Past meetings & events

2014

January
Mike Kushner – 
A journey to Station X • Room 40 (two talks)

February
Jerry Murland – The Aisne 1914

March
Geoff Spring – The Artillery of the BEF: 1918 ground based air defence

April
AlanWakefield – Crisis at Kut Dec 1915 – April 1916

August
Summer break

September
SEMINAR Speakers will cover various actions of 1914

November
John Stanyard – Three VCs in two armies

December
CHRISTMAS SOCIAL

2013

Christmas
Social Evening

November
Branch event‘Remembering’

October
5th Regional Seminar
The Lead up to 1914

September
Vera Brittain

Michelle Young

2012

December
Christmas Social

October
Vera Brittain’s War
Michelle Young

September
The Dorothy Mann Memorial Lecture:
Dressed to Heal: the Work of the RAMC at the front
Peter Hobbs and Guy Aston

July
The Horse in War and Art
Presented by the WFAMK and The City Discovery Centre, in partnership with local heritage initiatives for WFA members, families and friends, schools and the public. The film’s Military Advisor Andy Robertshaw will give his informative talk entitled: The Making of War Horse Film.

July
Fromelles
Paul Cobb

June
The Bedfordshires
Steve Fuller

May
Great Uncle Fred and the 60th Battalion CEF
John Stanyard

April
V Beach
Peter Hart

March
HM Cordite Factory, Gretna – a brief history’
Nigel Crompton

2011

January
British Army Officer Selection and Training 1914-1918
Charles Messenger

February
The Unknown Western front – the French Battlefields of Champagne, Argonne, Verdun, St. Mihiel and the Vosges
Michael St. Maur Sheil

See http://www.westernfrontphotography.com for Mike’s photos.

March
The Battle of Dublin, April 1916
Andy Rawson

April
Branch AGM, and
RFC/RAF Family Connections
Tony Stubbs

May
The Battle of Nonne Boschen, 11 November 1914
John Tanner

June
General Snow
Andy Lonergan

July
Twisting the dragon’s tail: the Zeebrugge raid, 22-23 April 1918
Alan Wakefield of the Imperial War Museum

September
DOROTHY MANN MEMORIAL LECTURE
The Basra CWGC Cemetery & Memorial to the Missing: WW1 to today
Vern Littley


October
Regional Seminar: Echoes of the Great War
The MK with Herts and Beds Branch Regional Seminar will take place at The Chrysalis Theatre, Milton Keynes. Click here for the latest details.

November
16th Irish Division
Andy Tonge

2010

January (at The Chrysalis, Milton Keynes)
Doctors in the Trenches 1914-18

A talk by Professor Richard Holmes

February
Meet the Trustees – part 1
by Martyn Hale, a WFA Education Trustee.

March
The German Offensive of March 1918
by Joanna Legg

April
Branch AGM
TALKS:
Operation Paraquat – the Taking of South Georgia
by Joseph Cresswell.

May
The Home Front
by David Evans

June
The Royal Naval Division
by Tony Froom

July
Members’ Evening:
St Vitus’ Day 1914
by Eric Webb
The Handbook for the British Legion Pilgrimage 1928
by Jeremy Cooper

September
The Fourth Dorothy Mann Memorial Lecture and
Our Branch’s Ninth Anniversary
Poetry of the First World War
by Michael Copp.

October
A Sapper’s Story
by David Craigen

November
Remembrance: Personalities and Peculiarities of the Great War
by Dale Hjort

December
The Cockney Army: London and the Great War, by John Lee.
Plus our Christmas Social

2009

January
Nobody’s Heroes: the 8th East Lancs Regiment
Stephen Barker

February
A Battalion on the Somme – 1/1st Bucks
John Tanner

March
The Royal Naval Division at Gallipoli
Len Sellers

April
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
Plus short talk:
Today’s News in 1919
Jeremy Cooper

May
Private to C.O. in two years – the war letters of Charles Fair DSO (1/19th London Regt.)
Reggie Fair

June
Members’ Evening
where we will have a chance to chat at leisure with like-minded friends.

July
Lost in France – the story of Leigh Richmond Roose
Spencer Vignes

September
The Third Dorothy Mann Memorial Lecture
Women at War John Chester

October
Mapping the Front
By Howard Anderson – WFA Map Project Co-ordinator

November
Remembrance
Presented by the MK Committee.

December
Christmas Social
Talk: Tracing a soldier in the RAMC
John T. Smith

2008

January
A Magic Lantern Show: it was in the papers – illustration sfrom the Front
Kevin Varty

DISPLAY: 22nd and 23rd January: 9am to 4pm both days
WFA-MK display in Middleton Hall, Central Milton Keynes as part of MK Heritage event

February
The History of The Imperial War Museum
Foster Summerson

March
Der Tag – the 21st March 1918
Clive Harris

April
MK Branch Annual General Meeting
… followed short talks by Branch Members:
Paul Hooley on “The Monarch and the Dustman”,
Jeremy Cooper on “The Daily Graphic, 24th April 2008”

May
Malta in the Great War
Bill Fulton

June
The Origins of World War One
Dr. Simon Peaple

July
There were no butterflies: a personal history of my father’s experiences in the Kaiser’s Army
Brigitte Mitchell

September

The Second Dorothy Mann Memorial Lecture
1914-1918 A Horse at War
Dr. Graham Winton

October
REGIONAL SEMINAR:
1918 – Victory and Remembrance

November

Remembrance and Memorials
Tony Stubbs

December
Christmas Social and Rob Pearson will speak about the development of Trench Warfare.

2007

January
Patient Killers – Snipers in the Great War
Julian Whippy

February
The Bedfordshire Regiment
Steve Fuller

March
The Vimy Pilgrimage
John Chester

April
Annual General Meeting
followed by refreshments, a quiz sheet to work on, a raffle, and a recital by The Living Archive Band.

May
Making the Most of the Soldiers Died CDrom
Geoff Bridger.

June
Members’ Evening
Jeremy Cooper
Paul Hooley
Dr. Eric Webb

July
Lawrence the Polymath
Elizabeth Higgins

August – no meeting

Saturday 8th September – 12.30pm to 4pm
Heritage Open Days weekend: exhibition and a series of short talks at Milton Keynes Central Library.

September
First Dorothy Mann Memorial Lecture:
The Artists’ Rifles
Michael Orr

October
The Last Voyage of the Emden
Ian Cull

November
A talk on the theme of Remembrance
by Tony Stubbs
Unfortunately Tony had to cancel at the last minute: so it turned into an evening of conversation and a brief act of remembrance. Displays were provided by several members including artworks prepared by children in Cranfield for a British Legion remembrance competition. Some of these are now on this website – click here.

December
The Battle of Arras
Jon Nicholls