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ONLINE HISTORY LECTURE SERIES

 

We are delighted to offer our first online History Lecture series

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Join Chris Hare as he explores the local history of Sussex

 

Four talks between October and December covering 

Lucy Broadwood (22nd October)

The Sussex Bonfire Boys (29th October)

The West Sussex Fascists (11th November)

Hilaire Belloc (4th December)

 

All talks start at 7.30pm and are delivered online via Zoom 

 

Cost £15 for all 4 or £5 each lecture

 

If you sign up for all 4 in the series, then you will also be able to view a recording of each of the talks,

for a limited period of time after the last lecture

Thursday 4th December 2025, 7.30pm 

online via Zoom 

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Talk 4/4

Hilaire Belloc, Sussex Identity and history

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Hilaire Belloc, though born in France in 1870, spent his youth and most of his adult life in Sussex, living first in Slindon, and then later at Shipley. This talk will include extracts from Belloc’s many essays and poems eulogising his adopted county; but it will also explore the deeply spiritual side of this formidable man, who lamented the increasing materialism of the western world. Belloc lived a the life of the outsider, frequently taking up unpopular causes and finding himself embroiled in political and religious controversies. In his rather febrile existence, Belloc found comfort and repose in his Sussex home, which found its deepest expression in his celebrated Sussex 'farrago', The Four Men.

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This talk is one of four by Chris Hare and all four are available for just £15

 

If you sign up for the series, you will be able to view a recording of the each lecture for a limited period of time after the series has ended  

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Also available individually at £5 per lecture (but no access to the recording)

Wednesday 22nd October 2025, 7.30pm 

online via Zoom 

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Talk 1/4

Lucy Broadwood and the folk songs of Sussex

 

Lucy Broadwood(1858 - 1929) lived a full and varied life, with many interests and challenges. Her work as a pioneer folk song collector in Sussex during the 1880s and 1890s, made possible the later work of Ralph Vaughan Williams, Percy Grainger, and Cecil Sharp. As well as being a founding member of the English Folk Song Society, she was also a leading light in the Purcell Society, and greatly interested esoteric and mystical beliefs. Despite battling ill-health most of her adult life, she was active until the last. In this talk, Chris will draw on her extensive and revealing diaries to help paint a picture of this remarkable woman and her life.

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This talk is one of four by Chris Hare and all four are available for just £15

 

If you sign up for the series, you will be able to view a recording of the each lecture for a limited period of time after the series has ended  

​

Also available individually at £5 per lecture (but no access to the recording)

Wednesday 29th October 2025, 7.30pm 

online via Zoom 

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Talk 2/4

'We Burn to Remember'

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During the nineteenth century, celebrations of November Fifth/ Bonfire Night, in Sussex were carried on with an exuberance that often culminated in tumult and riot. As Victorian middle class respectability sought to assert control over unregulated popular demonstrations, November 5th was frequently the occasion for violent confrontations between 'bonfire boys' and the police. As well as shining a light on this largely overlooked aspect of county history, this talk will also ask what ask what connections there might be between those patriotic displays of the past and the nationalistic marches and protests we have seen in our own times.

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This talk is one of four by Chris Hare and all four are available for just £15

 

If you sign up for the series, you will be able to view a recording of the each lecture for a limited period of time after the series has ended  

​

Also available individually at £5 per lecture (but no access to the recording)

Tuesday 11th November 2025, 7.30pm 

online via Zoom 

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Talk 3/4

The West Sussex Fascists

 

When the Churchill government introduced internment without trial in May 1940 of supposed ‘fifth columnists’, more people were arrested in West Sussex than any other English county. Who were these West Sussex Fascists and how influential were they? Oswald Mosley’s spokesman on agriculture was a farmer in Angmering, another local leader was both a borough and county councillor, even one of the county’s vicars was a fascist. Yet these men were not always what we might expect, with views on the environment and popular music that could seem more progressive than reactionary.

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This talk is one of four by Chris Hare and all four are available for just £15

 

If you sign up for the series, you will be able to view a recording of the each lecture for a limited period of time after the series has ended  

​

Also available individually at £5 per lecture (but no access to the recording)

About the Speaker

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Chris Hare

 

Chris was born in Worthing in 1962, and apart from time away at university and a stint as an adult education manager in Newton Abbot, Devon, Chris has lived in the town all his life. His interest in history began when his grandmother used to buy him Ladybird Adventures in History books whenever she visited. His interest in local history began, when studying A Levels at Worthing Sixth Form College, he came across the Worthing Skeleton Army riots of 1884 and the dramatic 'Reading of the Riot Act' that followed: he has been hooked ever since.


Chris has a first degree in British Studies and an MA in Life History. He has worked for the Centre of Continuing Education at the University of Sussex, he was later an adult education manager at Newton Abbot, and then for Midhurst and Petworth. Since 2009, Chris has run his own heritage consultancy, History People UK, during which time he has managed over 30 community heritage projects in Sussex and Hampshire, mainly funded by National Lottery Heritage Fund grants.

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