TALKS AND EVENTS
Scheduled Talks and Events for 2026
Monday 9th November 2026 (ev)
Hopes Green Ladies Club
Benfleet
Subject, The Struggle to Build Southend’s First Pier
Saturday 5th December 2026 (pm)
ESFH
Westcliff-on-Sea
Subject, 366 Days in Essex
Talks for 2027
Wednesday 20th January 2027 (pm)
Great Baddow U3A
Great Baddow
Subject, The Tunnel That Never Was
Thursday 21st January 2027 (Pm)
Upminster & Cranham Wine & Social Club
Cranham
Subject Once in Essex, Now in London
Monday 22nd February 2027 (pm)
Harwich Society
Harwich Arts Centre
Subject, Snatched from Essex
Saturday 24th April 2027 (pm)
Havering & District National Trust
Hornchurch
Subject Once in Essex, Now in London
Friday 30th April (am)
Bishops Stortford u3A
Bishops Stortford
Subject, Battlefield Essex
Wednesday 7th July 2027 (PM)
Pagelsham WI
Pagesham East End
Subject, The Struggle To Build Southend’s First Pier
Monday 16th August 2027 (am)
Roding Valley U3A
Theydon Bois
Subject, The Struggle to Build Southend’s First Pier
*TALKING ESSEX
* Local History Books * Interesting Essex Photographs * Video Shorts and so much more.
From Harwich to Waltham Abbey, from the River Lea to Purfleet and Upminster to Southend-on-Sea and all in between, including the parts of Essex now in London.
Talks and booking. For further details, e-mail ask@essex100.com or
telephone 01702 557828 www.essex100.com
For a list of talk topics see our entry on
Speakernet
https://speakernet.co.uk/speaker/2827/andrew-summers
Some of our talks details below
NEW TALK RELEASED
The Struggle to Build Southend’s First Pier
The Struggle to Build Southend’s First Pier is based on a book written by Marion Pearce and published by Essex Hundred Publications. Southend’s world famous pier is nearly 200 years old and is reputed to be the longest pleasure pier in the world. Over its life span the pier has suffered several fires, severe damage from ships crashing into it and come close to being scrapped on more than one occasion on the grounds of cost by the local authority. As the title implies getting the pier built was no easy task very much like any major building project throughout the ages. Marion Pearce, the author spent years researching the subject and putting a fascinating story together.
The talk covers the first 40 years of a remarkable story. Powerful businessmen and landowners repeatedly clashed over the location of the pier. The prospect of the imposition of tolls in an area that covered three miles either side of the pier led to repeated vandalism and violence and where local magistrates were unable or simply unwilling to enforce the law.
The talk is fully illustrated and includes two embedded video shorts.
Talks and bookings. For further details, e-mail ask@essex100.com or
telephone 01702 557828 www.essex100.com
For a list of talk topics see our entry on
Speakernet
https://speakernet.co.uk/speaker/2827/andrew-summers
A Popular Talk
The Riddle of Boudica
The Roman occupation of Britain lasted over 350 years. In AD 60, seventeen years after the Romans arrived, Queen Boudica led an uprising which resulted in the destruction of Colchester, London and St Albans. The rebellion was short lived and resulted in a harsh crackdown.
Yet in later years Roman rule was interrupted by several uprisings and incursions by the ‘natives’. In AD 185 part of the occupying Roman Army mutinied and 100 years later the Roman Commander Marcus Aurelius Carausius proclaimed himself Emperor of an independent Britain. Yet, in turn, the insurrections were supressed, the mutiny put down, the usurper overthrown and Roman rule returned to more or less normal.
Yet, despite of all the upheavals in the British Isles during Rome’s long tenure, it is only Boudica who is especially remembered.
This illustrated talk explores the ‘facts’ of Boudicca’s rebellion so far as it is known and examines the resultant Heritage, Legacy and Mythology grown up around it.
Talks. For further details, e-mail ask@essex100.com or
telephone 01702 557828 www.essex100.com
For a list of talk topics see our entry on
Speakernet
https://speakernet.co.uk/speaker/2827/andrew-summers
POETS’ CORNER
(an interactive illustrated talk see poster below)
Talks and bookings. For further details, e-mail ask@essex100.com or
telephone 01702 557828 www.essex100.com
For a list of talk topics see our entry on
Speakernet
https://speakernet.co.uk/speaker/2827/andrew-summers
| Essex Hundred Publications. Books, written, designed and printed in Essex. Available from bookshops nearby, book wholesalers, direct from the publisher or online. www.essex100.com |