Leicester Literary and Philosophical Society upcoming events

Lit&Phil 2026 Annual Members' Meeting, followed by a music concert (28 Sep 2026)

Mon, 28 Sep 2026 17:40:00 GMT

The Annual Members' Meeting, is open to all members of the Lit&Phil.

The meeting will start at 6:40 PM.

The Annual Members Meeting will be followed by a concert by players from the Bardi Wind Orchestra conducted by David Calow

Tectonics, temporality and tranquillity in the architecture of Carlo Scarpa (12 Oct 2026)

Mon, 12 Oct 2026 18:30:00 GMT

images credit: Kanti Chhapi

The President's Address

Kanti Chhapi DipArch

Retired Architect

Lecture outline

A personal appreciation of the work of the Italian architect and designer Carlo Scarpa (1906-1978), that explores themes of imaginative construction detailing, layering of history, and the creation of meditative spaces.

Biographical note

Diploma in Architecture from the Leicester Polytechnic School of Architecture in 1979, leading to ARCUK registration as an architect in 1980.

Post graduate experience with multi-disciplinary practices in London and the Midlands, including Architect and Design Consultantancy as sole principal 1994-2006.

Past part-time visiting tutor and lecturer at De Montfort University and Loughborough University.

Past President of the Leicestershire and Rutland Society of Architects.

Past member of the Conservation Advisory Panel to Leicester City Council Planning Department.

Past judging panel roles on national design awards, such as AUDI Young Designer of the Year, RIBA East Midlands Architecture and ProCon Leicestershire Awards.

Project award winner at RIBA Awards, ProCon Leicestershire Awards and Civic Society Awards.

Past President of the Leicester Literary and Philosophical Society (2012-13).

Retired 2024.

Attending the lecture

The lecture is open both to members of the Society and to guests.

The lecture will take place in the Leicester Museum & Art Gallery, New Walk https://www.leicestermuseums.org/leicester-museum-art-gallery/

The hall will be open from 6:45 and tea and coffee drinks will be available between 7.00pm and 7.15pm before the formal start of the event at 7.30pm.

The lecture will also be streamed on Zoom. A recording of the lecture may be available to members only.

Mary Seacole (1805-1881) and her legacy today (26 Oct 2026)

Mon, 26 Oct 2026 19:30:00 GMT

image supplied by the speaker

Claire Dove CBE DL

Crown Representative Voluntary, Community, and Social Enterprise Sector at UK Government, Chair St George’s Hall Charitable Trust

Lecture outline

The outstanding achievements of Mary Jane Seacole (1805-1881), an influential nurse, businesswoman and healer, were recognised when she was voted the greatest black Briton in 2004. This lecture explores the influence that women pioneers like Mary had on society and considers whether their achievements remain relevant in our modern world.

Biographical note

Claire has been a key player in the Voluntary, Charity and Social Enterprise movement since the 1980s and is the national Crown Representative for the VCSE Sector with the remit of supporting the sector to access government contracts.

Claire nationally and internationally is known for her work in the sector and for ten years chaired Social Enterprise UK. She worked with government and leaders from the sector to create the first strategy for the Social Enterprise movement. She has ensured that we had a voice within Westminster and Whitehall, this included working with the teams to introduce the Social Value Act which is now embedded into many local government frameworks and in the national Crown Commercial procurement service. After stepping down as chair of SEUK Claire was asked and accepted to become a patron to the organisation.

Claire led the highly successful Blackburne House Group, until she retired in July 2020. Blackburne House offers an outstanding educational offer to women alongside running its award-winning School for Social Entrepreneurship and highly successful social enterprises.

Claire has received many awards for her role within the sector, which includes an MBE, OBE and also the Queens Lifetime achievement award for Enterprise promotion. Claire was once again honoured in the 2020 New Year’s Honours List with a CBE.

Attending the lecture

The lecture is open both to members of the Society and to guests.

