Previous Meetings

Events in 2021
Jan 21        AGM via Zoom (due to Covid 19) - No talk
Feb 18        Via Zoom - Dr. Mike Winstanley - Crime and Policing
Mar 18       Via Zoom - June Hill - Vernacular Buildings
Apr 15        Via Zoom - Prof. Ian Hodkinson  - Cumbrians and the Klondike Gold Rush
May 20       Via Zoom - David Ratledge - Roman Roads in South Lakeland
Jun 17        Via Zoom (planned walk cancelled due to C19) - Dr. Jean Turnbull - Turnpike Roads in Westmorland, an Illustrated History
Jul 21         Via Zoom - a bonus meeting to cheer us up - Dr. Mike Winstanley - Getting Away from it All - The Coming of the Holiday Resorts
Sep 16       NORMAL AGAIN (with C19 precautions) - Christine Craghill - Cumbria Farmhouse Odyssey
Oct 21       Normal (with C19 precautions) - Dr. Ian Saunders - Maps for Everybody
Nov 18      Normal (with C19 precautions) - Dr. Ian Bass -The Portable Antiquities Scheme, a Local Update

Events in 2020
Jan 16       AGM - Dave Joy - Liverpool Cowkeepers - A Family History
Feb 20       Alasdair Simpson - Crossfields of Arnside

All subsequent 2020 meetings cancelled due to the Covid 19 pandemic, but re scheduled where possible to 2021

​Events in 2019
Jan 17        AGM – Stephen Read –Force Mill, Levens
Feb 21        Rob David – Waiter, Miner, Butcher, Spy: Germans and Austrians in Cumbria during the First World      
War
Mar 21       Kevin Grice – Warton Crag: An Iron Age Hill Fort - or is it?
Apr 18        Ian Brodie – The Rock of Names - A Lakeland Mystery
May 23       Colin Penny – Lancaster Castle
Jun 20        Visit to Helsington Laithes, 15C Manor House
Sep 19        Jeremy Rowan-Robinson – Long Houses, bloomeries and the Manor of Witherslack
Oct 17        Ian Hodkinson – Francis Strickland and the Jacobite Rebellions
Nov 21        Fiona Edmonds – Morecambe Bay in the early medieval period: a frontier zone?

Events in 2018
Jan 18        AGM – Ian Hodkinson –Science, superstition and sorcery: ‘wise men’ in Westmorland during the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries
Feb 15        Dr Christopher Donaldson – Journeys over Morecambe Bay before and after the Age of Steam
Mar 15       Tony Foster – A Trip to Switzerland in 1916: A little known aspect of WW1
Apr 19        Peter Standing – The Boundaries of Beetham
May 17      Janet Smith – The Families of Holker Hall
Jun 21        Trevor Hughes – Walk: The Yards of Kendal
Sep 20        Margaret Owen – Hubert at the Front: The WWI Experiences of Sergeant Hubert Simpson, R.A.M.C.
Oct 18        Dr. Bill Shannon – Mapping Morecambe Bay - the Early Years
Nov 15       Jules Wooding – Lest we forget: how Remembrance has evolved
Dec 13       Jamie Lund – The Lake District World Heritage Site: What does it mean one year on?

Events in 2017
Jan 19        AGM – Ian Hodkinson –The ague: a history of indigenous malaria in Cumbria and the north
Feb 16       Tom Clare – The Archaeology of Levens Park
Mar 16      Alan Crosby – Lords, manors and mineral rights: researching their history in South Lakeland
Apr 20       Ian Brodie – Thirlmere and the Birth of Landscape Conservation
May 18     Mike Winstanley – Happy Days? Educating the Masses, Elementary Schooling, 1818-1918
Jun 22       Dan Elsworth – Walk around Cartmel
Sep 21      Jeremy Rowan-Robinson – Great Grandad’s Army; Rifle Ranges of the Lake District
Oct 19      Christine Workman – The Felt Hat Industry
Nov 23     Eleanor Kingston – Archaeology update for the Lake District National Park
Dec 7        Oxford Archaeology North – Levens Park

Events in 2016
Jan 21        AGM – LLHG’s proposed Levens Estate Project, 2016 – 2017
Feb 18        Ian Gee – The History of Flying at Windermere 1911-1919
Mar 17       Sue Tiplady – Words Worth Writing; researching and compiling a history of Satterthwaite
Apr 21        Kevin Lancaster – The Enclosure of Bluecaster - Why Sedbergh hated the Stricklands
May 19      John Butcher – A History of the Thirlmere Aqueduct
Jun 16        Mike Kingsbury – Walk: A guided tour of Kirkby Lonsdale
Sep 15        Bill Myers – Cumbria and the First World War
Oct 20        Frank Sanderson – A History of the Lancaster Canal
Nov 17       Louise Martin – Recent Archaeology of Morecambe Bay

Events in 2015
Jan 15        AGM – Ian Hodkinson – Forensic Archaeology
Feb 19       Julian Munby – Levens and the Park: Discoveries in the Deed Room and Beyond
Mar 19       Dr. Sarah Rose – Helsington and the VCH
Apr 16        Dot Boughton – The Portable Antiquities Scheme
May 21      Jackie Fay – Gems from Kendal Local Studies Library
Jun 18        Fred Martin – Walk: Lyth Valley Drainage
Sep 17        Dan Elsworth – Rheged, Cumbria and Levens
Oct 15        Jean Scott Smith – Cumbrian Customs
Nov 19       Jamie Lund – The Formby Footprints

