Friday 1 February 2013

CLASSES, COURSES, TALKS, TOURS, PERFORMANCE


EXCITING EVENTS IN SUSSEX - ENTERTAINING AS WELL AS EDUCATIONAL, FUN AS WELL AS FACTUAL.
Sarah Tobias lecturer in social & cultural history
Keep visiting this site for regular updates 
Details given as accurately as possible, but may change, be postponed or cancelled.
PLEASE CHECK ALL VENUES, FEES, DAYS BEFORE BOOKING. Details of venues at end.
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APRIL
Currently running
Summer 2013
C O U R S E S 
City College, Pelham Street, Brighton
Victorian Life and Leisure 1851-1875 
We study general life, as well as the family, work, leisure, travel, art and culture. This period saw the burgeoning "leisure industry", holidays - particularly the seaside - travel to the countryside, and the new green spaces of the town as public parks were opened for al to enjoy and benefit. Working life was a different matter and there was little time off from the hard and continuous grind for the poor. But society was changing and we look at the urban environment, railway, public health and civic amenities, as well as improvements in working hours and conditions, plus poverty and unemployment, philanthropy and poor relief.
 Illustrated with PowerPoint, DVD, books, images and texts.
Mondays 2-4pm 5 weeks start 15 April  
 Ref: COM090 Fee £49  Tel: 01273 667767 
Download booking form from website:   
 http://www.ccb.ac.uk/public/courses/adult/history-victorian-life-and-leisure-1851-1875-apr-13-6277.html   
                                                                                                                                                                     Whiteway Centre, Rottingdean  
Victorian Life and Leisure 1851-1875 
Details as above
Wednesdays 10.30am-12.30pm 5 weeks start 17 April 
Fee £35 downloadable booking form: http://www.rwc.org.uk
Booking forms available at Whiteway Centre, which can be posted with payment into Centre letterbox                              
C O U R S E S 
Whitehawk Inn Community Centre, Brighton in partnership with Friends Centre
THE EDWARDIANS – real life behind Downton Abbey
A golden age before war was to change the idyll of elegant life for the wealthy. Boys were sent to public school and young women were tightly corseted. Selfridges was founded in 1909 and invented the idea of shopping as a leisure time activity. If you were wealthy you spent your days in leisure pursuits and changing clothes - up to five times daily. For the poor living in slums, life was not  golden. The summer season's giddy whirl for women of fashion was in sharp contrast to poor wives and mothers trying hard to keep a decent home and family  fed. Towards the end of the century the style in architecture and furnishing was changing from the heavy, Gothic look, to the lighter style of Art Nouveau, and the cluttered look was beginning to make way for cleaner lines and a more natural look. Illustrated.
5 weeks starting Wednesday 24 April 2.30-4.30pm. 
Free - early booking advised - Tel: 01273 682222  http://www.whinn.org.uk/
    FULLY BOOKED-waiting list
                                           
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 MAY
BRIGHTON FESTIVAL FRINGE
The Gothic Chapel, Extra-Mural Cemetery,
Lewes Road, Brighton
(Bank Hol) Monday 6 & Saturday 18 May 12-1.30pm
Dido's Lament: Rituals of Death and Mourning 
C. Paula Wrightson 2013
DeadGood Films presents clips of forthcoming hauntingly beautiful black and white film on the fascinating rituals and superstitions of Victorian death and mourning. 
This will be followed by discussion with creator/producer Sarah Tobias and award-winning director Valentina Lari. There will also be a talk and readings on customs of death, grief, mourning, clothing, widowhood and the funerary industry; plus a photographic exhibition.
Now includes, additional 10 minute film, "In Loving Memory" on epitaphs and graves, also directed by Valentina Lari.
Music specially composed and played by Glynne Cicada
'Dido's Lament' from 'Dido and Aeneas' by Henry Purcell sung on film by Sarah Tobias   
accompanied on piano by Ambrose Page
Admission £6.50 £5.50 concessions (schoolchildren/students/benefits) under 12's must be accompanied by an adult
To book: Tel: 01273 917272 
or book online at Brighton Festival Fringe http://boxoffice.brightonfringe.org/event.aspx?evId=4510#container
* All paid attendees will be given a complimentary ticket to the première of the film which is due to be screened in the summer *

