DIARY DATES

We now have a mix of in person and Zoom meetings. Zoom meetings avoid travelling in the dark winter months and allow us to enjoy speakers who may not have been able to travel to in person meetings.  All members will be sent an email before the Zoom meeting with instructions on how to join. Zoom meetings start early and continue after the talk to allow members to discuss things of mutual interest.

 

Our in person  talks are usually held at the Diamond Centre, Details at the bottom of this page. After  the talk coffee/tea/biscuits are served.

 

Guests are welcome to join us for meetings, for a Zoom link please email putting

NIAS24 Talk Invite

into the subject line of an email to info@norfolkia.org.uk. Please note emails without correct subject line may be blocked and not reaach us.

 

 

 

Thursday 5th February 7.30pm  by Zoom

Like a well-oiled machine? How technology transformed the country house – Dr. Ian West

For several centuries, country houses and their estates were the dominant features of rural counties like Norfolk. From around the end of the 18th century, many different innovations combined to change these institutions forever, making life more comfortable for their owners and guests, and less arduous for their employees. This talk will show how many of the domestic comforts we now take for granted were pioneered in the homes of the wealthy, and what impact this had on the houses, and on the people who lived and worked in them.

 

Norfolk-born Dr Ian West started his career as an engineer before becoming an archaeologist specialising in the industrial era. He worked for 15 years on a project with Professor Marilyn Palmer at the University of Leicester, researching the development and impact of domestic technology. Some of the key findings of this work appeared in a major book published by Historic England in 2016.

 

Thursday March 5th – Zoom meeting 7.30 p.m.

 

The Industrial Archaeology of Catalunya – John Jones

 

Catalonia is a part of Spain, but could easily have slipped out of it in the C17 and become a sovereign country, as did Portugal. Memory of the glory of the Medieval empire that Barcelona controlled in the western Mediterranean has conditioned Catalan politics since the early-modern period, but along with a distinct language (a blend of Spanish and French) there has always been a characteristic attitude to work in Catalonia more akin to northern than southern Europe. This is reflected in the history of its commercial and industrial development. Catalonia has traditionally viewed the rest of Spain as a market for its agricultural and textile products.

 

John spent a week there on a Heritage of Industry tour last year.

 

Thursday April 2nd – meeting in the Jones Room at the Diamond Centre 7.30 p.m.

 

A talk by Mike Urry of the Whitwell and Reepham Station

 

Thursday May 7th – meeting in the Jones Room at the Diamond Centre 7.30 p.m.

 

The Bullards and Anchor Brewery – John G. Bullard

 

John Bullard will be giving us a talk from a family as well as an industrial history perspective on this iconic brewery at the heart of Norwich. He has promised us something special.

 

 

 

Sprowston Diamond Centre, School Lane, Norwich, NR7 8TR

The Diamond Centre is a former school operated by Sprowston Council and houses a number of community uses.

The building has been modernised and adapted. It has modern facilities for meetings and full disabled adaptions.

It can be accessed from the outer ring road, from School Lane which is between the Wroxham Road roundabout and the Sprowston Road roundabout. You have to turn left into School lane so a loop round the Sprowston Road roundabout may be required to get onto the North carriageway.

There is a large free car park to the rear of the centre, off Neville Road.  School Lane and Neville Road are marked in Green on the map.  There is direct access from the car park into the building.

 

 

Map for summer social at the Wheel of Fortune, Alpington.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Past meetings are listed elsewhere on this site.

As always the Chairman welcomes suggestions of speakers. If you know anyone or have heard a good relevant talk please let him know.

If you can give a talk of interest to our members please get in touch with our chairman. He would particularly like to hear of members who can make a presentation to the Society, be it for a full evening (an hour to a maximum of hour and a half) or just 10 minutes on a members night.

Reasonable expenses and agreed fees are paid  to speakers (or nominated good cause). (Download notes for Speakers Here)

Note we are now also looking for speakers willing to give a presentation via Zoom

You can contact us using the details on the Contacts page.