Meetings are held at Walton village hall on the first Wednesday morning of each month
except August. The talk is scheduled to start at 10am, although the hall is open from 9.30am.
In 2025 the first talk will be on 15 January. The fee for each talk will be £3 and all members
of Phoenix are welcome. Refreshments will be served after the talk for 40p. There is plenty of time to enjoy refreshments and a chat after the talk.
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Wednesday 15 January. Ann Featherstone will be making a welcome return with a talk Fools
and Horses: The Victorian Circus. The talk provides a fascinating insight into the history of
the Victorian Circus and the men and women who rode, tumbled and clowned there.
Wednesday 5 February. Danny Wells also makes a welcome return with a presentation on The
Victorian Way of Death. Death was ever present in nineteenth century Britain. The subject is
not as morbid as it may sound; this illustrated talk offers a fascinating glimpse into Victorian
attitudes to death.
Wednesday 5 March. Trevor James will talk about Celtic Saints. The talk examines
connections between Wales, Cornwall and Britanny during the Dark Ages.
Wednesday 2 April. John Butterworth makes a welcome return with his talk about Editing the
UK’s Fourth Oldest Weekly Newspaper. A talk about the fascinating history of the
Shrewsbury Chronicle, where John was editor for 12 years. John will talk about some of the
eccentric stories and advertisements in the paper which started in 1772.
Wednesday 7 May. Rearranged from Novemebr 2024. Nick Seager will talk about Daniel
Defoe and the Politics of Queen Anne’s England. An account of Defoe’s political writings
and espionage work in the reign of Queen Anne. It deals with religious toleration, the Anglo-
Scottish Union, Jacobitism and the War of the Spanish Succession. Was Defoe unprincipled
and mercenery?
Wednesday 4 June. Carl Dudley will talk about Crossing the Railway in Staffordshire –
Pitfalls, Problems and Disasters. Some railway accidents and incidents in Staffordshire have
highlighted the dangers and resulted in new national safety measures.
Wednesday 2 July. Philip Morgan will talk about Staffordshire at War. Stafford was founded
as a religious settlement, but was quickly co-opted for the needs of war. From the Vikings to
the Cold War and beyond, Stafford might be seen as a military town.
Wednesday 3 September. Barbara Andrew makes a welcome return as a speaker. She will
talk about Women before the war: the national and local picture in 1914. Barbara has a series
of talks about the role of women both before and during the war. The talk looks at women in
both public and private life both nationally and in Stoke-on Trent in particular.
Wednesday 1 October. Peter Collinge also makes a welcome return. He will talk about
Inheritance and Family Enterprise: The Wildeys of Lichfield. Peter gives a range of talks on
the social and economic history of the late C18th and C19th centuries. The talk will provide a
local example of family business enterprise during the first half of the C19th.
Wednesday 5 November. Steve Booth has been a regular speaker at Phoenix. He will talk
about The Potteries Blitz. Stoke-on-Trent was bombed by the Germans from August 1940
until February 1941.
Wednesday 3 December. To be arranged.