 G U I D E D   H O U S E   T O U R S 
PRESTON MANOR
 (End of Preston Park, Brighton) Free parking, buses stop nearby, Preston Park railway station nearby
“HIDDEN HOUSE” - Behind the Scenes at the Manor 
C. Sarah Tobias 2011
Saturday 11 May 11am-2.45pm & 2-3.45pm
Unique guided tour. Discover hidden rooms and secret places not normally open to the public.
If you have ever visited a historic property and longed to go through that door marked ‘private’, now you can at Preston Manor! Sarah Tobias has devised a fascinating 'backstage' tour taking you into rooms, vaulted cellars and up concealed servants’ staircases, to attics where female servants slept and into corridors not on the public route. 
Admission: £15 & £12 includes tea & biscuits.
These popular tours fill quickly. Places are limited to 12 persons per tour - early booking advised
Tour guides Sarah Tobias & Paula Wrightson (Preston Manor Creative Programme Manager)
N.B. There are lots of stairs, some low door frames -and it is VERY COLD in some parts of the house. 
Book: 03000 290902
http://www.brighton-hove-rpml.org.uk/whatson/pages/behindthescenesatprestonmanor.aspx

L E C T U R E S   /   T A L K S
PRESTON MANOR 
(End of Preston Park, Brighton) Free parking, buses stop nearby, Preston Park railway station nearby
“HIDDEN HISTORIES” - A real life Lady Chatterley? 
Thursday 16 May  11am-12.30pm & 2-3.30pm 

1970s: apparent evidence emerged that Lady Ellen Thomas-Stanford formed a liaison with her butler and her illegitimate heir was alive, well and living in Canada. True? Find out about the private life of the Edwardians in this investigation into an unspoken taboo of the era: love between the classes. Includes never-before-seen documents and photographs, discussed over tea and biscuits. 
Talk on the Edwardians, the class system and scandal of divorce and unmarried mothers by social historian Sarah Tobias. Lady Ellen, her butler, archive material and documents discussed by Paula Wrightson, Preston Manor's creative programme manager
Admission: £10 members £8 includes tea and biscuits.  
Book: 03000 290902
http://www.brighton-hove-rpml.org.uk/WhatsOn/Pages/PMHiddenHistoriesAreallifeLadyChatterley.aspx



PACA Portslade Aldridge (Adult Education) Community Academy
Foredown Tower, Portslade

Life Between-the-wars (1918-1939)
This course focuses on social and cultural changes that followed World War 1, when high living declined for the wealthy due to the lack of servants, and cultural life took on a particular aspect, reflected in the architecture, design, fashion, literature and cinema of the era. We also focus on changes in women's lives. with slides, film clips, books, images and artefacts.
Friday 24 May10am-4pm

 Fee: £30 concessions £25 (over-60s/benefits/BN41 postcode)
*Friday 24 May & Saturday 25 May (mini-course) can be booked together with discount
     Book: 01273  422632
Free parking, buses stop nearby, refreshments, small garden area around tower - and fantastic views .

Art Deco & the 'Moderne

After WWI a new, very distinctive style emerged 1920s/30s, vibrant with colour, its modern designs full of sharp patterns and influenced by many styles and countries. Its iconic elegance furnished homes in a new, exciting fashion, utilizing modern technology, materials & electricity. 
, directly following Art Nouveau. Architectural buildings of every type from churches to cinemas, houses, bus stations, garages and lidos were developed in this style which had many influences. It was associated with the Jazz Age and also described as "jazzy" and it utilised modern innovations, such as plastic, chrome, aluminium and electricity. The smooth lines and geometric patterns were found in and on everything from art to fashion, furniture, light fittings, ornaments, glass ceramics and jewellery. Cinema and film included sets and flowing dresses and the style reached its height of fashion in the Hollywood musical with the wonderful Busby Berkeley Hollywood film dance routines. 
Illustrated with slides, film clips, books and costume.

