Michaelmas Term, 2010
Admission: £5 each session (including coffee & biscuits)
10-00am – 12-30pm. All Welcome
9th October
Professor J.V. Beckett
The State of Local History Today
In reviving the Saturday morning seminar series which lapsed when David Marcombe retired, John Beckett will use this opening lecture to raise questions for discussion about the subject as it currently stands. Drawing on his experiences of the past five years as Director of the Victoria County History, and his knowledge of the wider world of the subject, he will suggest some points for discussion as a way of restarting the series – and provoking discussion.
For those of you who do not know John, he co-founded with David Marcombe, the M.A. in Local and Regional History at Nottingham in 1983. He has been professor of English Regional History within the School of History since 1990, and in 2005-10 he was seconded to the University of London as the Director and General Editor of the Victoria County History, during which time he oversaw a £3.5m project funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund. Now back full-time at Nottingham, one of his first priorities was to revive the Saturday Seminar, now within the School of History at Lenton Grove.
13th November
Sue Clayton
Counters and Conflicts? Village shops c.1880-1954
Sue did the M.A. in Local and Regional History some years ago, and is now working towards a PhD on village shops, considered from both sides of the counter. In this seminar she will outline some of her methodology, and talk about her findings, both in regard to shops generally within her study area (centred on Newark and including parishes in Lincolnshire) and more specifically the shop at Flintham where she has been involved for many years.
11th December
Dr Kate Holland
The Forgotten World of the Choir-Band
In the Georgian period church music in rural parishes was provided by a group of singers and musicians whose membership was drawn directly from the local community. Bassoons, cellos and fiddles were the instruments of choice – a far cry from the organ and surpliced choir-boy combination of the late-nineteenth century. These groups, known today as choir-bands, were a relatively short-lived institution and this seminar explores their whole story, from their rise in the eighteenth century to their disappearance in the nineteenth century. The focus is kept local, to the East Midlands, since, contrary to popular belief, choir-bands underwent different experiences all over the country.
Kate has been studying choir-bands for the past decade and has just attained her PhD on the subject.
Advanced Notice:
Saturday 12 March, Professor David Hey will talk about his new book Surnames, DNA and Family History due out in March 2011.
The Local History Seminars are organised by the University of Nottingham’s School of History and are held on the first Saturday of the month at Lenton Grove – where the School of History is based. They are open to everyone with an interest in local and regional history. Booking is not necessary and the entry fee covers the cost of attending the two seminars on the chosen subject delivered each session together with coffee and biscuits.
Lenton Grove is most easily accessed via the West Gate on the main campus and is marked on the map below.
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For further inquiries, contact:
Professor J.V. Beckett, School of History, University Park, Nottingham. NG7 2RD
Email: john.beckett@nottingham.ac.uk
The leaflet of the Local History Seminars 2010 
is available for you to download.