Special Interest Days are held once or twice a year in addition to our regular lecture programme. These events offer in‑depth exploration of specific artistic topics, led by expert speakers, and are designed to provide distinctive, high‑quality experiences.

Our June event included a screening of the award‑winning film Chinese Whispers, followed by a Q&A with writer and director Deborah Hadfield, hosted by Dr Tom Craig, Senior Lecturer and Programme Leader in Film and High‑End Television Production at the University of Derby.

The event was well attended and warmly received.

Your exclusive opportunity to hear how the National Memorial Arboretum came about from Founding Trustee, Sir Henry Every, and how it has developed to earn a special place in the nation’s heart.

' As one of the Founding Trustees of the NMA, I will talk about this remarkable site, its early years and how it developed. Illustrated by a number of stories that make many laugh and some cry!'   Sir Henry Every

Sir Henry will accompany us throughout the day which starts at 10.15am in the Founder’s Room at the NMA where coffee/tea and biscuits will be provided. At 10.30 you will be formally welcomed to the NMA , following which we will adjourn to the Chapel to participate in the Daily Act of Remembrance and a brief introduction to the NMA. The chapel is adjacent to the café and guests need to be seated by 10.50. After the chapel service, we depart on the land train at 11.30  for a 50-minute tour with pre-recorded talk.

A two-course lunch with tea and coffee will then be served in The Founder’s Room at 1.00 pm, during which Sir Henry will provide personal insights into the early days of the NMA project.

After lunch you will be free to depart or can accompany Sir Henry on a tour of the Armed Forces Memorial and to the Far East POW’s Memorial Building and anywhere else you would like to visit. You are free to tour the Arboretum at your leisure until 5.00pm.

The cost is £35 including welcome tea/coffee & biscuits, land train trip, lunch and a donation to the National Memorial Arboretum. An internet transfer is the preferred method of payment with an email advice of your payment to Sandra Cavey at tatenhillcommon@gmail.com            Payment should be made to :-

Account: Arts Society Needwood Lichfield

Sort Code: 30 91 47

Account Number: 00237000

Reference: Please insert ARB and as many letters from your surname as your bank allow. As an example , if your surname was SMITH the ref would be ARBSMITH. It is important that you insert a reference. Payment may also be made in cash or by cheque at any Arts Society meeting prior to Wed 14th May 2025. 

MAX NUMBER OF GUESTS IS 40 so early booking is recommended.

PARKING: Cars - £6 on the door, or £4 if you book in advance at https://www.maximcloud.co.uk/nationalmemorialarboretum/eventslist/

PLEASE CONSIDER CAR SHARES.

CLOTHING: It’s suggested you wear stout shoes and an anorak, as the site can be quite windy!!

SPECIAL INTEREST DAY

Cezanne - A painter's intuitive geometry

by Jeremy Bournon

Wednesday, 20th March, 2024  10 am - 1.00 pm

 

After a career in art education as the Head of Art at Repton School, Jeremy now works as a practising artist. He is an engaging and entertaining speaker who will examine Cezanne's life-long obsession with his mountain, Mont Saint Victoire. Jeremy is primarily a landscape painter working from a home-based studio in Repton.
 

Wednesday 20th March: 10.00am to 1.00pm

Venue: Martin Heath Hall, Christchurch Lane, Lichfield, WS13 8AY.

Book with Sandra Cavey at the meeting or call 01283 713535. £7.50 per person.

Cash payment is preferred.

Study Morning

with Richard Stone

Thursday 23rd March 2023
 

                     
Richard Stone, well-known local author and lecturer, will be talking about The Lindisfarne Gospels and the Book of Kells on the morning of Thursday 23rd March 2023 at the Methodist Church, Tamworth Street, Lichfield, beginning at 10am, with a coffee/tea break at 11am, and finishing at approximately 12.30.

Rosemary will be selling tickets (£5 each, cash please) at the February and March lectures.