Saturday 25 May  10am-3pm

Fee £24

*Friday 24 May & Saturday 25 May (mini-course) can be booked together with discount
Book: 01273 422632
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JUNE
C O U R S E S  &  F I E L D   T R I P S
Visiting the Victorians Summer Field Trips
4 Wednesdays 5, 12, 19, 26 June 2013
 Meet Brighton Station 

Four guided visits to houses, museums and collections which illustrate Victorian social, domestic and working life. Venues include The Red House, Bexleyheath (home of William Morris) (NT, otherwise £8, £7) (18c Danson House nearby, so will also visit, if time), The Old Operating Theatre Museum and Herb Garrett followed by guided Southwark sanitation walk; Museum of London "Down and Out in Victorian London" and 
Thomas and Jane Carlyle's house in Cheyne Walk, Chelsea.
More information for those who request it. 
(2012 trips included Down House, Kent; Apsley House & Wellington Arch, Canal & Foundling Museums, London; & Houses of Parliament)
Fee £35 does not include travel, admission to venues or refreshments.
Whiteway Centre, Rottingdean downloadable booking formhttp://www.rwc.org.uk

L E C T U R E S   /   T A L K S  /   T  O  U  R  S
PRESTON MANOR 
(End of Preston Park, Brighton) Free parking, buses stop nearby, Preston Park railway station nearby
“HIDDEN HISTORIES” - A real life Lady Chatterley? 
Saturday 8 June  11am-12.30pm & 2-3.30pm 

1970s: apparent evidence emerged that Lady Ellen Thomas-Stanford formed a liaison with her butler and her illegitimate heir was alive, well and living in Canada. True? Find out about the private life of the Edwardians in this investigation into an unspoken taboo of the era: love between the classes. Includes never-before-seen documents and photographs, discussed over tea and biscuits.
Talk on the Edwardians, the class system and scandal of divorce and unmarried mothers by social historian Sarah Tobias
Lady Ellen, her butler, archive material and documents discussed by Paula Wrightson, Preston Manor's creative programme manager
Admission: £10 members £8 includes tea and biscuits.  
Book: 03000 290902
http://www.brighton-hove-rpml.org.uk/WhatsOn/Pages/PMHiddenHistoriesAreallifeLadyChatterley.aspx


HEALTHWALKS 10th ANNIVERSARY WALKING TOURS
Historic Cemeteries Walk
Sunday 09 June 11am – 12.30pm

The cemeteries of Brighton are a secret treasure trove of history and wildlife.
Explore some of them with local social and cultural historian, Sarah Tobias

Meet at the Bear Rd (NOT Lewes Rd) entrance to Woodvale & Extra-Mural Cemetery.

Free - see Healthwalks full version of the Led Walks programme including bus information and walk descriptions
 www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/healthwalks10


PRESTON MANOR 
"HIDDEN LIVES" DOMESTIC SERVICE IN THE 1920s & 30s:
Below Stairs Tour and Talk
Saturday 15 June  11am-12.30pm & 2-3.30pm
The fascinating story of a lost world - that of the domestic servant. We discuss every aspect of the life f the servant inits final throes of the 1920s and 1930s,when a large proportion of the British population was in service. We will look at the domestic servants during this period who worked at Preston Manor, including letters and photographs not normally shown to the public. The hours were long and the work was hard but were the servants dedicated? Did they enjoy their work? Did they like their masters? You will see the servants hall and back staircase, not normally open to the public. Our talk will take place in one of the manor rooms.   
               All this and tea and biscuits, too!                                                                              
 Lecturer Sarah Tobias, Additional information, photographs and archive material Paula Wrightson, Preston Manor's creative programme manager.
Book: 03000 290902
http://www.brighton-hove-rpml.org.uk/WhatsOn/Pages/PMHiddenHistoriesAreallifeLadyChatterley.aspx

“HIDDEN GARDEN”- The Edwardian Kitchen Garden Revealed
Thursday 20 June  11am-12.30pm & 2-3.30pm
A unique and rare chance to visit the ruined wall gardens - not open to the public - where vegetable and fruits were grown. See remains of glasshouses, fernery and gardeners cottage. After this special tour we go into one of the manor rooms for a session on the history of walled kitchen gardens from medieval times to Twentieth Century, looking at archive documents, maps, pland ans photographs of the manor gardens and surrounding area. Fin out about country house kitchen gardening in its Edwardian heyday. 
Tea and biscuits will be served. 
Lecturer Sarah Tobias, Additional information, photographs and archive material Paula Wrightson, Preston Manor's creative programme manager.
Book: 03000 290902
http://www.brighton-hove-rpml.org.uk/WhatsOn/Pages/
All further details and information : 01273 292981 

