2019 talks

Talks are held on the third Monday of the month at the Brindle Community Hall, Water Street, Brindle, nr Chorley, PR6 8NW. starting at 7:30pm unless otherwise stated.

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2019 planned programme*

*This was the programme published at the start of the year. Note that some talks may have been changed or cancelled.

Date	Title	Description
21 Jan	Duke of Bridgewater’s Underground Coal Mining Canals 1760 to date Alan Davies	The Third Duke of Bridgewater embarked on a system of underground canals on four levels, accessing a vast coalfield to the north and west and at the time this was regarded as one of the wonders of the engineering world. The canals branched out until 1887 to draw coal from the workings of over 35 collieries. From the Worsley Delf entrance, over 52 miles of canals were eventually driven.
18 Feb	Annual General Meeting	The AGM will be followed by an historical advert picture quiz.
18 Mar	Roman Roads in Lancashire David Ratledge	Lancashire has some of the Country’s most spectacular Roman Roads and in tracing them we will travel through some of Lancashire’s finest countryside seeing many stunning views. There are very few sites in England where the Roman road surface has been exposed and put on display. Lancashire has one of them and you can literally walk in the footsteps of the Legions.
15 Apr	When the Cold War came to Brindle Bernard Fleming	Hear the fascinating story of the Brindle cold war bunker on Denham Lane, built in 1961 as part of a nationwide network designed to monitor the nuclear fallout if a nuclear bomb had been dropped on Britain.  Closed in 1991, the site suffered from neglect and vandalism until a dedicated volunteer group began to restore the underground post back to its operational look and feel.
20 May	The Lettuce Line – the West Lancashire and Liverpool, Southport & Preston Junction Railways 1878 – 1964 Keith Hick	Our speaker tonight talk about the West Lancashire Railway route, known as the ‘Lettuce Line’ because of its importance in moving the locally grown agricultural produce to the larger conurbations. The illustrated talk starts in 1878 and guides us through the formation, initial operations, financial failure & subsequent rescue in 1890’s and survival through to 1964.
Wednesday 19 Jun 7pm	Visit to St Joseph’s Church, Chapel Fold, Brindle Led by Mick Gardner	Take a guided tour around the church which was built in 1786, although the mission has been in the care of Benedictine monks since 1677. The church was built in a very plain style to avoid drawing attention to its existence since at that time Catholics were forbidden to build places of worship. View the altar said to have been used by the Jesuit martyr, St Edmund Arrowsmith (1585 – 1628)
July	Summer outing	Visit to Stonyhurst College. Further details to follow.
16 Sep	My Work as a Local History Detective Steve Halliwell	A Talk to encourage others to seek out their local and family past.
21 Oct	Dick, Kerr Ladies Football Club 1917-1965 Gail Newsham	The Dick, Kerr Ladies F.C. was founded in Preston during WWI. Our speaker tonight will provide the background to this amazing club from its formation to 1965. In 1921, the FA banned women from playing football at its members grounds in 1921, and the ban stayed in place for fifty years. The FA claimed that football was unsuitable for females.
18 Nov	BAE Systems – Preston, Samlesbury & Warton sites: then and now Dave Ward	Tonight we will hear about the growth of BAE Systems sites in the NW during the last century.    The illustrated talk will show how major aircraft sub-assemblies were manufactured at Preston in the 1930s before being shipped elsewhere for final assembly.  Samlesbury site was developed at the start of the WWII, and at its peak, assembled close to 80 aircraft per month.  Warton site started life as a US Air Force base in 1941 and when the Americans left, Warton, with its long runway soon became the main development site for the Canberra jet bomber, followed later by the Lightning, Jaguar, Tornado and Typhoon aircraft.