Meetings Programme 2024-25
Welcome to our meetings page. Our year runs from September through till June.
Our meetings are normally held every third Thursday in the month in the Northcourt Centre, Northcourt Road, Abingdon OX14 1NS, at 7.45pm.
Visitors are welcome at our meetings - suggested donation £4.
Thursday 20th March 2025
Hubert Zawadzki – “My Polish Father's Experiences in WW2: From the Gulag to Normandy and Scotland"
My father’s wartime journey was epic: arrested by the Soviets in 1939 he spent nearly two years in Soviet prisons and labour camps before joining the Polish army in the USSR in 1942. This army was evacuated to the Middle East in that year. In 1943 he was transferred to the 1st Polish Armoured Division which was being formed in Scotland. In August 1944 the division was sent to Normandy and played a key role in the decisive battle of the Falaise Pocket where my father was wounded. Evacuated to Britain, he ended up in a Polish military hospital in Scotland. Through a large variety of documents, publications, photographs and official records, some remarkable ones only recently discovered, as well as his own notes, it has been possible to reconstruct his remarkable experiences in the wider context of the Polish contribution to the war.
Dr Hubert Zawadzki:
Born in 1946 in Scotland of Polish parents who came to Britain with the Polish Armed Forces during the Second World War via Siberia, the Middle East and Normandy, I lived until the age of eleven in various Polish resettlement camps across the length and breadth of Britain.
The family eventually put down roots in a village near Stratford-upon-Avon. I went, via a Polish boarding school near Henley-on-Thames and King Edward VI School in Stratford-upon-Avon, to read Modern History at Keble College, Oxford (1964-67). In 1973 I obtained a doctorate in Polish and Russian history at Wolfson College, Oxford, where I was also a Junior Research Fellow in 1973-76.
For 30 years (1976-2006) I taught history at Abingdon School while continuing with my academic work – and have had more time for this since my retirement from teaching in 2006. I have retained my long association with Wolfson College. I have given talks on East European history to schools and local societies, as well as on BBC radio, and have appeared on BBC TV programmes involving Poland.
I am the author of a monograph A Man of Honour: Adam Czartoryski as a Statesman of Russia and Poland (Oxford, 1993); and co-author (with Prof. Jerzy Lukowski) of A Concise History of Poland (Cambridge, 3rd edition 2019) which has been translated into seven languages. I have also translated and edited my mother’s memoirs: Irena Protassewicz, A Polish Woman’s Experience in World War II: Conflict, Deportation and Exile (Bloomsbury Academic, h/b 2019; p/b 2020). I am a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.
Thursday 17th April 2025
Dr. David Griffiths & Dr. Olaf Bayer – “The Archaeology of East Oxford"
Thursday 15th May 2025 (Lambrick Lecture)
The annual Lambrick Lecture is kindly supported by George and Camilla Lambrick, in memory of Georges's mother, Gabrielle Lambrick. Gabrielle was a highly-respected local historian of Abingdon, and in 1968 she also helped to found what is now AAAHS.
Ed Caswell - "Getting Big Stories from Small Finds: The Portable Antiquities Scheme in Abingdon and Oxfordshire”
Thursday 19th June 2025
Open Evening with Presentations by Members
Past Lectures
Thursday 19th September 2024
The Society's Annual General Meeting (AGM) will be followed by "The Road to Peace is Paved with Headstones - An introduction to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission" given by Dick Richards.
As we commemorate the many anniversaries of The Great War and The Second World War there has been much focus on remembering those who made the ultimate sacrifice. This talk highlights the role played by those far-sighted men and women who established an organisation, now known as the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, so that remembrance of their sacrifice will endure in perpetuity. We will look at the architectural and physical characteristics of the cemeteries and memorials as well as the underlying principles that govern their design. In addition, we will have an introduction to the Commission’s presence in Oxfordshire and the Abingdon area.
Dick Richards in the last 8 years has become a Volunteer with the Commission and as an approved CWGC Speaker delivers talks to local community groups: history societies, schools and youth groups. Also, Dick is a guide at his local CWGC cemetery at Botley in Oxford. He is delighted to spread the story of this extraordinary organisation.
The images show Botley Cemetery and Dick Richards
Thursday 17th October 2024
Peter Taylor (Author and Conservationist)
"Conservation and Rewilding - Recreating Ancient Landscapes?"
