincoln.
The Latin and Greek reading groups have continued to run approximately monthly throughout the year, independently of the core programme.
Events 2010/2011
LECTURE: Dr Kate Cooper (University of Manchester)
' THE FALL OF ROME, AUGUST 410: HOW BAD WAS IT? – A TALK TO MARK THE 1600th ANNIVERSARY'
7.30 p.m., Wednesday 20 October 2010
Senior Common Room, Keele Hall, University of Keele, ST5 5BG
LECTURE: Dr Philip Burton (University of Birmingham)
'THE EMERGENCE OF THE LATIN BIBLE
(WITH THE STAFFORDSHIRE HOARD AND THE LICHFIELD GOSPELS')
7.30 p.m., Monday 8 November 2010 - LECTURE POSTPONED
A new date will now be announced on this site for the 2011/12 programme.
St Wulstan's (RC) Primary School, Church Lane, Wolstanton, Newcastle-under–Lyme, ST5 0EF
PLAY READING: (in English translation) of Sophocles' Philoctetes
7.30 p.m., Thursday 25 November 2010
Meeting Room, The Leopard, 21 Market Square, Burslem, ST6 3DA
Copies will be available, but please bring the Penguin Classics edition, if you are able.
PLAY READING: (in English translation) of Aeschylus' Agamemnon
7.30 p.m., Monday 24 January 2011
Senior Common Room, Keele Hall, University of Keele, ST5 5BG
Copies will be available, but please bring the Penguin Classics edition, if you are able.
LECTURE: Dr David Carter (University of Reading)
'WHO DO WE BLAME FOR THE DEATH OF AGAMEMNON?'
7.30 p.m., Tuesday 8 February 2011
Senior Common Room, Keele Hall, University of Keele, ST5 5BG
Joint meeting with the Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies
LECTURE: Dr Roger Brock (University of Leeds)
'WINE IN ANCIENT GREECE'
7.30 p.m., Thursday 24 March 2011
Senior Common Room, Keele Hall, University of Keele, ST5 5BG
READING: (in English translation) of Virgil's Aeneid Book IV
7.30 p.m., Tuesday 29 March 2011
Priest's House, St Wulstan's, Church Lane, Wolstanton, Newcastle-under-Lyme, ST5 0EF
Copies will be available, but please bring the Penguin Classics edition, if you are able
LECTURE: Dr Susan Walker (Ashmolean Museum: Oxford)
'ANCIENT FACES: MUMMY PORTRAITS FROM ROMAN EGYPT' [Illustrated]
7.30 p.m., Thursday 19 May 2011
Drama Studio, Clayton Hall Business & Language College, ST5 3DN
Enter by Portico doors at right angles to the white Georgian Hall itself, and up the stairs.
Joint meeting with the Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies
All welcome - all the above events are free of charge
LINCOLN & SOUTHWELL COACH TRIP
ANNUAL COACH TRIP, Saturday 21 May 2011. As usual we will depart by coach from Keele, about 8.30 a.m., returning late the same evening. We shall visit the Roman Museum exhibits in the city of Lincoln itself, and adjacent Roman remains. There will then be free time for lunch, visits to Lincoln Cathedral (entry not included in the cost of the day), etc. Members are invited to find their own lunch in the city centre, although if you wish you could of course take a packed meal. There will as usual be a halt for more leisurely evening dining on the road home. We shall reach Southwell Minster in Nottinghamshire (admission free), with its interesting Saxon remains, in time for an early evening visit before eating in the town. Those booking will probably be asked to choose from a menu in advance. Please return the slip circulated to members as soon as possible, or that included in the attached booking form: by post as above or phone/email or, if it's easier, in person at our lectures or reading groups. More information will be sent out in due course to those who have responded, including final details of the costs - expected to be similar to those for the Leicester trip last year, £22 per person. Further details will appear on this site before the trip.
Annual General Meeting
For branch members only, the AGM will be held at 7.30 p.m., at St Wulstan's Priest's House, on Monday 4th July 2011.
Latin and Greek Reading Groups 2010/11
The Latin and Greek reading groups continue to meet every 3 - 4 weeks at 7.30 p.m., independently of the general programme, for those who wish to read ancient (and medieval Latin) literature in the original, and to work together on deciphering the meaning, in a relaxed atmosphere. The Latin group is also working on transcribing and translating local Latin memorial inscriptions.
Last year's programme and Annual Report
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