SPECIAL EVENTS
In any given season we run a number of special events, usually at Moor Park Mansion, for example an Afternoon Lecture followed by Afternoon Tea, or a supper followed by an Evening Lecture. We also hold a Reception for new members, traditionally in the spring. Details are published on this page as soon as available.
A Kiss for all the World - Gustav Klimt and the Viennese Secession
26 March 2026 at 14:30:00
Moor Park Mansion, Rickmansworth
Booking closes:
19 March 2026
The Kiss by Gustav Klimt, 1907-8 - detail
The fears and anxieties of Vienna in the final years before the outbreak of the Great War found expression in the writing of Freud, the music of Gustav Mahler and the haunting paintings of Klimt, Kokoschka and Schiele. Shimmering portraits flecked with gold; hypnotic landscapes of vibrant brushstrokes; erotic dreams of decadence and death reveal a society in search for salvation at a time when mankind had lost faith in its future.
This special Afternoon Lecture traces the course of this brief, often dark, but always dazzlingly inventive period of art.
The Many Sides of Marilyn Monroe
8 July 2026 at 13:30:00
The Village Hall, Mayfield Village Watford
Booking closes:
1 July 2026
Marilyn Monroe as Rose Loomis in the film Niagara, 1953
A special Afternoon Lecture at to be held at Mayfield Village Hall, Watford
followed by optional Afternoon Tea.
2026 is the centenary of the birth of Marilyn Monroe. She was arguably the most exciting and powerful woman of the 20th Century, a screen goddess and cultural icon who is the symbol of our secret desires even today.
In this special Afternoon Lecture our Speaker, John Francis, will uncover for us the rich and revealing story of this complex global persona.