G U I D E D   H O U S E   T O U R S 
“HIDDEN HOUSE” - Behind the Scenes at the Manor 
C. Sarah Tobias 2011
Saturday 22 June 11am-2.45pm & 2-3.45pm
Unique guided tour. Discover hidden rooms and secret places not normally open to the public.
If you have ever visited a historic property and longed to go through that door marked ‘private’, now you can at Preston Manor! Sarah Tobias has devised a fascinating 'backstage' tour taking you into rooms, vaulted cellars and up concealed servants’ staircases, to attics where female servants slept and into corridors not on the public route. 
Admission: £15 & £12 includes tea & biscuits.
These popular tours fill quickly. Places are limited to 12 persons per tour - early booking advised
Tour guides Sarah Tobias & Paula Wrightson (Preston Manor Creative Programme Manager)
N.B. There are lots of stairs, some low door frames -and it is VERY COLD in some parts of the house. 
Book: 03000 290902
http://www.brighton-hove-rpml.org.uk/whatson/pages/behindthescenesatprestonmanor.aspx

************************************************************************
Sussex University
The London Look: fashion and style (1780-2012)
International Summer School 4 weeks 24 June - 17 July for students from outside UK
Module IS149 FHEQ Level 4
Tutors Sarah Tobias & Alexandra Loske
Fee £1395 plus accommodation 
http://www.sussex.ac.uk/iss/modules/directory/2012/49790
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JULY
PRESTON MANOR 
(End of Preston Park, Brighton) Free parking, buses stop nearby, Preston Park railway station nearby
"HIDDEN LIVES" DOMESTIC SERVICE IN THE 1920s & 30s:
Below Stairs Tour and Talk
Saturday 6 July  11am-12.30pm & 2-3.30pm
The fascinating story of a lost world -that of the domestic servant. We discuss every aspect of the life of the servant in its final throes of the 1920s and 1930s, when a large proportion of the British population was in service. We will look at the the domestic servants during this period who worked at Preston Manor, including letters and photographs not normally shown to the public.  The hours were long and the work was hard but were the servants dedicated? Did they enjoy their work? Did they like their masters? You will see the servants hall and back staircase, not normally open to the public and our talk will take place in one of the manor rooms.
All this, and tea and biscuits, too! 
Lecturer Sarah Tobias, Additional information, photographs and archive material Paula Wrightson, Preston Manor's creative programme manager.
Book: 03000 290902
http://www.brighton-hove-rpml.org.uk/WhatsOn/Pages/PMHiddenHistoriesAreallifeLadyChatterley.aspx

“HIDDEN HISTORIES” - A real life Lady Chatterley? 
Saturday 13 July  11am-12.30pm & 2-3.30pm 


1970s: apparent evidence emerged that Lady Ellen Thomas-Stanford formed a liaison with her butler and her illegitimate heir was alive, well and living in Canada. True? Find out about the private life of the Edwardians in this investigation into an unspoken taboo of the era: love between the classes. Includes never-before-seen documents and photographs, discussed over tea and biscuits.
Talk on the Edwardians, the class system and scandal of divorce and unmarried mothers by social historian Sarah Tobias
Lady Ellen, her butler, archive material and documents discussed by Paula Wrightson, Preston Manor's creative programme manager
Admission: £10 members £8 includes tea and biscuits.  
Book: 03000 290902

“HIDDEN GARDEN”- The Edwardian Kitchen Garden Revealed
Saturday 20 July  11am-12.30pm & 2-3.30pm
A unique and rare chance to visit the ruined walled kitchen gardens - not open to the public - where vegetable and fruits were grown. See remains of glasshouses, fernery and gardener's cottage. After this special tour we go into the manor for a session in one of the manor rooms, which includes the history of kitchen gardens from medieval times to Twentieth Century,  looking at archive documents, maps, plans and photographs of the manor gardens and surrounding area.  Find out about country house kitchen gardening in its Edwardian heyday.
Tea and biscuits will be served.
Guide and lecturer Sarah Tobias, Archive information Paula Wrightson, creative programme manager for the manor
Book: 03000 290902
http://www.brighton-hove-rpml.org.uk/Whatson

CONCERT OF WORDS & MUSIC
Unitarian Church Hall, New Road, Brighton

REFLECTIONS ON GRIEG
The Life, Letters and Music of composer Edvard Grieg
Devised by Ambrose Page who also plays piano
Narrated by Sarah Tobias * Grieg narrated by Peter Morris

