NORTH STAFFS BRANCH OF THE CLASSICAL ASSOCIATION
Report for the Year 2007/2008
Our Treasurer reports that we maintained a healthy financial position with a further slight increase in membership. We now have 52 paying members, 48 at the full 5 pounds, and another 4 still paying old 3 pound standing orders. (40 and 10 last year.)
In the Autumn we began the year's programme with a lecture by Roger Wright from Liverpool on the origins of Romance languages, co-sponsored by the Roman Society. This was followed by a lecture on early Roman military tactics by Sam Koon of Manchester and a play reading in translation in December of Aeschylus' Agamemnon. The New Year again began with a Members' Saturnalia social in January, with the usual excellent contributions by members of classically themed food. We are grateful to Keele SCR for free use of the room for this meeting and also for the Roman and Hellenic Society lectures.
This Hellenic Society joint meeting was preceded in February by a play reading in translation of Aristophanes' Lysistrata, the lecture itself being on the play, 3 weeks later, by Allan Sommerstein. As with Dr Koon's talk, the April lecture by Mgr Bruce Harbert, on the Roman Missal, was in St Wulstan's Primary School, and we are grateful also for free use of this venue. In May, as usual, we threw open to other bodies our annual coach trip, to St Albans, inimitably led by Andy Fear. Finally, in May, in a new venture on two grounds, for the first time we offered a lecture after the coach trip, by Trevor Fear on the changing faces of Cleopatra, and in a new venue - NCHS The Science College, for free use of which also we are grateful. Attendances were a little lower for most public events than the previous year, except for the play readings, but the coach trip attracted almost the same numbers as Hadrian's Wall, which exceeded our expectations.
Throughout the year, the Latin and Greek reading groups have again run roughly monthly, independently of the core programme, with the Latin group having completed a draft article on memorial inscriptions in the area of the Borough of Newcastle, which we hope to see published in the Journal of Staffordshire Studies or similar.
Events 2007/2008
LECTURE: Professor Roger Wright (University of Liverpool)
'WAS ROMANCE REALLY A NEW LANGUAGE?'
7.30 p.m., Thursday 25 October 2007
Senior Common Room, Keele Hall, University of Keele
Joint meeting with the Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies
LECTURE: Dr Sam Koon (University of Manchester)
'LIVY AND THE ROMAN BATTLE-LINE'
7.30 p.m., Tuesday 27 November 2007
St Wulstan's (RC) Primary School Hall, Church Lane, Wolstanton, Newcastle-under -Lyme
PLAY READING: (in translation) of Aeschylus' Agamemnon
7.30 p.m., Thursday 6 December 2007,
St Wulstan's Priest's House, Wolstanton, Newcastle-under-Lyme
Copies will be available, but please bring the Penguin Classics edition, if you are able
PLAY READING: (in translation) of Aristophanes' Lysistrata
7.30 p.m., Tuesday 19 February 2008,
Senior Common Room, Keele Hall, University of Keele
Copies will be available, but please bring the Penguin Classics edition, if you are able
LECTURE: Professor Alan Sommerstein (University of Nottingham)
'LYSISTRATA THE WARRIOR'
7.30 p.m., Tuesday 11 March 2008
Senior Common Room, Keele Hall, University of Keele
Joint meeting with the Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies
LECTURE: Mgr Bruce Harbert (formerly Fellow in English, Merton College, Oxford.
Now Executive Secretary, International Conference on English in the Liturgy, producing a new English version of the Roman Missal, and a Chaplain of Honour to His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI.)
"THE ROMAN MISSAL: TRANSLATIONS AND HISTORY"
7.30 p.m., Tuesday 1 April 2008
St Wulstan's (RC) Primary School Hall, Church Lane, Wolstanton, Newcastle - EXTRA MEETING
LECTURE: Dr Trevor Fear (Open University)
'AGE CANNOT WITHER HER, NOR CUSTOM STALE / HER INFINITE VARIETY :
THE CHANGING FACES OF CLEOPATRA'
7.30 p.m., Thursday 22 May 2008
Room 27, NCHS - The Science College,
Ostend Place, Newcastle-under -Lyme (Block 1, enter off Gallowstree Lane)
All welcome - all the above events are free of charge
ST. ALBANS COACH TRIP
ANNUAL COACH TRIP, Saturday 10 May 2008, this year to St. Albans, the Roman Verulamium, (Roman Museum and Theatre and the Cathedral) led as before by Dr Andy Fear (University of Manchester).
As usual we will depart by coach from Keele, about 8.30 a.m., returning late the same evening. We shall visit the Roman Theatre and Museum in the city itself (below), and there will also be opportunities, independently or together, to visit other ancient and medieval remains in the area, such as the Roman Baths at Welwyn and the Cathedral (formerly the great Abbey of St. Albans, scene of the greatest flowering of English medieval Latin chronicle writing, and which from the outside resembles a Roman basilica) or, if you wish, the 15th Century battle trails. We will advise you later whether packed lunches are advisable this year, or if we will be eating in the city. There will as usual be a halt for a more leisurely meal on the road home. Please notify us as soon as possible, and not later than the end of March: by post or phone/email or, if it's easier, in person at our lectures or reading groups. Once we have received these replies, more information will be sent out to those who have responded, including details of the costs - similar to those for the Hadrian's Wall trip last year, i.e. 25 pounds per person, including the cost of any group entry fees.
Verulamium Roman Theatre. 
Mosaic in Roman Museum.
You may download the Booking Form here.
For branch members only, on Monday 7 July 2008, at 7.30 p.m., at St Wulstan's.
Latin and Greek Reading Groups 2007/08
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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