Note that there may be a small charge for some of these events, and some may be for members only. We will be publishing lists of upcoming talks and events regularly - if you are organising a talk or event relating to Scottish genealogy or history, please let us know and we will be happy to add your events to our list.
Monday, January 11 2016, 6 pm
The Bronze Age Neolithic: Problems of Continuity and Chronology
Dr Alex Gibson, Reader in Prehistory, University of Bradford
Venue: Auditorium, National Museums Scotland, Chambers Street
Society of Antiquaries of Scotland
For some time it has been commonly acknowledged that Bronze Age ceramics developed from Neolithic forms. Radiocarbon chronology, however, has shown that there was almost a millennium between the demise of Impressed Wares and the advent of Food Vessels and Urns. Given this chronological gap, how do we explain the undeniable similarities? A closer inspection of Bronze Age culture and customs suggests that there was more than just pottery making a re-appearance.
Monday, January 11 2016, 7 pm
Enemy in Sight
Ian Frame, Millport
Venue: Newton Lounge
Cumbrae Historical Society
Monday, January 11 2016, 7 pm for 7.30 pm
The Botanic Cottage Reborn
Sutherland Forsyth
Venue: Drummond Community High School, Bellevue Place, Edinburgh
Monday, January 11 2016, 7.30 pm
Glasgow City Heritage Trust
Rebecca Cadie, ARPL Architects
Venue: Loudoun Hall, Boat Vennel, Ayr
Kyle and Carrick Civic Society
Monday, January 11 2016, 7.30 pm
Open Evening
Venue: Luncarty Church Centre
West Stormont Historical Society
Non-members: adults £3, concessions £2. (Open discussion meetings at Luncarty are free)
Monday, January 11 2016, 7.30 pm
Greatrex - Forger and Photographer
David Bruce
Venue: Dalkeith Baptist Church, North Wynd, Dalkeith
Monday, January 11 2016, 7.30 pm
The Past, Present and Future of Saughton Park
Peter McDougall
Venue: Gibson Craig Memorial Hall, Lanark Road West, Currie
Currie & District Local History Society
What do we know about Saughton Park? Somewhere to kick a ball about (badly in my case!), somewhere to walk through the rose garden, but what of the history? Project Development Officer Peter McDougall fills us in on the past present and future of the park.
Monday, January 11 2016, 7.30 pm
The Art of Forgery
Prof Roy Burdon
Venue: St Andrews Church, Park Road, Milngavie
Milngavie and Bearsden Historical Society
Professor Roy Burdon gives an insight into whether it is Fake or Fortune. The historical problems which confront potential art buyers and art forgers will be explored along with forgers’ preferences and reasons for pursuing the trade.
Monday, January 11 2016, 7.30 pm
Edinburgh, The Modern Athens
Robert Jardine
Venue: Partick Burgh Hall, room 1, 3-9a Burgh Hall Street, Glasgow, G11 5LN
Monday, January 11 2016, 7.30 pm
Hidden History of Nursery Rhymes from Tudor Times to the Civil War
Catherine Mills
Venue: John Knox Church Hall, High Street, Stewarton
Stewarton and District Historical Society
Hear about the sinister and dark origins of our traditional nursery rhymes
Monday, January 11 2016, 7.30 pm - 9.30 pm
Kinneil Park - another designed landscape by Alexander Edwards
Geoff Bailey
Venue: Alloa Town Hall (Tommy Downs Room)
Clackmannanshire Field Studies Society
Speaker is Keeper of Archaeology & Local History Falkirk Museum
Monday, January 11 2016, 8 pm
Members' Evening
Venue: Dreghorn Loan Hall, Colinton, EH13 0DE
Colinton Local History Society
Tuesday, January 12 2016, 6.45 pm for 7.15 pm
The Edinburgh of John Kay, caricaturist, c1785-1817
Eric Melvin
Venue: Morningside Parish Church Hall
Morningside Heritage Association
Tuesday, January 12 2016, 7.30 pm
Open Night
Venue: Public Library, Airds Crossing, Fort William
Lochaber and North Argyll Family History Group
for Everyone’s Mementos etc specific to their Family Research
Tuesday, January 12 2016, 7.30 pm
The Clyde from Fairlie to Hunterston
John Riddell
Venue: Largs Library Community Room
Largs and North Ayrshire Family History Society
Tuesday, January 12 2016, 7.30 pm
Hitler, Stalin and the Cartoonists
Les Barker, former history teacher
Venue: Dining Hall, Dollar Academy
Tuesday, January 12 2016, 7.30 pm
The 1884 Reform Agitation in Peeblesshire & the Borders
Dr Mark Nixon
Venue: Auditorium, Eastgate Theatre and Arts Centre, Peebles
Dr. Nixon is an independent researcher and curator working with Universities and Museums throughout Scotland. This talk focuses on the unrest created by the movement to extend the vote to workers in small towns and rural areas of Scotland. During the summer and autumn of 1884 a massive series of demonstrations took place across Britain in favour of the extension of the vote in rural districts. Scotland in particular rallied to the cause, and the men and women of the Border Counties played their part, marching and demonstrating in towns and villages across the district, including Peebles. Drawing on newspaper reports and surviving objects such as banners and medallions, this talk will consider how and why local people got involved, what they said and believed, and what they sought to achieve through their demonstrations.
