Entries by Ian Kellett

Groundhog Day Moment As January Lecture Postponed For Second Time

As the highly-infectious Omicron variant takes hold, it has been decided to postpone January 2022’s talk by David Beardsley on “Sir Merton Russell-Cotes and the Development of Bournemouth.” This was originally scheduled to coincide with the centenary of Sir Merton’s death in January 2021. But, just as in 1993’s film “Groundhog Day” the curmudgeonly TV […]

Lord Mayor’s Lecture on London and Dorset Construction Links Postponed

Sir John Stuttard’s illustrated talk London and Dorset: A Shared History in Construction at Gold Hill Museum scheduled for Tuesday 07 December has been postponed to a later date. In consultation with the speaker, and in light of the continued high rates of Covid infections reported in Dorset, together with the as yet unknown impact […]

Lord Mayor’s Talk on London’s Architectural Links with Dorset

At 2.30 p.m. on Tuesday 07 December at Gold Hill Museum, former Lord Mayor Sir John Stuttard will give an illustrated talk on the theme of London and Dorset: A Shared History in Construction. “The unique shelly appearance and subtle colour variations of Purbeck Marble”, according to Historic England, “made it the foremost decorative stone […]

Tisbury Author Launches New Book on the Parents of Rudyard Kipling

Christina Richard signed copies of her latest book “Mr & Mrs Lockwood Kipling: from the Punjab to Tisbury” (Hobnob Press) in the Hinton Hall on Saturday 16 October. John Lockwood Kipling (1837-1911), a Yorkshire-born artist, teacher, and illustrator, met Alice MacDonald (1837-1910), a poet, while working in the Potteries. Their son was named after a […]

Enmore Green War Memorial Unveiled One Hundred Years Ago

At 4p.m. on Sunday 09 October 1921 a Memorial to the men of Enmore Green and Sherborne Causeway who gave their lives in the 1914-18 Great War was unveiled by Lady Stalbridge. Virtually every parish in Great Britain had sent men to the war who had not returned, and who would be buried in or […]

American History Expert Talks on the 2020 U.S. Presidential Election

There is probably no better qualified British commentator on modern American history and politics than Professor Tony Badger. Until his retirement in 2014 he was Paul Mellon Professor of American History and Master of Clare College at the University of Cambridge. Since 2014 he has been Professor of American History at Northumbria University in Newcastle […]

First Mass Evacuation of Civilians by Air – from Kabul in 1928

Perhaps History does repeat itself. In July 1928 King Amanullah of Afghanistan returned from a lengthy tour of Europe. His enthusiasm for Western manners did not endear him to his subjects, and the Royal Family was forced to flee an armed uprising to neighbouring British India. The British Minister at the newly-built British Legation, Colonel […]

Follow the Blackmore Vale Art Trail to Gold Hill Museum

Local artist Jane Shepherd exhibits a series of paintings exploring colour and texture in mixed media, that create imagined landscapes inspired by photographs and memories. These are on show in the Anna McDowell Garden Room from 28 August to 05 September. Please click on the image (above) to see the whole painting. Jane writes: “I […]

Shaftesbury Remembers the Bastable Brothers

On 16 August 1914 Private William Richard Bastable (service no. 7643) disembarked with the 1st Battalion of the Dorsetshire Regiment at Le Havre. Nine days later he and his comrades, professional soldiers in the British Expeditionary Force, were facing the overwhelming strength of the German army at Mons. Kaiser Wilhelm II is alleged to have […]