Welcome to The Arts Society North Yorkshire & South Durham

Our next talk is on:

Monday 19th May 2025 at 2.00.You may listen in the room at Blackwell Grange OR at home via Zoom. A hybrid Zoom link will be sent out nearer to the time of the talk.
Janet Gough will talk about:
'Sir Christopher Wren and rebuilding of the city of London out of the Plague 1665 and the Great fire of 1666.'

Biography:

For eight years the Church of England’s Director of Church Buildings and Secretary of the Church Buildings Council and Cathedrals Fabric Commission, Janet has written three illustrated paperbacks to encourage wider enjoyment of these amazing buildings, Director's Choice, Churches of the Church of England, Director's Choice, Cathedrals of the Church of England and most recently (2022) Deans' Choice, Cathedral Treasures of England and Wales. A Cambridge graduate in History and History of Art, Janet worked at Sotheby’s for nine years, was a trustee at the Churches Conservation Trust, the Museum of Fulham Palace and the Friends of the V&A and guided and lectured at the V&A. Janet set up and ran an architectural history course of London around visits to significant buildings. Janet has also given tours and lectured on secular architecture and fine and decorative arts. Janet received an OBE for services to heritage in 2017, and in 2021 was made one of the first lay Canons of Bangor cathedral.

Janet advised Royal Mail on the special Christmas 2024 stamps, which featured five cathedrals from across the UK and is currently working on a new book - Divine Light, the Stained Glass of the Cathedrals of England - due out Christmas 2025.

The subject of the talk:

Starting at the Monument to the Great Fire of London designed by Sir Christopher Wren and Robert Hooke, Janet uses Wren’s buildings to tell the story of the incredible rebuilding of London after the badly-handled Plague and disastrous Great Fire of 1666. We see how Wren drew on royal patronage, up-to-the-minute science, on an understanding of classical, other early and contemporary building styles and his deep insight into beauty and craftsmanship. Wren worked with a team of eminent collaborators to rebuild 51 new churches, crowned by the extraordinary domed Baroque St Paul’s Cathedral to quickly, efficiently and permanently redraw the skyline of London as well as developing a new built liturgy for the Church of England.

Our talks are held at the excellent venue of Blackwell Grange in Darlington:

https://blackwellgrangehotel.com/

Lecture Programme February- June-2025

Monday 17 February 2025

Zoom only lecture

Sue Jackson

A Walk through aristocratic St. James: Royalty, Rakes and Roistering

Monday 17 March 2025 2.00pm

Joanna Banham

150 Years of Liberty: Masterpieces of Design

Monday 14 April 2025 2.00pm

Nirvana Romell