The lecture will take place in the Leicester Museum & Art Gallery, New Walk https://www.leicestermuseums.org/leicester-museum-art-gallery/

The hall will be open from 6:45 and tea and coffee drinks will be available between 7.00pm and 7.15pm before the formal start of the event at 7.30pm.

The lecture will also be streamed on Zoom. A recording of the lecture may be available to members only.

The Changing Fortunes of the Lit & Phil Movement in Britain (9 Nov 2026)

Mon, 09 Nov 2026 19:30:00 GMT

Heather (L) and Martha (R)

images supplied by the speakers

Dr Heather Ellis SFHEA

Associate Professor in History of Education, University of Sheffield

and

Dr Martha Vandrei

Senior Lecturer in History, University of Exeter

Lecture outline

Literary and Philosophical Societies, or ‘Lit & Phils’, were once at the heart of Britain’s intellectual and civic life. From the late eighteenth century onwards, they drew large public audiences to lectures and debates on science, literature, politics, history and discovery, helping to create a culture in which ideas became part of everyday public life. This lecture explores the remarkable rise of the Lit & Phil movement, its role in shaping civic culture and public knowledge, and the reasons for its gradual twentieth-century decline. At a moment when questions of expertise, community and public debate feel newly urgent, the history of the Lit & Phil offers a striking perspective on what has been gained - and lost - in Britain’s intellectual life.

Biographical notes

Dr Heather Ellis is Associate Professor in History of Education at the University of Sheffield and Editor of the journal History of Education. Her research focuses on the historical development of educational institutions, knowledge making and childhood. She is a co-investigator on the ESRC- and AHRC-funded project The UK School Meals Service: Past, Present and Future?, which combines archival research, oral histories and contemporary ethnography to examine the history and lived experience of school meals across the UK.

Dr Martha Vandrei is Senior Lecturer in History at the University of Exeter’s Cornwall campus. Her research focuses on the intellectual and cultural history of Britain from the eighteenth to the twentieth centuries. She is especially interested in the connections between popular and specialist knowledge cultures and in the social history of ideas. Her new book, an alternative history of the British Enlightenment, is under contract with Yale University Press.

Attending the lecture

The lecture is open both to members of the Society and to guests.

The lecture will take place in the Leicester Museum & Art Gallery, New Walk https://www.leicestermuseums.org/leicester-museum-art-gallery/

The hall will be open from 6:45 and tea and coffee drinks will be available between 7.00pm and 7.15pm before the formal start of the event at 7.30pm.

The lecture will also be streamed on Zoom. A recording of the lecture may be available to members only.

Co-creating graphic heritage (23 Nov 2026)

Mon, 23 Nov 2026 19:30:00 GMT

images supplied by the speaker

Dr Robert Harland

Reader in Urban Graphic Heritage Loughborough University

Lecture outline

Drawing from case study examples in urban contexts, this lecture will introduce the concept of graphic heritage as derived from graphic design, a recognised barometer of ‘modern thought’ at the turn of the millennium. It will highlight collaborative proof of concept research with the United Kingdom National Commission for UNESCO, Nelson Mandela Foundation in South Africa, David Roach Foundation in Australia, and Loughborough Library Local Volunteer Study Group, to explain graphic heritage as any object through which people experience and are informed about urban heritage in graphic form.

Biographical note

Robert Harland is a Reader in Urban Graphic Heritage at Loughborough University, where his research explores urban heritage through the lens of graphic design. He is deputy lead for the UNESCO Chair in Storytelling Education for Sustainability, and a member of the UN-Habitat Global Urban Observatories steering committee.

Attending the lecture

The lecture is open both to members of the Society and to guests.

The lecture will take place in the Leicester Museum & Art Gallery, New Walk https://www.leicestermuseums.org/leicester-museum-art-gallery/

The hall will be open from 6:45 and tea and coffee drinks will be available between 7.00pm and 7.15pm before the formal start of the event at 7.30pm.

The lecture will also be streamed on Zoom. A recording of the lecture may be available to members only.

