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AD ED CLASSES 2026
RELAXED, FUN AND FULL OF INTERESTING STUFF (& NICE PEOPLE)!
SCROLL DOWN FOR DETAILS OF HOW TO ENROL ✍
1A Pelham Street, Brighton, BN1 4FA
"The Whiplash Curve" of Art Nouveau and Iconic Geometric Art Deco.
This relaxed Saturday session is for those who are interested in comparing and contrasting the flowing, curvaceous lines of Victorian Art Nouveau with the interwar geometrical style of iconic Art Deco.
Art Nouveau was organic, using elements found in nature, for example flowers, insects and trees. Its style was sensual with whiplash lines, tendrils of hair and sprouting vines, creating an asymmetrical and fanciful appearance.
In comparison, iconic Art Deco style was geometric. It was associated with the Jazz Age, so was also described as "jazzy". It utilised modern technology and innovations, such as plastic, chrome, aluminium and electricity. The smooth, regular patterns were found in and on everything from art to fashion, furniture, light fittings ornaments, glass, ceramics and jewellery. Its elegance furnished homes in a new, exciting fashion and hugely influenced cinema: facades, interiors, film sets and costume.
Both styles were innovative and daring, emerging from earlier influences – Egyptian being a major feature of Art Deco.
Illustrated with hundreds of colourful slides.
Single Saturday 11am-3pm 22 November
Ref: MCOM166D1A Fee: £36 - 2 places left
Enrol: https://www.brightonmet.ac.uk/courses/history-the-whiplash-curve-of-art-nouveau-and-iconic-geometric-art-deco/
<<<ONLINE (Vimeo)>>>
Join the Regency Cook, Paul Couchman, and social historian Sarah Tobias for more of their continuing, delightful, illustrated online classes and courses with a global audience!
🎄HISTORY OF CHRISTMAS CUSTOMS, FEASTING AND FOOD
Fascinating history and food from Medieval to 20c
Thursday 4,11,18 December 7-8pm
Further details and links will appear soon, later - declare an interest/reserve a place: paul.g.couchman@gmail.com
Adult Ed classes, courses and events
! > IF YOU HAVE COVID, 'FLU, COUGH, COLD, FEEL UNWELL - PLEASE DO NOT ATTEND IN CONSIDERATION OF YOUR FELLOW STUDENTS ! <
N.B. History courses may contain outdated attitudes, cultural depictions and language which cause offence today. They have to be viewed from an historic perspective. When discussing the content these views are not those of the tutor. If you feel you may be uncomfortable about this, please do not enrol.
MET courses taught at Pelham Street Brighton BN1 4FA
Any problems enrolling, please contact me enrolling, contact me, SARAH.TOBIAS@gbmc.ac.uk
Enrolment: 01273 667704 Admissions:.admissions@gbmc.ac.uk
To be eligible for a 50% discount on courses (not single Saturday), you must meet the below criteria :
- Unemployed and in receipt of a means tested benefit
- Employed and earning below £22,038 annual gross salary
SPRING 2026
<<<ONLINE (Vimeo)>>>
Join the Regency Cook, Paul Couchman, and social historian Sarah Tobias for more of their continuing, delightful, illustrated online classes and courses with a global audience!
Upcoming 2026
🎂TWELFTH NIGHT REVELRY, FUN AND FOOD
Monday 5 January 2026 7-.8pm
💌LOVE AND LOATHING : AN ALTERNATIVE ST VALENTINE'S
Saturday 14 January 2026
Further details and links will appear later in year - declare an interest:
Pelham Street, BrightonRoaring Twenties to Thirties Depression: Interwar Britain (1919-1939)
including 1920s Shoreham's fun-loving “Bungalow Town” and its cinema industry. Although there was poverty and notorious razor gangs, 'thirties Brighton saw a new prosperity. Leafy suburbs were spreading around the country and governments tried to tackle social and health problems.
1930s saw the depression and much poverty, slums and lack of food and work. We view the working class and how they lived; their homes and family life and the poor prospects at the time for the working man and his housebound wife – or possibly a working one. Life was extremely hard for the poor. Much of the illness and disease was the result of social and housing conditions – but medical advances were being made, for example, vaccination & blood transfusions.
New, leafy suburbs were offering the luxury of a £495 house with inside WC and a bathroom that. could be secured with a down payment of £1 if the £25 deposit could be raised.
During this period there was a wealth of wonderful literature and the joy of film. Cinema-going was extremely popular and influenced people’s lives in many ways including what they wore. Imitating your favourite film star meant dressing like them, so clothing for the working class included synthetic silk – ‘Rayon’, and young women cut their hair short in a ‘bob’, wore cosmetics, smoked and shortened their skirts in order to dance the Charleston – just like their liberated screen idols.
