Music Appreciation - Ceremonial Music (Code MA8)
Tuesdays 10.00am to 12.00pm
10 meetings each of 2 hours from Tuesday 6th January 2026
Tutor: John Winter
Cost: £80
Location: Function room, Plough & Harrow
Since earliest times, music has played and important role in ceremonial events - royal, state, religious and other occasions. The Agincourt Song was used to celebrate the victory of Henry V, Tallis and Byrd wrote music to flatter Queen Elizabeth I and Purcell had to adapt his musical style to please whichever monarch was reigning. This course additionally includes music by Handel, Sullivan, Elgar and composers through to the present day. It will also reflect the more solemn side of ceremonial music and include music from Europe and America.
Please note: There will be a half-term break on Tuesday 10th February 2026.
The Troubled Twelfth Century England 1100 to 1189 (Code HI2) NEW!
Tuesdays 2.00pm to 4.00pm
10 meetings each of 2 hours from Tuesday 6th January 2026
Tutor: Michael Long
Cost: £80
Location: Function room, Plough & Harrow
And men said openly that Christ and His saints slept.
The Peterborough Chronicle
These were the darkest days of medieval England. Following the death of King Henry I in 1135 England descended into a violent and bloody civil war known to history as the Anarchy. Death, devastation, and famine stalked the land as the supporters of rival claimants for the crown fought each other. Towns were torched; villages burned to the ground. Yet this is not a story of a King against a pretender; for the legitimate claimant, the heir of old King Henry, was his daughter, Matilda. Denied the throne by her cousin Stephen, she invaded England to pursue her birthright and for nineteen years, she fought for her right to rule.
This is a story whose origins lie in a tragedy on a cold November night in 1120, called the White Ship disaster. The course follows the twists and turns of the royal succession, and how Matilda sought to become Queen and how a world dominated by men, sought to thwart her. It also focuses on the human effects of the period: the suffering of the common people who found themselves in the way of the rival armies. This is a little-known period of our history, never covered in schools whose outcome shaped medieval England.
Please note: There will be a half-term break on Tuesday 10th February 2026
Holiday Italian. (Short Course) (Code LA1) NEW!
Wednesdays 10.00am to 12.00pm
5 meetings each of 2 hours from Wednesday 14th January 2026
Tutor: Judith Dean
Cost: £40
Location: Randall Room, Harpenden Trust Centre
This course is an ideal introduction to Italian language and culture for all those who are planning to visit Italy or who are just drawn to its great scenic beauty, gastronomic offering or fascinating history. Each session will concentrate on a practical situation such as: greetings, travelling, accommodation, eating and drinking, around the town, learning some essential vocabulary and expressions that will help you get the most out of your visit. We will practise the language that we learn so that you gain the confidence to use it and there will also be useful information on Italian culture mixed in so that you are ready to embark on your Italian journey!
Please note: There will be no half-term break on this course.
Women artists. (Short Course) (Code WS1) NEW!
Wednesdays 10.30am to 12.30pm
5 meetings each of 2 hours from Wednesday 25th February 2026
Tutor: Rosanna Eckersley
Cost: £40
Location: Randall Room, Harpenden Trust Centre
Looking at five influential female artists from the 19th and 20th century including Vanessa Bell and the Bloomsbury group as well as some less well known painters working in this period such as Winifred Knights.
Please note: There will be no half-term break on this course.
Looking at art and artists, through the eyes of a historian
(Code HI3)
Wednesdays 2.00pm to 4.00pm
10 meetings each of 2 hours from Wednesday 7th January 2026
Tutor: Adam Smith
Cost: £80
Location: Randall Room, Harpenden Trust Centre
This course uses art from the 16th to the 20th Century to look at aspects of history. In some classes this will involve looking at the work of a particular artist to illuminate a period; such as Holbein and the court of Henry VIII. In other sessions we will look at a painting and work outwards from that to look at a particular area of history; such as Thomas Gainsborough'’'s portrait of Mr and Mrs Andrews as a starting point to look at the English countryside in the mid 18th Century. Not all of the artists will be well known and amongst those we will examine are William Henry Hunt whose watercolours have much to tell about England in the first half of the 19th Century. The artists included will mostly be British but some from other countries will be included, such as Jan Davidsz de Heem'’'s paintings which depict everyday life in 17th Century Holland and John Singer Sargent for his portraits of the elite of America and Britain in the years around 1900.
Please note: There will be a half-term break on Wednesday 18th February 2026.
English Literature: American writing in the 20th Century (Part 2) (Code CC2)
This course is now full.
Thursdays 2.00pm - 4.00pm
10 meetings each of 2 hours from Thursday 8th January 2026
Tutor: Michael King
Cost: £80 - a face-to-face course.
Location: Southdown Methodist Halls, 130 Southdown Road.
Course continues, but it is not necessary to have attended the autumn term as new authors will be studied..
Please note: There will be a half-term break on Thursday 19th February 2026.