On This Spot Fell One Tear of Love: secrets, lies and social mobility in the East Midlands of the 1950s (7 Dec 2026)

Mon, 07 Dec 2026 19:30:00 GMT

speaker image credit: Max Kennedy

The Arthur and Jean Humphreys Lecture

Louise Doughty FRSL DLitt

Author

Lecture outline

On This Spot Fell One Tear of Love is the new memoir from acclaimed novelist Louise Doughty, who after thirty years of making it up has turned her skills to the lives of her parents before she was born. Ken Doughty died of Alzheimer’s in Leicester Royal Infirmary – his wife Avis died suddenly of heart disease two years later. After their deaths, Louise, who was born in Melton Mowbray, embarked on the lengthy process of emptying the bungalow where they had been raised, a place her family had lived in for fifty years and one that contained the layers of their lives built up like silt. At the bottom of those layers was a battered black suitcase in which she discovered how her parents had broken each other’s hearts, and mended them, and how most of her views about them turned out to be wrong. On This Spot Fell One Tear of Love is primarily a love story, but it is also about that particular moment during the post-War era, where a young, working-class couple could give their own children previously unimaginable privileges; foreign travel, healthcare, education. Louise is the beneficiary of this moment, and an acclaimed novelist as a result – but also considers how her parents’ modern equivalent would struggle to give their children such advantages.

Biographical note

LOUISE DOUGHTY is the internationally bestselling author of ten novels, most recently A Bird in Winter, out now in paperback from Faber & Faber UK Ltd. Her previous books include Platform Seven, filmed for ITVX; Black Water, a New York Times Notable Book of the Year; the bestseller Apple Tree Yard, adapted as a hit miniseries for BBC One; and Whatever You Love, nominated for the Costa Novel Award and the Women’s Prize for fiction. She has been nominated for many other prizes including the Sunday Times Short Story Prize and the CWA Silver Dagger, along with creating and writing the hit BBC drama Crossfire. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and has been awarded honorary doctorates by Leicester University and the University of East Anglia. She is also a Trustee of the National Literacy Trust. Her work has been translated into thirty languages. On This Spot Fell One Tea of Love was published by Phoenix (Orion) in August of this year

Attending the lecture

The lecture is open both to members of the Society and to guests.

The lecture will take place in the Leicester Museum & Art Gallery, New Walk https://www.leicestermuseums.org/leicester-museum-art-gallery/

The hall will be open from 6:45 and tea and coffee drinks will be available between 7.00pm and 7.15pm before the formal start of the event at 7.30pm.

The lecture will also be streamed on Zoom. A recording of the lecture may be available to members only.

ESA/JAXA BepiColombo mission: A new view of Mercury (11 Jan 2027)

Mon, 11 Jan 2027 19:30:00 GMT

images supplied by the speaker

Sponsored by the University of Leicester

Professor Emma Bunce OBE

Director, Institute for Space, University of Leicester
Principal Investigator for BepiColombo MIXS instrument

Lecture outline

Mercury is the smallest planet in our Solar System, yet it poses some of planetary science’s biggest questions. Why is it so metal-rich? How did it form and evolve? And how does it interact with the extreme environment so close to the Sun? This lecture will explore what we have learned from NASA’s MESSENGER mission, celebrate the successful arrival of the ESA–JAXA BepiColombo mission into orbit around Mercury in 2026, and look ahead to the start of scientific operations in April 2027. Particular focus will be given to the Mercury Imaging X-ray Spectrometer (MIXS), the only UK instrument on the mission and led by the University of Leicester, which will map the planet’s surface composition and help reveal the interaction between Mercury’s dynamic space environment and the surface. The lecture will also highlight Leicester’s central role in the conception, design, construction and operation of this pioneering instrument, illustrating how expertise developed in our city is contributing to one of humanity’s most ambitious robotic explorations of the inner Solar System.