Illustrated with books, slides, video
10 weeks Mondays 3-5pm Start 12 January
Ref: MACL132E Fee £165
Enrol: https://www.brightonmet.ac.uk/courses/history-roaring-twenties-to-thirties-depression-interwar-britain-1919-1939/
Rottingdean Whiteway CentreThe Great Exhibition and Mid-Victorian Britain (1848-1870)
This was a time of philanthropy and feminism with great women such as Florence Nightingale and her use of statistics; and the tireless work of social reformers such as Josephine Butler, who fought to bring about the repeal of the Contagious Diseases Act, and Caroline Norton’s huge input for the Married Women’s Property Act, despite her husband’s abuse.
We shall examine life at home and work, poverty, living conditions and sanitary reforms, as well as improvement in travel due to the Underground, and the colourful world of the Pre-Raphaelite painters and the Arts and Crafts Movement.
Illustrated with powerpoint slideshows.
10 weeks Tuesday 10.30am-12.30pm Start 13 January
Booking opens Saturday 29 November - places fill quickly
We study how women coped admirably in both World War One and Two and how it changed their lives. From being housewives and mothers they became independent women working and looking after their homes and taking on important war work.
Daily life was turned upside-down, but the fighting spirit shone through! We view domestic, social and working life on the home front – rationing, shelters, factory work and more. Also included are readings from WWI & II diaries of women, such as Nella Last – warm, witty, courageous, charming and funny as well as heart-breaking in parts. Women displayed their ingenuity and inventiveness. Nurses writing home from overseas or who were stationed in Britain give us a touching insight into the lives of men and women during this period.
When men went to war women went to work. They took on what had been seen as hard and heavy work in factories, on farms, driving buses, in the armed services, as pilots, doctors, nurses, typists, spies, in the Land Army and in the WRVS and other voluntary organisations, as well as being housewives and mothers. At home during war and after, women had to cope with rationing and learning to ‘make do and mend’ while attempting to remain glamorous, keeping up with fashion and cosmetics.
When men returned from war women returned to the home they had not really left, no longer allowed to carry on with jobs for which they were highly trained, such as Ruby the welder.
Illustrated with books, slides, video
10 weeks Tuesdays 4-6pm Start 13 January
Ref:MACL164D1A Fee £165
Enrol: https://www.brightonmet.ac.uk/courses/history-women-at-war-life-on-the-homefront-wwi-wwii-1915-1945/
INDEPENDENTLY RUN BY THE TUTOR at The Church of the Holy Cross Parish Hall, Woodingdean (Brighton). Bus nos 2, 22 stop outside. Small car park back of hall.
WEALTH AND POVERTY IN LATE VICTORIAN AND EDWARDIAN BRITAIN (1875-1914)
8 weeks Wednesday 1-3pm Start 21 January
Details to follow
£75 Cheque payable to "Ms S Tobias" stating your name, address, telephone and e-mail. Post or deliver: Ms S Tobias, C/o Fleur Butler, Church of the Holy Cross, Downsway, Woodingdean BN2 6ND follow
INDEPENDENTLY RUN BY THE TUTOR at The Church of the Holy Cross Parish Hall, Woodingdean (Brighton). Bus nos 2, 22 stop outside. Small car park back of hall.
Life, Work and leisure Between-the-Wars (1918-1939)
We study how life changed after the First World War – high living for the wealthy declined with lack of servants, but cultural life took on a particular aspect reflected in architecture, design, fashion, music, literature, cinema and distinctive style of Art Deco.There was a decline in high living after the First World War as the supply of servants dramatically dropped.
Further changes altered everyday life and perceptions, especially how women viewed their role, although little was being done to change their status even though they had contributed so greatly to the war effort and workforce. Wives had been liberated during wartime when they had to work and look after home and family alone, but did life return to the usual role-play once their husbands returned? Pioneers, such as Marie Stopes with her birth control methods aimed at freeing women from the continual cycle of child-bearing, while others, such as pilot Amy Johnson, took on exciting challenges.
Various events had an impact on people’s lives, including the launch of Penguin paperbacks in 1935, and Gollancz’s Left Book Club in 1937, which enabled the working-class to purchase books cheaply, thus opening up a whole new world to them, as did cinema-going which reached its height of popularity in the 1930’s and influenced the way people lived, including how they dressed and spoke. It was also educational and informative, as well as an escape from the drudgery of everyday life.
Illustrated with books, slides, video
8 weeks Monday 10.30am-12.30pm Start tba
Details to follow
£75 Cheque payable to "Ms S Tobias" stating your name, address, telephone and e-mail. Post or deliver: Ms S Tobias, C/o Fleur Butler, Church of the Holy Cross, Downsway, Woodingdean BN2 6ND
INDEPENDENTLY RUN BY THE TUTOR
Venue to be confirmed
The Novel as Social History:
Women in the Face of Adversity
Unique course comprising literature, social and cultural history, book club – and lively discussion! Within the pages of the novel we discover more than a story - enthralling ‘other’ information about people, relationships, class and place.
N.B. Some novels contain outdated language, attitudes and cultural depictions which cause offence today. They have to be read and viewed from an historic perspective. When discussing the content these views are not those of the tutor.
