Regular Meetings
We usually hold 10 meetings a year, including our Annual General Meeting which is always held in February. These meetings generally take place on the evening of the third Thursday of the month in February, March, April, May, June, July, September, October, November and December.
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All meetings take place in the Catholic Church Hall, Martin Street, SO32 1DN at 7.30pm and we look forward to seeing you there. If any changes to these arrangements are necessary, we will make this clear on the Home page and we will inform our members by email.
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The meetings usually take the form of a talk that lasts around 40-45 minutes. The talks themselves cover a range of subjects that are likely both to interest and inform our members (see current programme below).
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We are happy to welcome guests to our meetings, particularly anyone who may be interested in joining the Society. The subscription is just £10.00 a year for single members and £16.00 for joint membership. If you would like to join the Society please join via this page or contact either our Treasurer, at info@bishopswalthamsociety.org.uk - we will be delighted to welcome you!
19th February, AGM The Society’s AGM meeting. Our usual Annual General Meeting will be followed by cheese and wine and a short talk by Rob Eldridge, A Green Badge Tour Guide for Southampton, who will talk on the subject of PLUTO: Pipeline under the Ocean and the effect which it had on the Second World War.
March 19th. Hinton Ampner. Roy Gentry is an ex-banker, with over 30 years in the IT industry before joining the National Trust, Hinton Ampner, as a Volunteer 23 years ago. Now responsible for identifying, recording and locating the plants on the property as well as preserving the extensive photographic collection. Roy's talk will be on the history of the Hinton Ampner Estate and the development of the garden, and the house.
April 16th. Community First Responders. Andrew Brown is the Co-ordinator of the Bishops Waltham Community First Responders, who will provide information on South Central Ambulance Service (SCAS) and what Community Responders do and how they fit with SCAS.
May 21st. Jane Austen’s Good Friend. Jane Glennie is an actor/historian working in heritage education and events for 25years. She specialises in creating monologues that celebrate women’s history. See www.pedlarsandpetticoats.uk”
“The Friendship of Jane Austen and Martha”. A theatrical monologue introducing Martha Lloyd, good friend to Jane, Cassandra and Mrs Austen. Using recipes, letters and gossip this light-hearted performance will transport you to Regency Southampton.
June 18th. BW Historic House Project. With a career in the West Midlands Police, Steve Forrest became a trustee of BWS in 2023 and became involved in the resurrection of the house history project. The aim of the talk will be to walk members through the BWS Historic House Project website and (hopefully) tease out a few historic gems from the information uncovered by the project.
July 16th The Future of Bishop’s Waltham. We welcome back a year on Ritchie Latham (a BW Councillor). He has swapped the busy trading floors of London and Hong Kong for a more bucolic scene consulting from his home in Bishop’s Waltham, where he lives with his wife and two daughters.
With Bishop’s Waltham having seen big changes in recent years, what is in store in the next ten, or twenty? More houses is a certainty, more nail bars a possibility. Who gets to decide what the future holds, and what can we as residents do to shape it?
August 2025 - No meeting
September 17th Trees. Tamsin Withers is a BW Trustee and an experienced Estate Manager who has worked across a range of historically significant landscapes in collaboration with English Heritage. Her work has included Waverley Abbey, home to a magnificent ancient yew tree which was named the UK Tree of the Year in 2022. She has a deep and enduring passion for trees, and this talk is an opportunity to share why they are so important — and why we should all view and value trees in a similar light. Humanity has historically been highly destructive towards trees, but emerging scientific research is now revealing their complex communication systems, their mutual support networks, and the vital roles they play in sustaining life. It is time we paid closer attention to these remarkable living organisms.
October 15th. Hampshire Farming Through the Ages. Ruth Kerr has spent much of her career in the museums sector. These days self-employed – Museums and More – delivering freelance work in museums as well as other sectors, including farm learning and countryside learning. Hampshire: supporting farming through the ages. From Victorian magic lantern lectures to currently helping new people get a foot on the farm ladder, this talk sheds light on the early days of the work of Hampshire County Council in supporting farming and industry improvements for 130 years.
November 19 th . Sir Arthur Helps. Our President, Tony Kippenberger, will talk
about Arthur Helps, the man who, almost single-handedly, modernised Bishops
Waltham in the 1860s, yet remains virtually unknown and unrecognised today.
In the 1840s, after a top-flight civil service career, he bought Vernon Hill House
and an estate of 4000 acres to the northwest of the town. As a well-known
essayist and writer, he entertained the likes of George Eliot, Thomas Carlyle, and
John Ruskin at his house here. In 1860 he became Secretary to the Privy Council
and in that role became a confidant and trusted adviser to Queen Victoria and
Prince Albert. But his investments in the local infirmary, railway, gas works and
terracotta clay works did not work out and he was made bankrupt. So, after 30
years in the town, Queen Victoria personally provided him with a grace and
favour house, built for Queen Charlotte, in Kew Gardens. But this is just the
bones of the story!
17 December 2026 - The Society’s Christmas Party
Our own Christmas Party – members and guests only. More detail to follow nearer the time...