Biographical note

Professor Emma Bunce OBE is the Director of the Institute for Space at the University of Leicester. She is a planetary scientist involved in multiple space missions exploring our solar system including BepiColombo at Mercury, and the future JUpiter ICy moons Explorer (JUICE) mission to Ganymede. She uses data from robotic missions to answer fundamental questions about diverse solar system objects. She is Principal Investigator on the Mercury Imaging X-ray Spectrometer, part of the ESA/JAXA BepiColombo mission which will begin science at Mercury in April 2027. She also played a key role in the definition of and proposal for the ESA JUICE mission, and will analyse data from two instruments when the mission begins in the early 2030s. Emma has received multiple awards in recognition of her work, including the 2018 Royal Astronomical Society Chapman Medal for her research on the gas giant planets, and the EGU David Bates Medal in 2022 for “exceptional contributions to the study of the magnetospheres of Jupiter and Saturn, mentoring of students and early career scientists, and public outreach activities. Emma received an OBE for “services to Astronomy and Science Education” in the King’s New Year’s Honours List in 2023.

Attending the lecture

The lecture is open both to members of the Society and to guests.

The lecture will take place in the Leicester Museum & Art Gallery, New Walk https://www.leicestermuseums.org/leicester-museum-art-gallery/

The hall will be open from 6:45 and tea and coffee drinks will be available between 7.00pm and 7.15pm before the formal start of the event at 7.30pm.

The lecture will also be streamed on Zoom. A recording of the lecture may be available to members only.

Lecture title to be announced (25 Jan 2027)

Mon, 25 Jan 2027 19:30:00 GMT

Sponsored by De Montfort University

Chris Stafford

CEO of Curve, Leicester

Lecture outline

tbc

Biographical note

tbc

Attending the lecture

The lecture is open both to members of the Society and to guests.

The lecture will take place in the Leicester Museum & Art Gallery, New Walk https://www.leicestermuseums.org/leicester-museum-art-gallery/

The hall will be open from 6:45 and tea and coffee drinks will be available between 7.00pm and 7.15pm before the formal start of the event at 7.30pm.

The lecture will also be streamed on Zoom. A recording of the lecture may be available to members only.

Where the arts meet science: keeping the Mary Rose shipshape (8 Feb 2027)

Mon, 08 Feb 2027 19:30:00 GMT

image supplied by the speaker

Sponsored by the Royal Society of Chemistry

Professor Eleanor Schofield PhD FREng FIMMM

Director of Collections Mary Rose Trust

Lecture outline

Since its excavation from the Solent in 1982, Henry VIII’s ship the Mary Rose has been on display in Portsmouth Historic Dockyard. The ship and its collection of over 19,000 objects tell the story of the people who served on board and the lives they led. Fundamental to unlocking the stories they hold, is stabilising the materials the objects are made from, a task challenged not just by their age but by the marine environment they resided in for over 450 years. Here, Dr Eleanor Schofield reveals the science and engineering disciplines that ensure this collection remains safe for future generations to enjoy and explore.

Biographical note

Dr Eleanor Schofield is the Director of Collections at the Mary Rose Trust. Eleanor joined the Mary Rose Trust in 2012 after completing a Masters of Engineering and PhD in Materials Science and Engineering at Imperial College London. She is responsible for the care of the collection and archive, research into the collection, maintenance of the equipment creating the environments around the objects and aiming to find environmentally friendly ways to achieve this. She is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering and a Fellow of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining

Attending the lecture

The lecture is open both to members of the Society and to guests.

The lecture will take place in the Leicester Museum & Art Gallery, New Walk https://www.leicestermuseums.org/leicester-museum-art-gallery/

The hall will be open from 6:45 and tea and coffee drinks will be available between 7.00pm and 7.15pm before the formal start of the event at 7.30pm.

The lecture will also be streamed on Zoom. A recording of the lecture may be available to members only.

Child Focused Courts: A New Dawn for Private Family Law? (22 Feb 2027)

Mon, 22 Feb 2027 19:30:00 GMT

image supplied by the speaker

Sponsored by Loughborough University

Professor Rosemary Hunter KC(Hon) FAcSS

Founding Head of Law, Professor of Socio-Legal Studies, Loughborough University

Lecture outline

This Lecture will discuss the new Child Focused Courts model, which the government has recently announced will be rolled out nationally over the next three years to improve family courts’ responses to children and victims of domestic abuse. The Lecture will outline the research underpinning the introduction of Child Focused Courts, the key features of the new model, and the challenges involved in its implementation.

