TAS Kington Langley had a very busy week

We’ve had a busy week at TAS Kington Langley. Our normal monthly lecture on Tuesday 4th March and then our Special Interest Day on Friday 7th March.

Our first lecture of the week was ‘Hidden Canvasses – Street Art’ with Doug Gillen. He gave this lecture last year as part of Chippenham Fringe Festival and it was such a great success that we booked him for TASKL as part of this year’s programme.

Our membership is of a generation that either dislikes graffiti or is at best ambivalent or lacking in any knowledge of street art – apart from Banksy - so it was just as well that Doug was passionate, enthusiastic and knowledgeable about all the different forms of street art -the un-commissioned work adorning our streets and buildings.

From the earliest days of mark making back in prehistoric times he led us to see how graffiti was a response from people who felt that they were invisible in their community. Graffiti gave them a way to mark their territory. Doug then introduced us to the amazing work that is now being created across the world. Eye opening indeed and Doug enthused us all to look at street art from a wider perspective.

A really excellent lecture and Doug was able to answer the wide range of questions that his talk engendered.

Later that week we had Ian Swankie leading our SID on ‘London: Global Showcase of Art and Architecture’. We had a full house with numerous TAS members on zoom. Ian is a passionate Londoner and we were treated to three lectures on ‘London’s Great Railway Stations’, ‘From Bronzes to Banksy’ and finally ‘The Gleaming Spires of London’

All three were excellent, Ian introduced us to areas of London we hadn’t really explored before, numerous restaurants to try next time we are up in town and the joy of being in such a vibrant and dynamic city with world class architecture.

We were able to chat and question him more closely over lunch with a bottle of London Pride in hand.

Lunch was as ever brilliant. Our thanks go to Diane for the delicious cottage pie, peas and carrots with lashings of gravy and her husband Robert who peeled a least a ton of potatoes. Our thanks also to Sheila and Sue for their desserts and Gabrielle, Edwina for all their help during the day and to Margaret and Kay for their help decorating the hall beforehand.

As well as enjoying the lectures we had time to chat with friends and welcome new members and visitors to Kington Langley.

My thanks to everyone on the committee for such a busy but successful week.

I think our next SID Visit in 2026 will be Venice. We look forward to you joining us then.

Heather