We study the social and cultural history of the novel by exploring background information we are absorbing unwittingly, and which is not the main theme, but which gives us an extensive and detailed knowledge of everyday life
Within each piece of fiction is a wealth of information on culture and social life which leads us into deeper understanding of a subject, time, place, period in history, genre, working conditions, habits, style or social trend that we might pursue further, deepen our knowledge and intensify our interest.
There are two books to read each fortnight over 10 weeks in a specific order and make notes. You then participate in lively group discussion in the relaxed and friendly atmosphere. This term’s novels include: “Mary Barton“ by Elizabeth Gaskell (1848), “Hannah” by Dinah Craik (1871), “Reuben Sachs” by Amy Levy (1888), “The Whirlpool” by George Gissing (1897), “The Backward Shadow” by Lynne Reid Banks (1970) – 5 more:
REQUEST FULL READING LIST WELL IN ADVANCE OF THE
COURSE FROM TUTOR: SARAH.TOBIAS@gbmc.ac.uk
5 fortnightly Saturdays 11am-1pm Start February - date tba
>> Please contact if you would like to study this course << sarah.tobias@gbmc.ac.uk
<<<ONLINE (Vimeo)>>>
Join the Regency Cook, Paul Couchman, and social historian Sarah Tobias for more of their continuing, delightful, illustrated online classes and courses with a global audience!
💌LOVE AND LOATHING : AN ALTERNATIVE ST VALENTINE'S
Saturday 14 January 2026
Further details and links will appear later in year - declare an interest:
☼ SUMMER 2026 ☼
Pelham Street, BrightonThe Three Fabulous A’s! - Arts and Crafts, Art Nouveau and Art Deco (1850-1950)
Arts & Crafts Art Nouveau Art Deco
Three new and exciting movements from the middle of the Victorian century to the middle of the Twentieth century.
After industrialised mass-produced goods, the Arts and Crafts movement celebrated a return to individual handcrafted items. This led to the ornate, nature-inspired designs of Art Nouveau which morphed into the geometric style of Art Deco. All influenced people’s lives and living.
We study the impact of arts and culture on 19th and 20th centuries society and the very distinct and colourful look of each of these inspired, innovative and iconic styles, starting with William Morris led Arts and Crafts. It began mid-century in Britain, comprising a group of craftsmen, artists, designers and architects who aimed to raise the status of the applied arts to that of fine art. They hand-made individual pieces that were also useful, and designed exquisite houses, furniture and furnishings.
Art Nouveau style followed on directly from Victorian Arts & Crafts and was in response to radical changes and technological advances. It was highly decorative, with undulating and flowing forms, waves, asymmetrical lines and famous “whiplash” curve. Its organic structure, designs and motifs were influenced by many forms; as was 1920s & 30s iconic Art Deco, Modernist style, but this was geometric and curving, utilising modern technology and materials such as cement and chrome.
Highly illustrated with masses of colourful power-point sideshows, books and images.
8 weeks Tuesdays 6.30-8.30pm Start 21 April
Ref: MACL001E1A Fee £120
Enrol: https://www.brightonmet.ac.uk/courses/history-the-three-fabulous-as-arts-and-crafts-art-nouveau-and-art-deco-1850-1950/
“Never had it so good”: A World of Change - Post-War Britain 1945-1960
The fabulous ‘Fifties and swinging Sixties! After the drabness and depression of war we see a burst of colour and hope for a brighter future with Dior’s New Look, The Festival of Britain, modernity in homes, welfare reforms - and Rock ‘N Roll!
We study social and cultural changes that followed the upheavals of World War Two, including the need for housing and improvements in living and working conditions. This was a new post-war era of optimism – particularly with the wonderful 1951 morale-boosting South Bank Festival of Britain visited by millions. There were changes in fashion and new interest in cosmetics. Interiors became brighter with fun wallpaper, modern furniture and kitchens.
We see the effects of relationships due to how people had altered, which led to quite a few divorces. We also focus on women and the adjustments to their domestic, social and family life following the war.
Amid the social and political changes came the youth revolution; milk & coffee bars, dance halls & Bill Haley and The Comets. This period saw the introduction of new writers, social realism and the ‘angry young man’, e.g. Joe Lampton in Room at the Top.
"Go around the country and you will see a state of prosperity such as we have never had in the history of this country." Prime Minister Harold Macmillan 1957
Illustrated with books, slides, film and documentary
6 weeks Mondays 3-5pm Start 11 May
Ref: MACL131E1A Fee £97
Enrol: https://www.brightonmet.ac.uk/courses/never-had-it-so-good-a-world-of-change-post-war-britain-1945-1965/
INDEPENDENTLY RUN BY THE TUTOR
SUMMER READING
Saturday 20 June 11am-3pm
3 books to read and discuss, looking at the social and cultural history within the text.
Novels will include "Summer" by Edith Wharton (1917)
Further details and venue TBA -
Contact if you are interested in attending sarah.tobias@gbmc.ac.uk