Around the UK in eighty days!
It’s been a busy start to the new academic year as CA branches across England and Wales have welcomed audiences to a variety of events this autumn – from podcaster Tristan Hughes’ visit to the Lancashire coast, to Lampeter and West Wales’ online talks and Guildford CA’s Pizza Night! There have been many causes for celebration, with special anniversaries for both the youngest and oldest branches – the official launch of the Hadrian’s Wall branch in Durham and the first event of the Southport and Birkdale branch, were followed by celebrating not one but two centuries as both Southampton CA and the South West CA commemorated their 100 year anniversaries, just days apart from each other.
Hadrian’s Wall Launch
In early September, as part of a wider celebration of exciting things happening on the Durham Classics scene and across the North East (you can read more about it on Professor Edith Hall’s excellent blog) it was a privilege to join branch Chair Justine T. Wolfenden and Treasurer Dr Cora Beth Fraser to mark the launch of the Hadrian’s Wall CA in a special session at Durham University.
Supporters of Classics, academics, students, teachers and volunteers came together to learn more about the new branch (and eat cake!) – and the very first members were signed up on the spot. The branch welcomes any and all folk to join so if you’d like to find out more, you can do so here.
The Hadrian’s Wall branch was born during lockdown in 2021 and the new committee has already shown tremendous tenacity and vision to get up and running during the pandemic. They hope to support people interested in the ancient world who are based in the Far North, anywhere in the region of the Wall, and would be delighted to hear from you if you’d like to volunteer or get involved in any way. The branch’s inaugural programme of events opens with a Roman midwinter family event this December.
Southampton Centenary
Fast forward a couple of weeks and a scenic trip along the cross-country mainline brought me to Southampton where the beautiful City Art Gallery, with its Art Deco interiors, was host to 100 local CA members and guests who celebrated, fittingly, 100 years of the branch.
As we enjoyed sandwiches and scones next to paintings by Monet and Gainsborough, we were treated to a brilliant mini exhibition on local finds from Roman Southampton and were encouraged to explore some branch memorabilia, including flyers and lecture programmes from across the decades and minute books dating all the way from the inaugural meeting in 1922!
It was a pleasure to meet lots of members and volunteers, including local school teachers and some young students, and it was particularly special to chat to Professor Brian Sparkes and his wife Diana, mainstays of the local classics community, who are not only previous committee members but have been branch members for what is surely a record-breaking sixty years – and counting! Branch Secretary Jacqui Meredith welcomed everyone and introduced Dr Shelley Hales of Bristol University who delivered an excellent talk on Pompeian celebration spaces, from triclinia to al fresco dining areas, which whetted our appetites for yet more celebrations. A really entertaining Q&A ensued, with plenty of insightful questions from young audience members too. The October air was warmed by the congenial company and classics chat and we didn’t want Dr Hales to stop! It is lovely to see such old and established branches thriving and still welcoming new audiences in their 101st year…
Exeter Centenary
On Wednesday 19 October, the South-West branch celebrated its centenary in fine style at the University of Exeter with a lecture by Peter Wiseman entitled A Centenary and an Ocean-Going Hero: Tales from the South-West. Fittingly, we also took the opportunity to celebrate Peter himself, who has played so crucial a role in the branch’s history, and his recent receipt of the Kenyon Medal, awarded to him by the British Academy for his contribution to the fields of Roman history and literature.
Peter’s lecture deftly and ingeniously wove together two separate but connected strands. The first was the history of the branch, from its creation alongside the University College of the South-West in 1922 to hosting the first CA conference of the post-war era in 1945 in the half-ruined city of Exeter, which had suffered serious damage in the blitz. Peter graciously acknowledged the contributions of all those who worked tirelessly to keep the branch going in more recent decades, modestly downplaying his own contribution. The second was a story of local history, intertwining the archaic Greek legend of Herakles sailing the Ocean with the trade-routes by which metals and other produce from northern Europe reached the peoples of the Mediterranean. Prompted by a request from Steve Hobbs of the North Devon Archaeological Society, Peter explored the textual evidence for Hartland Point in North Devon as ‘the cape of Herakles’, described in Ptolemy’s Geography as close to a settlement that could have been the recently discovered Romano-British temple at Clovelly Dykes.
Peter’s lecture concluded with a powerful and salutary reminder of the important role that branches play in connecting communities interested in the ancient world: “I end as I began, with a reminder of the sheer size of the ‘parish’ for which we are notionally responsible. I believe there will always be a demand for the various types of expertise that classicists can provide. The challenge is to identify it and make ourselves available”.
Join Us!
To find out what is happening near you, check out our Events page where you can filter ‘branch events’ or find your closest classics community on our Branches page.