Tuesday, January 12 2016, 7.30 pm - 8.30 pm
The Bronze Age Neolithic: Problems of Continuity and Chronology
Dr Alex Gibson, Reader in Prehistory, University of Bradford
Venue: Regent Building Lecture Theatre, Regent Walk, Aberdeen, AB24 3FX
Society of Antiquaries of Scotland
For some time it has been commonly acknowledged that Bronze Age ceramics developed from Neolithic forms. Radiocarbon chronology, however, has shown that there was almost a millennium between the demise of Impressed Wares and the advent of Food Vessels and Urns. Given this chronological gap, how do we explain the undeniable similarities? A closer inspection of Bronze Age culture and customs suggests that there was more than just pottery making a re-appearance.
Wednesday, January 13 2016
Agriculture in East Lothian
Bob Simpson, Farmer at Castlemains, Dirleton
Venue: Coastal Communities Museum, School Road, North Berwick, East Lothian EH39 4JU
Wednesday, January 13 2016, 2.00 pm - 4.00 pm
Grangemouth Docks
Jim Summers
Venue: Kincardine Community Centre - Hepburn Room
Kincardine-on-Forth Local History Group
Wednesday, January 13 2016, 7.00 pm
The Canongate project
Lynn Kilpatrick and Miriam McDonald
Venue: Augustine Church, George IV Bridge, Edinburgh
Wednesday, January 13 2016, 7.30 pm
Dumbarton Castle : The French Connection
Elspeth Crocket
Venue: Concord Community Centre (next to the Denny Theatre), Dumbarton, G82 1LJ
A talk by Elspeth Crocket. Dumbarton Castle is not just of local importance. It is widely known that Mary Queen of Scots sailed to France from here. The castle, however, has many lesser known links to France dating from the centuries when Dumbarton was closely involved in the Auld Alliance.
Wednesday, January 13 2016, 7.30 pm
"A Talk of Two Halves" Glasgow's Sporting Archives with reference to other records they hold
Michael Gallagher
Venue: Smith Museum and Art Gallery, Dumbarton Road, Stirling
Central Scotland Family History Society
Speaker is Archivist at the Mitchell Library, Glasgow
Wednesday, January 13 2016, 7.30 pm - 9.00 pm
Birds and Burns
Chris Rollie
Venue: Parish Church Hall, St Mary Street, Kirkcudbright, DG6 4DN
Kirkcudbright History Society
Thursday, January 14 2016, 7.30 pm
Discovering the Northern Picts
Dr Gordon Noble
Venue: MacRobert Hall, The Square, Tarland
Dr. Gordon Noble a leading authority on the Picts and known to many of you from the Rhynie dig, will be covering the excavations and survey of Pictish sites across Northeast Scotland, including the recently discovered Pictish Fort on the stacks off our local coastline.