Programme notes: Edvard Grieg (1843-1907) is undoubtedly Norway's most famous composer, and it is his music that helped give this nation its own identity. Indeed, his contribution in this respect has made him a national hero in the eyes of many Norwegians! This concert of words and music will include a selection of his piano works, interspersed with readings, illuminating different aspects of Grieg, both as a man and as a composer. Ambrose Page.
Friday 26 July 12.30pm
Admission £3 on door

SATURDAY WORKSHOP 
PACA Portslade Aldridge (Adult Education) Community Academy
Foredown Tower, Portslade
Free parking, buses stop nearby, refreshments, small garden area around tower - and fantastic views across fields.
The Homefront in Wartime 
Trip back sixty plus years, when daily life was turned upside-down, but the fighting spirit shone through! We spend our war day on the home-front: find tips to stretch our budgets, eke out our food ration, keep up with fashion by “make do and mend” and celebrate an austerity Christmas. Illustrated with books, documentary footage, slideshow, ephemera and authentic items.
Saturday 27 July 10am-3pm
Fee: £24 
Book: 01273  422632

HEALTHWALKS 10th ANNIVERSARY WALKING TOURS

 Historic Preston Manor Walk
Saturday 30 July 11am– 12.30pm

Join local historian, Sarah Tobias and Paula Wrighson, Preston Manor's creative programme manager,
for this fascinating glimpse into the history of Preston Manor grounds including the pump house
and walled garden.

Meet outside Preston Manor, front entrance, Preston Park.

Free - see Healthwalks full version of the Led Walks programme including bus information and walk descriptions
 www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/healthwalks10



G U I D E D   H O U S E   T O U R S 
PRESTON MANOR
 (End of Preston Park, Brighton) Free parking, buses stop nearby, Preston Park railway station nearby
“HIDDEN HOUSE” - Behind the Scenes at the Manor 
C Sarah Tobias 2011
Thursday 31 July 11am-2.45pm & 2-3.45pm
Unique guided tour. Discover hidden rooms and secret places not normally open to the public.
If you have ever visited a historic property and longed to go through that door marked ‘private’, now you can at Preston Manor! Sarah Tobias has devised a fascinating 'backstage' tour taking you into rooms, vaulted cellars and up concealed servants’ staircases, to attics where female servants slept and into corridors not on the public route. 
Admission: £15 & £12 includes tea & biscuits.
These popular tours fill quickly. Places are limited to 12 persons per tour - early booking advised
Tour guides Sarah Tobias & Paula Wrightson (Preston Manor Creative Programme Manager)
N.B. There are lots of stairs, some low door frames -and it is VERY COLD in some parts of the house. 
Book: 03000 290902
http://www.brighton-hove-rpml.org.uk/whatson/pages/behindthescenesatprestonmanor.aspx
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AUGUST










PRESTON MANOR 
(End of Preston Park, Brighton) Free parking, buses stop nearby, Preston Park railway station nearby

"HIDDEN LIVES" DOMESTIC SERVICE IN THE 1920s & 30s:
Below Stairs Tour and Talk
Saturday 3 August  11am-12.30pm & 2-3.30pm
The fascinating story of a lost world -that of the domestic servant. We discuss every aspect of the life of the servant in its final throes of the 1920s and 1930s, when a large proportion of the British population was in service. We will look at the the domestic servants during this period who worked at Preston Manor, including letters and photographs not normally shown to the public.  The hours were long and the work was hard but were the servants dedicated? Did they enjoy their work? Did they like their masters? You will see the servants hall and back staircase, not normally open to the public and our talk will take place in one of the manor rooms.
All this, and tea and biscuits, too! 
Lecturer Sarah Tobias, Additional information, photographs and archive material Paula Wrightson, Preston Manor's creative programme manager.
Book: 03000 290902
http://www.brighton-hove-rpml.org.uk/WhatsOn/Pages/PMHiddenHistoriesAreallifeLadyChatterley.aspx