Biographical note

Rosemary Hunter is a leading feminist socio-legal scholar who works in the areas of family justice and domestic abuse, judging and the judiciary and access to justice. Her research has influenced the development of new laws, policies, procedures and methodologies. She also has a long track record of academic leadership and is the founding head of the newly-established Law department at Loughborough University.

Attending the lecture

The lecture is open both to members of the Society and to guests.

The lecture will take place in the Leicester Museum & Art Gallery, New Walk https://www.leicestermuseums.org/leicester-museum-art-gallery/

The hall will be open from 6:45 and tea and coffee drinks will be available between 7.00pm and 7.15pm before the formal start of the event at 7.30pm.

The lecture will also be streamed on Zoom. A recording of the lecture may be available to members only.

Bring back British beavers? Species reintroductions and Britain’s relationship with nature in the 21st century (8 Mar 2027)

Mon, 08 Mar 2027 19:30:00 GMT

image supplied by the speaker

Natural History Section Joint Lecture

Professor George Holmes PhD

Professor of Conservation and Society, University of Leeds

Lecture outline

Britain is nature-depleted, an island whose seas make repletion difficult. To restore nature, conservationists are giving a helping hand by seeking to release many species to create new populations, from beavers and eagles to burbot fish, northern hairy wood ants, and lungwort lichens. These reintroductions are often presented as simple tales of fixing a problem, but they are a difficult, contested, and value-laden. They are not just technical or scientific actions, but rather a philosophical, legal, moral, and socio-economic challenge. Most of all, they open up a series of questions about what British nature should look like, who decides, on what basis, and about what the relationships should be between humans and non-humans in Britain. This talk will take us through a variety of species being reintroduced, from the massive to the microscopic, to explore what this tells us about Britain’s relationship with nature.

Biographical note

George Holmes is Professor of Conservation and Society at the University of Leeds. His work looks at the people and politics side of conservation, specifically the values, beliefs and structures of the conservation movement, and how conservation projects and local communities interact and shape one another. A lot of his current focused on rewilding, species reintroductions, and landscape restoration.

Attending the lecture

The lecture is open both to members of the Society and to guests.

The lecture will take place in the Leicester Museum & Art Gallery, New Walk https://www.leicestermuseums.org/leicester-museum-art-gallery/

The hall will be open from 6:45 and tea and coffee drinks will be available between 7.00pm and 7.15pm before the formal start of the event at 7.30pm.

The lecture will also be streamed on Zoom. A recording of the lecture may be available to members only.

On Babbacombe Beach - High Tide for the High Victorians? (15 Mar 2027)

Mon, 15 Mar 2027 18:30:00 GMT

images supplied by the speaker

The Peach Lecture [held at the University of Leicester, location and time to be announced]

Dr Rosemary Hill FSA FRSL

Writer and historian

Lecture outline

What can a single year, 1865, tell us about Victorian architecture and ideas? How might Charles Darwin, Alice in Wonderland and one of England’s strangest churches help with the answer?

Biographical note

Rosemary Hill is a writer and historian. Her prize-winning biography of A W N Pugin, God’s Architect, was published in 2007. She has since published books on Stonehenge (2008) and on history in the Romantic Period, Time’s Witness (2022). She is a contributing editor at the London Review of Books, a Vice President of the Victorian Society and a Quondam Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford.

Attending the lecture

The lecture is open both to members of the Society and to guests.

The lecture will also be streamed on Zoom. A recording of the lecture may be available to members only.

Mary Attenborough: Her Extraordinary Role in Rescuing Young Lives from Fascist Regimes (22 Mar 2027)

Mon, 22 Mar 2027 19:30:00 GMT

Basque refugee children disembarking from the SS Habana in Southampton 1937.