Peter Taylor will talk about his work on conservation and rewilding, with especial reference to whether ancient landscapes from various epochs through history can and should be recreated. He will outline the limitations of conventional conservation thinking and why he believes it is failing.
Peter holds Oxford degrees in Natural Sciences and Social Anthropology, He worked closely with the National Trust and the Forestry Commission in North Wales and the Lake District, as well as with other organisations. He wrote 'Beyond Conservation' in 2005 on behalf of the British Association of Nature Conservationists.
Longhorns (left)
Lynx (right)
Thursday 21st November 2024
Dr. Jane Harrison -
"A Place Apart: Recent Excavations at the Deserted Medieval Manor and Village of Besselsleigh"
Besselsleigh Manor and village site was occupied from at least the Anglo-Saxon period to the nineteenth century. Today the site is hidden below peaceful parkland but excavations revealed a colourful and varied history of conflict, good living and pioneering women's education.
Dr Jane Harrison is a fieldwork archaeologist and Early Medieval and Viking specialist. She has published, talked and presented widely on her excavations and research; all Jane's excavations have a strong focus on local involvement and training.
Photos by Sumo Services AAARP copyright
Thursday 19th December 2024
Andrew Hamilton - "Meet at Dawn Unarmed - The WW1 Christmas Truce of 1914"
Now considered a leading expert on the Christmas Truce, Andrew’s talk is based on Captain Robert Hamilton’s diary account of his experiences with the Royal Warwickshire Regiment during the first five months of the Great War - he was a good friend of Bernard Montgomery and the famous cartoonist Bruce Bairnsfather, so humour plays an important part in the talk. Andrew covers the events leading up to the Christmas Truce and the reasons it took place. His detailed description of the iconic event is based on over 25 contemporary accounts which paint an evocative picture of what happened and help to answer the eternal (and infernal) question: ‘Was an international football match played in No Man’s Land between English and German soldiers?’ 
Andrew Hamilton’s interest in the Great War was inspired by the discovery of his grandfather’s diary, which chronicled famously his involvement in the Christmas Truce of 1914.
Thursday 16th January 2025
Graham Twemlow – “Recording Britain: Celebrating the Country’s Natural Beauty & Architectural Heritage”
At the outbreak of WW2 an ambitious scheme was set up to employ artists on the home front. The result was a large collection of watercolours and drawings that make up a fascinating record of British lives and landscapes at a time of imminent change. This talk will highlight the works that featured Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, and Oxfordshire landscapes and landmarks, recorded by artists such as John Piper, Walter Bayes, Barbara Jones, Stanley Anderson and William Fairclough. Although not part of this scheme Graham will briefly discuss the work of Oswald Couldrey, “Abingdon’s best-known twentieth century artist”.
Image: 'Thame Market, 1940' by Stanley Anderson
Dr Graham Twemlow is a retired University lecturer who writes and lectures on design history and decorative arts subjects. An experienced speaker, he has given talks at venues such as the Royal Society of Arts, London, the Grolier Club, New York, Christie’s South Kensington, the River & Rowing Museum, Henley on Thames, the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, and numerous other venues in the U.K. His publishing credits include a role as a specialist consultant, editor and contributing author to the highly acclaimed Phaidon Archive of Graphic Design. Graham publishes aspects of his current research on a Blog (http://www.grahamtwemlow.blog)
Thursday 20th February 2025
Nat Jackson (Senior Project Office, DigVentures)
"The Archaeological Excavations at Wittenham Clumps”
This talk will cover (briefly!) the archaeology at Wittenham Clumps over the last 100 years and then dive deep into the more recent excavations that have been carried out by DigVentures over the past 7 years. It will cover everything from a strange Bronze Age pit, an Iron Age smithy, a large Roman building and maybe even some tiny dogs. We have uncovered over 15000 artefacts from the site and are continuing to excavate new areas finding even more.
Nat Jackson is a senior project officer with DigVentures, and has been working for them for the past 6 years. He has been working in archaeology for over a decade digging all over the country on both research and commercial sites.
DigVentures is a social enterprise archaeology company. We have pioneered the use of crowdfunding, crowdsourcing and digital methods to increase access and opportunities for real people to purposefully participate in real research.
