In the Autumn we opened in late October with a reading from Livy, Books I and II in translation at our Chairman's house. This was followed by a lecture at Keele by John Davie (Oxford) on Shakespeare & the Classics. (Hellenic Society joint meeting.) We were very unlucky with the snowy weather in early December, when Roy Gibson (Manchester) spoke entertainingly at Wolstanton on The Villas of the Younger Pliny (Roman Society Joint Meeting).
In January we had a play reading of Euripides' Eumenides at our Chairman's house, completing our reading of the Trilogy. In a first for us, a Joint Meeting with the Friends of Keele, Gaye Blake-Roberts (Director of the Wedgwood Museum) spoke in the Raven-Mason Suite at Keele on Classical Inspirations of Wedgwood Ceramics. The next meeting, in April, was a lecture by Aimee Schofield, (Manchester) at Clayton Hall Business & Language College on A Bolt from the Blue: How Catapults Changed the Face of Ancient Warfare. The lecture attendance was supplemented by 90+ (half the school's Year 7) to which she spoke earlier in the afternoon on the Roman Army. Because of this, we changed our usual start time of 7.30 to 5.30 for this occasion.
We are grateful to both schools, Keele SCR and the Friends of Keele for free use of the rooms for these meetings.
Our annual coach trip, in May, was as usual open to other bodies and was to Silchester Roman Town, via the villa site at Littlecote Hall Hotel. The original plan to go instead via Reading Museum proved impracticable because of the very long outward trip before our first stop and the logistics of movement around the town. Littlecote proved however to be a very successful alternative. We are grateful as ever to Andy Fear for leading us round both sites.
The Latin and Greek reading groups have continued to run approximately monthly throughout the year, independently of the core programme.
Copies will be available, but please bring the Penguin Classics edition, if you are able.
The Roman Theatre at Orange.
Copies will be available, but please bring the Penguin Classics edition, if you are able.
As usual we will depart by coach from Keele, about 9.00 a.m., returning late the same evening. On our outward journey, we shall visit the Littlecote Villa site in Wiltshire, then Silchester Roman Town, stopping for an evening meal on our return journey. Admission is free for both sites. Members are invited to bring packed lunches to eat at the coach park before going round Silchester Roman Town and excavations.
The 'Orpheus' Mosaic - subject to interpretation. Silchester, the Amphitheatre
Final details of costs will be given with confirmed bookings, but these are expected to be similar to 2012, exclusive of evening meal, depending on final costs of group entry etc, i.e. abouit £24. Further details will appear on this site before the trip.
The booking form may be downloaded here.
Annual General Meeting
The AGM of the Branch will take place on Tuesday 25 June 2013, at 7.30 pm, at the Priests' House, Wolstanton. This event is for members only.