We normally meet on the last Monday of the month in the Bridport United Church Hall at:

7:30 pm in September, March, April

and at

2.30 pm in October, November, January and February.

This is just a taster of what we do, if you would like more information contact our Membership Secretary

Stourhead is one of the world’s finest landscape gardens and in autumn you can see vistas highlighted with burnished leaves and rusty colour palettes. With a lake at its centre, the garden is planned with temples and follies and a planting scheme which allows the colours to wash through the landscape over a 6-8 week period.

Another of our very popular brain exercising events with the bonus of Fish and Chips (or Chicken and Chips if you prefer). Stimulate the grey cells with an interesting but not-too-controversial quiz, with prizes for the winners and a small booby prize for the lowest scoring table. This year our Quiz Master is Kathy Hince.

Even if you are alone, you are guaranteed to meet someone for a chat as each table is made up of at least three people.

Christine has a background in broadcasting having worked for the BBC for many years. Throughout the First World War the need to garden was universal, for food, recreation and for normality. On the home front food was desperately needed and women, children and retired gardeners filled the gaps when the men went off to fight. On the Western Front there is an example of seedlings being raised in the Great Orangery of the Trianon at the Palace of Versailles to supply the troops with fresh vegetables.

The 1920’s and 1930’s were indeed the “Golden Age of Travel” with Cunard, the Orient Express, Pullman trains and flying boats. Paul Atterbury embarks on an alluring journey into this golden age of ocean liners and rail travel.

Paul is an antiques expert, probably best known for his many appearances on the BBC’s “Antiques Roadshow”. He specialises in the art, architecture, design and decorative arts of the 19th and 20th centuries.

In 2016 Paul curated an exhibition at the Dorset County Museum which featured evocative railway posters designed to encourage holiday-makers to visit Dorset and the South West; and in the autumn presented a “Golden Age of Travel” television special on the BBC whilst travelling on board a train headed by the famous steam locomotive “The Flying Scotsman”.

Ray has been working as Head of Forestry for the National Trust since 1989 and was responsible for about 8 million trees. He talks about how trees have been used and valued through the ages, with illustrations of some of the finest and most interesting ones. Trees and woods have been used for many different purposes for thousands of years.

Speaker: Rebecca Burton, Regional Director for South West NT

Rod is a retired Naturalist, having spent most of his life studying forests throughout the world. This is his vision of how we could build on what we have here with the Jurassic coast to create one of the best and most bio-diverse places in the world.