“HIDDEN GARDEN”- The Edwardian Kitchen Garden Revealed
Saturday 10 August  
  11am-12.30pm & 2-3.30pm
A unique and rare chance to visit the ruined walled kitchen gardens - not open to the public - where vegetable and fruits were grown. See remains of glasshouses, fernery and gardener's cottage. After this special tour we go into the manor for a session in one of the manor rooms, which includes the history of kitchen gardens from medieval times to Twentieth Century,  looking at archive documents, maps, plans and photographs of the manor gardens and surrounding area.  Find out about country house kitchen gardening in its Edwardian heyday.
Tea and biscuits will be served.
Guide and lecturer Sarah Tobias, Archive information Paula Wrightson, creative programme manager for the manor
Book: 03000 290902
http://www.brighton-hove-rpml.org.uk/WhatsOn/Pages/PMHiddenHistoriesAreallifeLadyChatterley.aspx

G U I D E D   H O U S E   T O U R S 
PRESTON MANOR
 (End of Preston Park, Brighton) Free parking, buses stop nearby, Preston Park railway station nearby
“HIDDEN HOUSE” - Behind the Scenes at the Manor 
C Sarah Tobias 2011
Friday 16 August 11am-2.45pm & 2-3.45pm
Unique guided tour. Discover hidden rooms and secret places not normally open to the public.
If you have ever visited a historic property and longed to go through that door marked ‘private’, now you can at Preston Manor! Sarah Tobias has devised a fascinating 'backstage' tour taking you into rooms, vaulted cellars and up concealed servants’ staircases, to attics where female servants slept and into corridors not on the public route. 
Admission: £15 & £12 includes tea & biscuits.
These popular tours fill quickly. Places are limited to 12 persons per tour - early booking advised
Tour guides Sarah Tobias & Paula Wrightson (Preston Manor Creative Programme Manager)
N.B. There are lots of stairs, some low door frames -and it is VERY COLD in some parts of the house. 
Book: 03000 290902
http://www.brighton-hove-rpml.org.uk/whatson/pages/behindthescenesatprestonmanor.aspx


“HIDDEN HISTORIES” - A real life Lady Chatterley? 
Saturday 31 August  11am-12.30pm & 2-3.30pm 

1970s: apparent evidence emerged that Lady Ellen Thomas-Stanford formed a liaison with her butler and her illegitimate heir was alive, well and living in Canada. True? Find out about the private life of the Edwardians in this investigation into an unspoken taboo of the era: love between the classes. Includes never-before-seen documents and photographs, discussed over tea and biscuits.
Talk on the Edwardians, the class system and scandal of divorce and unmarried mothers by social historian Sarah Tobias
Lady Ellen, her butler, archive material and documents discussed by Paula Wrightson, Preston Manor's creative programme manager
Admission: £10 members £8 includes tea and biscuits.  
Book: 03000 290902
http://www.brighton-hove-rpml.org.uk/WhatsOn/Pages/PMHiddenHistoriesAreallifeLadyChatterley.aspx
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 Forthcoming in Autumn 2013
C O  U R S E S
To include  
Autumn 2013
Culture and Society in Late Victorian Britain 1865-1895 

The long Victorian period was one of complete contrasts, especially during the latter part of the century. We study progress and change in architecture, technology, domestic life, work, leisure and the arts, using literature as a backdrop to set the scene, and paintings to demonstrate domestic and public life. We focus on cultural aspects of society, considering and contrasting expansion and development, and reflecting on wider issues surrounding debates on effects of change in society, community as a whole and women's status.

We look at various transforming revolutions which impacted on society, including advances in technology, the electrical revolution of 1870, and scientific thought some of which caused landowners to reconsider agricultural methods of farming; this in turn effecting changes in rural and urban life. During this period there was considerable migration from country to town which brought about changes in traditional ways of living. Plus, we consider other facets which remained constant, such as the huge gap between the lives of wealthy and poor. Urban housing was required for the growing work force and the emerging middle-class, as well as the alterations in grand country houses of the wealthy. Various architectural changes took place from the elegant neo-classical style to the fanciful Gothic.

We also discuss social investigation and reforms, in particular the work of Charles Booth's “Life and Labour of the People in London” which included his famous poverty maps. Social conscience among the burgeoning middle classes led to social investigation and action. There were many women social investigators, such as Brighton born Clementina Black (1853-1922), feminist, author and social reformer who was concerned with women’s work and wages, was a founder member of the Women’s Industrial Council in 1894, later becoming its President, and was involved with the 1888 Match Girl’s Strike at the Bryant and May factory – conditions which we will also study.