Copyright is with Basque Children of ’37 Association

Helga and Irene Bejach, Jewish refugees from the Kindertransport.

Copyright is with Beverly Waldman Rich

image supplied by the speaker

The F.L. Attenborough Lecture

Richard Graves

Author and historian

Lecture outline

The lecture will focus on Mary Attenborough’s humanitarian actions during the 1930s when the Attenborough family were living on the campus of the then University College, Leicester. In 1937 and 1939 Mary quite literally saved many young lives from the actions of vicious fascist regimes in Europe

Biographical note

I was born and grew up in Leicester and attended Wyggeston Boys’ Grammar School before moving to the former Bedford College, London (now merged with Royal Holloway, London University). I studied for a first degree in German, but I have always been interested in both local and European history, so the linguistic background contributed greatly to my research on Mary Attenborough.

Attending the lecture

The lecture is open both to members of the Society and to guests.

The lecture will take place in the Leicester Museum & Art Gallery, New Walk https://www.leicestermuseums.org/leicester-museum-art-gallery/

The hall will be open from 6:45 and tea and coffee drinks will be available between 7.00pm and 7.15pm before the formal start of the event at 7.30pm.

The lecture will also be streamed on Zoom. A recording of the lecture may be available to members only.

The Importance of Geoscience in a Developing World (12 Apr 2027)

Mon, 12 Apr 2027 18:30:00 GMT

image supplied by the speaker

The Geology Section Joint Lecture

Dr Maggy Heintz

Director of British Geological Survey International Geoscience

Lecture outline

Geoscience is fundamental to building resilient and sustainable societies in a rapidly developing world. Yet the links between geoscience and society, and the links between geoscience and international development are often misunderstood or under appreciated.

Geoscience underpins our understanding of natural resources, enabling responsible management of water, energy, and minerals. It also underpins our understanding of natural hazards to help with resilience and mitigation, to protect lives and infrastructures, and plays a critical role in addressing climate change, from carbon storage to understanding Earth system dynamics.

The understanding of our subsurface allows for better evidence-based, informed, decision making, at home and internationally. For a developing world, geoscience is not optional—it is essential for a secure, equitable, and sustainable future.

Biographical note

Dr Maggy Heintz is Director of International Geoscience at the British Geological Survey (BGS). In her role, she leads a global team with a track record of projects across Europe, Africa, South-east Asia and Latin America, to support the objectives of the UK Government. Maggy arrives at BGS following her work as executive director of the UK Collaborative on Development Research (UKCDR), an organisation that analyses UK funding trends and practices in research for international development. She previously spent eight years at the University of Leicester as international research development manager and as head of research and business development. She has also worked in science diplomacy within the French Embassy in the UK, stimulating international collaborations between France and the UK.

Maggy believes passionately in harnessing the power of geoscience to tackle pressing global challenges and in the impact of earth sciences when delivered through true partnerships with international partners.

Attending the lecture

The lecture is open both to members of the Society and to guests.

The lecture will take place in the Leicester Museum & Art Gallery, New Walk https://www.leicestermuseums.org/leicester-museum-art-gallery/

The hall will be open from 6:45 and tea and coffee drinks will be available between 7.00pm and 7.15pm before the formal start of the event at 7.30pm.

The lecture will also be streamed on Zoom. A recording of the lecture may be available to members only.

TO BE ANNOUNCED (26 Apr 2027)

Mon, 26 Apr 2027 18:30:00 GMT

Joint Lecture with the Leicester Museum and Art Gallery

Speaker to be announced

Lecture outline

tbc

Biographical note

tbc

Attending the lecture

The lecture is open both to members of the Society and to guests.

The lecture will take place in the Leicester Museum & Art Gallery, New Walk https://www.leicestermuseums.org/leicester-museum-art-gallery/

The hall will be open from 6:45 and tea and coffee drinks will be available between 7.00pm and 7.15pm before the formal start of the event at 7.30pm.

The lecture will also be streamed on Zoom. A recording of the lecture may be available to members only.