MORNING LECTURES
All our monthly talks are free to members of The Arts Society Moor Park. They take place at Winston Churchill Hall, Ruislip HA4 7QL, on the third Wednesday of each month except December, July and August, and are streamed simultaneously live online via Zoom. A unique Zoom link is emailed to members on the day before each talk.
Non-members are welcome to attend - there's no need to pre-book, please just come along; the price of £10 per non-member per lecture is treated as a donation and is payable on the door.
We encourage those attending in person to arrive from 10.15 for complimentary refreshments and socialising and ask that you be seated in the auditorium by 10.50. The lecture will begin promptly at 11 o'clock.
Wilde About Oscar - Famous for Being Famous - and Infamous
18 June 2025 at 10:00:00
Oscar Wilde photographed by Sarony
Speaker:
Simon Whitehouse
Today's lecture examines the life and times of Oscar Wilde, from his Irish roots to his days as a student at Oxford and his meteoric rise to the heights of celebrity, through to his spectacular fall from grace when 'tired of being in the heights, he plunged into the depths'.....
NOTE: This lecture will be preceded at 10.30 by the Society's Annual General Meeting.
Stories in Stained Glass
17 September 2025 at 10:00:00
Ship in Stained Glass by Leonard Walker, 1920
Speaker:
Susie Harries
Stained glass tells stories - not just in churches, but in airports, sports centres, town halls, banks, libraries and shops. This talk will include a look at its many and varied stories - and of sinners as well as saints.
The Art of Uzbekistan - Heart of the Silk Road
15 October 2025 at 10:00:00
Tilework detailing handicrafts of Uzbekistan
Speaker:
Christopher Bradley
Centrally located along the Silk Road, Uzbekistan has produced amazing art under rulers as diverse as Alexander the Great, the Ancient Persians and the Soviets. Famous UNESCO cities include Bukhara and Khiva, but if any place encapsulates this multi-culturalism then it is Samarkand, capital of Timur – known in the West as Tamerlane. Christopher Bradley will lead us through this mesmerising world in today's lecture.
The 1500s - Michelangelo and Raphael in Rome
19 November 2025 at 11:00:00
One of the famous Putti at the base of The Sistine Madonna, by Raphael
Speaker:
Stuart Harvey
This lecture will showcase many of the most important works by these two great artists, who from 1508 both worked in Rome for the great Renaissance pope Julius II.