The course will be illustrated with slides, books, extracts from period diaries and journals, prints, paintings and video clips. 

City College, Brighton 10 weeks Monday 2-4pm start 23 September 2013
Whiteway Centre, Rottingdean 10 weeks Wednesday 10.30am-12.30pm start 25 September 2013


T A L K
St Bartholomew's Pathology Museum 
Grade II listed museum built in 1879, at historic St Bartholomew's Hospital 
(not currently open to public due to renovations)
Robin Brook Centre, West Smithfield, London, EC1A 7BE
Wednesday 25 September doors open 6.30pm

DEATH & MOURNING IN VICTORIAN ENGLAND
Illustrated talk on fascinating rituals and customs 
Fee: £6 including snacks and wine
https://www.facebook.com/BartsPathologyMuseum
Follow on Twitter http://www.smd.qmul.ac.uk/about/pathologymuseum/


PRESTON MANOR
 (End of Preston Park, Brighton) Free parking, buses stop nearby, Preston Park railway station nearby
A VICTORIAN HOUSE IN MOURNING 
Sunday 29 September 2-4pm
The house will be laid out for mourning and there will be a showing of the short, hauntingly beautiful film, Dido's Lament - Rituals of Death & Mourning, in the Macquoid Room, followed by discussion with director, producer and two of the cast.
Booking will open late August. Information: 01273 292981

S T U D Y    D  A  Y
Art Deco, Modernism & the Jazz Age
Saturday 23rd November  10am-4pm
Whiteway Centre, Rottingdean
Tutors Sarah Tobias and Paul Nielman (Jazz)
Fee: £20 includes refreshments and light lunch
Booking from mid-summer: http://www.rwc.org.uk

Spring & Summer 2014 courses include  
Spring 2014
Arts, Culture and Society: Late Victorian Britain 1865-1895

A new and exciting vision of domestic history as revealed in literature, art and the moving image: interpretations of late-Victorian cultural and social developments. We will observe the visual experience of change in architecture, technology, domestic life, working conditions, farming, poverty, women’s status, leisure activities, fashion, style and the arts.

We consider how children were educated and trained for various occupations and trades, as well as studying labour, conditions and new occupations, which led to changing trends in the home and style of living, eating and the way houses were decorated, for example wallpaper. We also look at different roles of servants and housekeeping. Other areas of study for comparison will include arts, literature and the importance of fashion and etiquette.

At this time there was much adulteration and dilution of food – sheep's droppings to weight tea packets, for example, and brick dust for colouring. People became ill or died from eating certain foods, including ice-cream, as a consequence. Inspectors were appointed to regulate hygienic practice and ensure customers were not cheated when food was incorrectly weighed. There were many types of eating-places such as soup-house, coffee stall, chop house and tea gardens, as well as elegant dining rooms and hotels. We look at food, dining and the Victorian kitchen garden, which was benefiting from new technologies and scientific ideas on horticulture. Seed packets were designed in bright colours of exquisite artistic design.

We look at period books and paintings, including the touching story of unmarried “Esther Waters” by George Moore which was made into a film starring Dirk Bogarde (we view clips), and the social novels of writers such as Dinah Craik, George Gissing, Margaret Oliphant, Anthony Trollope, Thomas Hardy and H.G. Wells, as well as the works and life of witty Oscar Wilde who had associations with Brighton.

If you like history and books and paintings this course is definitely for you! Illustrated with slides, books, extracts from period diaries and journals, prints, paintings and video clips.


City College, Brighton 10 weeks Monday 2-4pm start 13 January 2014
Whiteway Centre, Rottingdean 10 weeks Wednesday 10.30am-12.30pm start 15 January 2014

Summer 2014
Illusion and Reality - late Victorian Britain 1865-1895

Life for wealthy and poor during the long Victorian period was one of complete contrasts, especially during the latter part of the century. We look at life in countryside and town, discussing the differences between living conditions on the working farm to that of town dwelling and its various amenities and amusements. In this context we discuss the family, courtship, love and marriage as well as childhood and upbringing and home life. The illusion that Victorians were all strait-laced, uptight, humourless, easily shockable people is quite the opposite!

We compare domestic, social and cultural life, including how paintings and literature of the period depicted society; for example, in Robert Tressel's narrative of the poverty stricken house painters and paper-hangers in The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists (set in fictional Hastings), Thomas Hardy's depiction of the strong-minded Tess of the D'Urbervilles and Anthony Trollope's fascinating portrayal of middle-class greed and corruption in The Way We Live Now.

