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

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.

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Members meeting together for a splendid meal in great company.

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Special Guest Speaker: Rebecca Burton, Regional Director, South West Region, NT

Rebecca is the Director of the biggest region in the National Trust, it covers Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset and Wiltshire.

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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.

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Tyntesfield, purchased in 1843 and remodelled in 1863, is now a spectacular Victoria Gothic Revival house with gardens and parkland. Most of the contents have been saved and are being conserved by the National Trust and placed in room settings, some are still stored in rooms long since unused.

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Visit the orchid fields at Westhay Farm and be shown some of the amazing discoveries. The fields are of international importance for waxcap grassland fungi and the soft cliffs from Eype Mouth to Lyme Regis are of European importance for many rare insects.

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Lacock village is often used as a film location e.g. Downton Abbey, Cranford, Harry Potter, etc. Ela, Countess of Salisbury founded Lacock Abbey on 16th April 1232. The original cloister was demolished in the 1400s and replaced with what we see today. After the Dissolution of the Monasteries Sir William Sharrington bought the Abbey and turned it into a country house. William Henry Fox Talbot created the first photographic negative in 1835 in the house and the Fox Talbot Museum is wonderful. The village and Abbey were given to the National Trust in 1944.

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Details to follow.

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Details to follow.

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Details to follow.

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Bob is a graduate in modern languages but is better known as an astronomer. He is best known in the scientific and environmental community as the co-ordinator of the British Astronomical Association Commission for Dark Skies. He was elected a Fellow of the R.A. Society in 1985 and has been associated with the Wessex Astronomical Society for many years.

This talk by Bob, accompanied by beautiful images, is about what causes the Northern lights; their place in history; and why you may not have to travel as far as you think to see them. He is an amusing and entertaining speaker.

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Details to follow.

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Christopher will give us a scenic trip around this beautiful county discovering some of the lesser known facts about its history, families, architecture and landscape. He invites you to share his enjoyment of the world around us through high quality images, music and video clips.

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Sian's talk will be focused around her interests in the geology and Archaeolology of Dorset. As a teenager she became a young archaeologist at the Dorset County Museum. She studied BA Jewellery, Silversmithing and Allied Crafts in London in the 80's and had a very successful studio practice there creating award winning works of art. She will talk about ethics as a practicing jeweller, the problem with diamond and gold mining, recyling and the environmental impact of mining precious stones and metals.

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Details to follow.

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