Events in 2014
Jan 16        AGM – Levens WWI Memorial and Future Exhibition
Feb 20        Dr. Jean Turnbull – Lyth Valley Roads
Feb 27        Sizergh Dig in the Park Report event – Heaves Hotel
Mar 20       Dr. Mike Winstanley – Voyages of Abram: Lonsdale merchants and the Virgin Islands
Apr 17        Dr. Rob David – In Search of Leviathan: the North-west and the Northern Whale Fishery
May 15       Geoff Pegg – Holme Mills
June 19      Guided Walk: Meet Bus Shelter 6:20pm: Larry Walling – Lyth Valley Peat
Sep 18        Dot Boughton – Local hoards and finds; the PAS
Oct 16        Dr Jennifer Holt – Thomas Fenwick’s Diaries
Nov 20      Jamie Quartermaine – Recent North-west Archaeology (Title to be agreed)

Events in 2013
Jan 17        Stephen Read – Construction of St John the Evangelist Church, Levens. AGM
Feb 21        Brian Wilson – Only Half a Story (A history of the postal system)
Mar 21       Dr Stephen Caunce – Northern English Hiring Fairs, 1890-1939: Business and Pleasure Combined.
Apr 18        Dr Mike Winstanley – A History of Retailing
May 16      Janet Nelson – The Lancaster Slave Trade
Jun 6           Guided Walk: Janet Nelson – A Walk Round Lancaster
Sep 19        Rachel Newman – Viking Cumbria
Oct 17        Margaret Owen – The Kendal Home Guard
Nov 21       Jamie Lund – Early mining sites on the eastern Grasmere Fells

Events in 2012
Jan 19        Stephen Read – The Strickland Arms. AGM
Feb 16        Dr. Jean Turnbull – From Blacksmiths to Bypasses: the impact of motor transport in Westmorland 1900-1970
Mar 15       Dr. Rob David – Remembering Slavery: Cumbria’s connections to the trans-Atlantic slave trade
Apr 19        Katharine Pottinger – Sedgwick House
May 17       Peter Higginbotham – The Kendal Union Workhouses
Jun 21        Guided Walk: Kendal with Trevor Hughes, starting 6.30pm
Sep 20        Barry Jolly – Commander Walter Strickland R.N.
Oct 18        Members evening – Where we are now
Nov 22       Jim Dewhirst – The History of Westmorland County Agricultural Society

Events in 2011
Jan 20        Stephen Read – Levens Date Stones. AGM.
Feb 17        Harry Hawkins – Medieval Deer Parks of Cumbria
Mar 17       Dr. Angus Winchester – Writing for the Victoria County History
Apr 21        Trevor Hughes – Kendal Treasures
May 19       Dr. Mike Winstanley – 1910 Land Tax and 1911 census study evening
Jun 16        Guided Walk: Heaves farm and Sizergh Fell Side with Larry Walling
Sep 15        John Helme – The Newland Iron Furnace: History and Preservation
Oct 20        Members evening – Where we are now
Nov 17        Dr. Peter Skidmore – Coastal Shipping in the North West (late 18th century)
Nov 19/20        Exhibition: "Levens One Hundred Years Ago" at the Institute 10 till 4pm

Events in 2010
Jan 21        7:30pm. Jamie Lund – Exciting new project! AGM.
Feb 18        Dick White – Privies, Potties and Pollution
Mar 18        Graham Whitwham – A Brief History of Photography
Apr 22        Andrew Lowe – Wrestlers, Crucks and Mullions
May 20        Les Gilpin – The Ulverstone and Lancaster Railway
Jun 17        Guided Walk round Burton: meet Burton Memorial Hall at 7.00pm
Sep 23        Helen Crowe – Farm Labour shortages during the Great War
Oct 21        Jamie Lund & Peter Schofield – The Sizergh Historic Landscape Survey
Nov 18        Ian Whyte – Reclamation, storm and flood.

Events in 2009
Jan 15        7:45pm. Ian Hodkinson & Allan Steward – Victorian botanists in Levens. AGM.
Feb 26        David Askew – Limekilns of Arnside & Silverdale
Mar 26       Dick White – Morecambe Bay Wrecks and Disasters
Apr 23        Ken Broadhurst – Turnpike Roads
May 21       6:30pm at Staveley – Local History Walk
Sep 17        Ellie Straughton – The 'Contested Common Land' Project, 1600-2006
Oct 28        An evening of learning and sharing information about the Levens area.
Nov 25       Sue Oliver – Births, Deaths and Marriages since 1837

Events in 2008
Jan 24        AGM
Feb 28       Andrew Davison- English heritage
Mar 27      Jennifer Forsyth - Cartmel fell
Apr 24       Dick White - Sizergh
May 22        
Jun 19      School exhibition
Jun 26      Stephen Read - Village walk
Jul 21        Holmes LHS - Village walk
Sep 25      Fred Martin - Valley Drainage
Oct 30      Daniel Elsworth - Frosthwaite
Nov 27      Sandy Lofthouse - Reverend Sidney Swan