Mark Trasler, MBE: relates the little-known story of HM Hospital Ship Uganda during the Falklands War of 1982. Read more

Steve Herra provides us with the story of Sweeney Todd, the barber of Fleet Street. How did his, most of his victims die? What was the name of Sweeney Todd’s accomplice? What was the significance of the revolving chair? How did his other victims of Todd die? What first attracted attention to St. Dunstan’s Church?… Read more

Julian Rees has spent 40 years working in West End Theatre, including as the Director of the Really Useful Group Theatres (Andrew Lloyd Webber’s theatre group), now known as LW Entertainment). He will talk to us about he process involved in staging a West End play or musical Read more

Unavoidably the talk by Louise Moorish on Female Secret Agents of the SOE has had to be postponed to a future date. However many of you will know that our own Susan Kavanagh is a keen gardener and very knowledgeable about gardens. Susan has kindly stepped in to give a talk on "How we got… Read more

Straight, wavy, long, natural or dyed. Wigs, extensions, beards and eyebrows. Alan Jones covers it all Smuggling, politics and fashion collide in a billion dollar trade. Discover the secretive and lucrative international world of Hair that is guaranteed to grip you by the long, short, or curly. Read more

Nigel Gossop continues on from his 2025 talk about this virtual walk using photographs and images to tell the history and stories of some of the places we pass on the route. Covering tea gardens, military influences, prefabs, fairs, camp sites and many changes that havetaken place to the familiar hill that dominates the Portsmouth… Read more

2026 marks the 200th anniversary of the first voyage of HMS Beagle when Robert FitzRoy became captain. This led to the second global voyage in 1831 with Charles Darwin as his shipboard naturalist and the collection of evidence for the publication 'On the Origin of Species'. FitzRoy paid for two artists, Augustus Earle and Conrad… Read more

Dr Robert Hooke was known for his contributions to physics, astronomy, geology, meteorology, and architecture. Mike Williams tells us about his life, his inventions and his disagreements. Read more

Jon Sims tells us the story of how the ill-fated Southampton to Salisbury Canal was an object lesson in bad planning, poor execution and economic mismanagement which has echoes even today (think HS2!). Read more

Jackie Dimmock provides us with stories/memories from a career with Hampshire Constabulary depicted using mini quilts. Read more