The Roman Theatre at Orange.
We must begin by paying tribute to the three former Committee Members who sadly died this year. Monica Swinburne and Nigel Coulton were the founders of our Greek and Latin Reading Groups. Nigel's death came only at the end of June, and Monica's in May. Both made an enormous contribution to our Branch and the Classics more widely. Margaret Bird was still a serving Committee Member when she died, and was a loyal supporter of our activities.
Once again we held our lectures in a hybrid form this year, but the trend of the option to watch on Facebook Live Stream (and/or later on You Tube) with lower attendances in person, became even more pronounced. As we thought last year, we need to consider how to address this in future, as a live audience is desirable for speakers. Live Stream participants and our You Tube channel have however again allowed a wider access to our events than used to be normal, and to discontinue either or both options would seem a retrograde step.
Our financial position is currently healthy, with a small profit this year, because of a late change of speaker and the generosity of the national Association. This year we made no use of the Horton Fund, and would probably have about broken even if the change had not occurred. We have however continued to experience a drop in our membership numbers, with now about 40 paid up Branch and National members, three of whom were the sad losses already reported. We were as usual fortunate in continuing to attract engaging and interesting speakers.
In the Autumn we opened in late October with a Lecture at Stoke 6th Form College by Manos Tsakiris (Manchester) on Odysseus and Kinds of heroism (attendance 28, 25 of them students, a further 18 views of the Live Stream, and with 70 views so far on You Tube). In November we had a reading from the Odyssey, the passage on Odysseus in the Underworld (attendance 8, 1 on Zoom). Later in the month Fiona Haarer (KCL & the Roman Society, with whom it was a Joint meeting) gave a Lecture on Empress Theodora: from Courtesan to Queen (attendance in person 5, with 14 on Stream, You Tube so far 82 views).
We resumed in March with Lynsey Shale (Liverpool)'s lecture on Egyptian Ideas in Graeco-Roman Medicine (attendance again only 5 and 16 on Live Stream, You Tube views to date 35). This was the Hellenic Society Joint Meeting. In April we had a play reading of Plautus' Mostellaria (attendance 5 including 1 on Zoom), followed a month later by Andrew Fear (Manchester) on Roman Ghosts. This had been due to be a talk on Roman Coins by John Drinkwater but Andy stepped into the breach when John was forced to postpone his visit, (attendance 15 in person and 5 online, despite a failure of the picture after 5 minutes, with 20 more afterwards, and 30 You Tube views to date. We were able to add the slides to the You Tube version before publication).
We are grateful to the College and Keele SCR for the free use of the rooms for these meetings.
No attempt was made to hold a day trip this year, nor was there a sufficient response to the suggestion we visit the Gladiators exhibition in Chester.
Peter Hulse, as co-ordinator, reports that "The Reading Groups are still prospering: Vergil's Eclogues and the eternal Xenophon's Anabasis (we'll get them to the Black Sea in the end!)" We are as ever grateful to Peter for his work on this aspect of our activities.
ALL LECTURES THIS YEAR ARE PLANNED TO BE LIVE STREAMED & AVAILABLE LATER AS RECORDINGS ON OUR YOU TUBE CHANNEL
The lecture was Live Streamed and is available to view on our You Tube Channel.
Texts will be available, & a Zoom link can be supplied on request.
The lecture was Live Streamed and is available to view on our You Tube Channel.
The lecture was Live Streamed and is available to view on our You Tube Channel.
The Roman Theatre at Orange.
Texts will be available, & details will be advised near the date.
The lecture was Live Streamed in audio and is available to view on our You Tube Channel.
Annual General Meeting - 7.00 p.m. Tuesday 7th July 2026
The AGM will be held at 7.00 pm on Tuesday 7th July 2026.
Latin The Latin Reading Group also meets on Zoom normally monthly, on the second Tuesday of the month at 2.00 p.m. Members may also like to listen to the news in Latin (pronounced like Italian) on Vatican Radio - Google Hebdomada Papae.
For further details of both groups, or for anyone new wishing to join the groups, please contact the new organiser, Peter Hulse, or email the Branch address below.
These groups are not for beginners: some prior knowledge of the relevant language is necessary to take part in either. For both, please ask the organiser if there is room in the group for more members before joining.
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