The home was paramount and the family was its focus. A place to escape from the stress of long working hours in factory and office. New technologies and ideas of hygiene changed how houses were run, decorated and furnished. 'Below stairs' is even more fascinating than 'above'. Houses were run with military precision and an army of servants, or perhaps just one cook-housekeeper for the lower middle-class. Leisure time was enjoyed by all classes in many different ways.

Illustrated with slides, books, extracts from period diaries and journals, prints, paintings and video clips. 
City College, Brighton 5 weeks Monday 2-4pm start 28 April 2014
Whiteway Centre, Rottingdean 5 weeks Wednesday 10.30am-12.30pm start 30 April 2014

Summer Field Trips 2014
Living with the Victorians - field trips: June 5, 12, 19, 26 Tutor/guide Sarah Tobias
Four guided visits to houses, museums and collections which illustrate late Victorian social, domestic and working life. We study customs, architecture, interiors, furnishings, art, fashion, domestic equipment and machinery and generally view life in the home. Visits include Leighton and Linley Sambourne Houses in Kensington with informed house guides.


All accessible by public transport. Meet Brighton Station approximately 10am, finish varies.
4 weeks (does not include travel, admission to venues, house guides or refreshments)




Sarah Tobias Dip Eur Hum, BA Hons, MA
Entertaining social/cultural/local historian.
Ask for details of talks/guided walks/visits for groups, clubs, societies. Current list of 30+ topics
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Venue Addresses, transport and refreshments
City College
Pelham Street, Brighton BN1 4FA
Location:
Behind York Place & London Road, turn up Cheapside – Aldi supermarket on corner. Or, turn left in Trafalgar St walking down from Station.
Transport & Parking:
Lots of buses nearby.
Nearby car park, about 5 minutes walk.
Railway station few minutes walk
Refreshments and further information:
Restaurant. Tea and coffee bar on balcony of Main Building.
Coffee shops, small cafés and public houses in nearby London Road 
London Road and Trafalgar Street: shopping, banks and supermarkets

Foredown Tower
Foredown Road, Brighton (Portslade) BN41 4EW
Transport & Parking:
No. 6 bus stops nearby-200 yds walk
Free car parking outside,
Refreshments and further information:
Refreshments available. 
Garden all round Tower and fantastic views across countryside

Portlade 6th Form Community Centre
Portslade Aldridge Community Academy
High Street Portslade, BN41 2PG
Transport & Parking:
No. 1 bus
Car parking 
Refreshments:
Cafe area

Preston Manor
Preston Drove, Brighton BN1 6SD
Location:
Situated at end of Preston Park.
Transport & Parking:
Buses and rail nearby
Free parking outside and in adjacent street.
Refreshments:
No cafe. Refreshments provided by staff at some events where stated.
Chalet restaurant in park and public houses opposite

Rottingdean Whiteway Centre
Whiteway LaneRottingdean, BN2 7HB
Location:
By Library/Grange Museum
Transport & Parking:
Buses stop nearby and on seafront.
Small car park, but always full. Possible space if you get there early
Fairly near street parking
Refreshments:
Kitchen with tea and coffee making facilities (provided)
Historic tea rooms and public houses in High Street.
Further information:
Kiplings walled garden and village green and pond nearby.
Few minutes walk to sea and beach. Shops, small supermarket and bank in High Street.

Southwick Community Centre
24 Southwick Street, Southwick, BN42 4TE
Transport & Parking:
Buses stop nearby. Railway few minutes walk.
Small car park outside community centre but fills quickly. Car park opposite near Library Both free.
Refreshments:
Cafe and garden area.
Further information:
Shops and small supermarket in Southwick Square.

Whitehawk Inn Community Centre
Whitehawk Road Brighton, BN2 3NS
Transport & Parking:
Buses stop nearby and some outside venue
Metered street car parking
Refreshments:
Café and garden area
Further information:
Few minutes walk to sea, beach and Marina or East Brighton Park

LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING YOU
Sarah Tobias Dip Eur Hum, BA Hons, MA
Entertaining social/cultural/local historian.
Ask for details of talks/guided walks/visits for groups, clubs, societies.
Current list of 30+ topics

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