Thursday, January 14 2016, 7.30 pm
The Green House, Eskhill
Robin Burley
Venue: St Peter's Church Hall, High Street, Musselburgh
Musselburgh Conservation Society
Thursday, January 14 2016, 7.30 pm
The Work of the North Queensferry Trust
James Lawson
Venue: Queens Hall, Charlestown, KY11 3EG
With the recent awarding of UNESCO World Heritage site status to the Forth Bridge, North Queensferry’s future as a very busy tourist destination is guaranteed.
Thursday, January 14 2016, 7.30 pm
Bannockburn
Dr Tony Pollard, University of Glasgow
Venue: Town Hall, Ayr
Ayrshire Archaeological and Natural History Society
Thursday, January 14 2016, 7.30 pm - 9.00 pm
Members Open Evening
Venue: Johnnie Walker Bond, Strand Street Kilmarnock
East Ayrshire Family History Society
Friday, January 15 2016, 7.30 pm
The 1715 Rising and the Burning of Strathearn
Dr James Grant
Venue: Aytoun Hall, High Street, Auchterarder
Auchterarder and District Local History Association
Saturday, January 16 2016, 12.00 pm
Commemoration of the Battle of Falkirk
Venue: Callendar House, Falkirk, FK1 1YR
Falkirk, the forgotten battle.....the penultimate battle fought on British soil.... the final Jacobite triumph, yet a pyrrhic victory which left Prince Charlie's forces severely depleted.....
"Tonight we shall lie either in Falkirk or in Paradise" – reported words of Lord George Murray, General of the Jacobite Army, January 17th 1746
270 years after the battle was fought, The 1745 Association is organising a free event to remember what happened on that day.This is an open invitation to members of the Scottish Local History Forum to a free event entitled "Falkirk or Paradise? Commemorating the 270th anniversary of the Battle of Falkirk" being held at Callendar House, Falkirk, Saturday, January 16th 2016.
Details and itinerary are as follows:
Midday: Those who wish to enjoy The Prince's Dinner (details attached) before the Main Event will gather in the Green Room, Callendar House, where, on September 14th 1745, Prince Charles Edward Stuart dined with the Earl of Kilmarnock. 1.30 PM: Green Room: Welcome and Introduction to Callendar House and the Earl of Kilmarnock during the ‘45 (Michael Nevin). 2:00 PM: The group will depart for a guided tour of the Battle of Falkirk by Geoff Bailey, author of "Falkirk or Paradise" (1996), the authoritative account of the events leading up to the battle and the course of the battle itself. If there are sufficient numbers, we will hire a minibus to take us to Bantaskine Park. In the event of inclement weather, we may stay on the tarmac within the Park rather than run the risk of getting bogged down in muddy fields (we don't want to repeat the experience of the Hanoverian cavalry!) 3:45 PM: Return by way of Falkirk Parish Church, to pay our respects to the graves of Colonel Sir Robert Munro and Captain William Edmondstone, Hanoverian officers who fell at Falkirk and were buried there with full military honour by the Jacobite commanders, and the Jacobite divisional leader Glengarry, who was killed in a tragic accident in the immediate aftermath of the battle, and who now lies beside Sir John Graeme who fell at the earlier Battle of Falkirk in 1298 fighting in the cause of William Wallace. 4:30 PM: Return to Callendar House for a warming cup of tea, coffee or mulled wine, with bannock / scones, following the sound example of the Highlanders who carried bannock with them into battle 270 years ago, to ensure that they would have some nourishment afterwards – always provided that they survived the ordeal! 5:00 PM: Close.
Note that the Main Event from 1:30 PM to 5:00 PM is free, but places are limited by capacity and will be allocated on a "first-come, first-served" basis. There is free car parking at Callendar House.
Bookings should be made through Michael Nevin, either by e-mail on: mike@nevinassociates.co.uk or by phone on 0782 4829 445 stating whether the booking is for The Main Event from 1:30 PM onwards, or whether you also like to book for the Prince’s Dinner at midday.
Saturday, January 16 2016, 2.30pm-4.30pm
Beginners' meeting
Teresa Shewell
Venue: Unitarian Church Centre
Aberdeen and North East Scotland Family History Society