                                STUDY AFTERNOON, Tuesday 29th March 2022 at 3pm

     ‘Women of Excellent Understanding: the Wives & Daughters of the Lunar Society’

                                                              By Dr Kate Croft

The men of the Lunar Society, such as James Watt, Josiah Wedgwood and Dr Erasmus Darwin are well known, but what about their wives and daughters? Who were the Lunar Women and what part did they play in the stories of their husbands and fathers?

This talk will look at some of those wives, including Sarah ‘Sally’ Wedgwood and Ann Watt, to consider the role the Lunar women played in their husbands’ businesses and scientific investigation.

The life and work of the Lunar daughters, the writer Maria Edgeworth and the anti-slavery campaigner Sarah Wedgwood, are also part of the story. The talk will conclude with a brief discussion of one Lunar man, Thomas Day, and his unusual experiment in female education and marriage, as he attempted to fashion for himself a new breed of Enlightenment wife.

SPECIAL  INTEREST DAY 

THIS SPECIAL INTEREST DAY HAS BEEN CANCELLED AND WILL BE RESCHEDULED

Monday 23rd March 2020, beginning at 10am with coffee and biscuits, and followed by a talk on

Women of Excellent Understanding: the Wives & Daughters of the Lunar Society

The men of the 18thC Lunar Society, such as James Watt, Josiah Wedgwood and Erasmus Darwin are well known – but what about their wives and daughters? Who were the Lunar women and what part did they play in the stories of their husbands and fathers? This talk will look at some of the Lunar wives, including Sarah ‘Sally Wedgwood and Ann Watt, to consider the role they played in their husbands’ businesses and scientific investigations.

The life and work of the Lunar daughters, the writer Maria Edgeworth and the anti-slavery campaigner Sarah Wedgwood, will also be considered. The talk will conclude with a brief discussion of one of the Lunar men, Thomas Day, and his unusual experiment in female education and marriage, as he attempted to fashion himself a new breed of Enlightenment wife.

Dr. Kate Croft is a freelance lecturer and researcher, who is currently working as a Research Associate at the University of Birmingham and as a Visiting Lecturer, teaching on the MA in West Midlands History.

All over by approximately 12.30pm.  Price: £5.

Please note that the venue on this occasion is the Methodist Church Hall on Tamworth Street, Lichfield (and not at the Guildhall).

WEST MIDLANDS AREA DAY OF SPECIAL INTEREST
(ON BEHALF OF THE ARTS SOCIETY ARDEN)

'FROM ARDEN'S SOILY HILL TO THE DOMESDAY BOOK ... AND PIMM'S'

TUESDAY 16TH JULY - £39 per person including lunch

We will be visiting two local parish churches: in the morning, Saint Alphege’s in Solihull and after lunch, Saint Peter’s in the nearby village of Wootton Wawen.  Alan Griffiths, a Blue Badge guide with a special interest in church architecture, will be our main guide throughout the day.  He will be assisted by additional guides from each church during our private tours.
 
A buffet lunch of assorted meat and vegetarian sandwiches with bowls of salad, fresh fruit and fruit cake will be preceded by a refreshing glass of Pimm’s at the 16th century “Bull’s Head Inn” in Wootton Wawen, returning to Solihull at the end of the day.
 

Numbers are limited.  Application form:
https://gallery.mailchimp.com/7730242deb12e3239ad1c18e4/files/99f33e7b-b28b-4a45-9681-37fd95ec7c00/WMJULY_2019_INVITATION.pdf

More information:
https://westmidlandsarea.theartssociety.org/events/join-arts-society-arden-special-day-out-tuesday-16-july
 

We are delighted to be offering the first Study Day for some time.  
The subject is The Luttrell Psalter starting at 10 o’clock in the Guildhall (with coffee and biscuits) and ending before one o’clock.

The Luttrell Psalter is one of the most celebrated manuscripts in the British Library. Around the margins of the text are many delightful and often humorous images, which give us a glimpse into the everyday work and play of people living on a 14thC English estate in the years immediately before the Black Death.

The cost of a ticket will be £6 and these will be available at the end of the meetings.

https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/the-luttrell-psalter

'Head, Hand & Heart': the Birmingham Group of Artist-Craftsmen

Venue: Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery, Chamberlain Square, Birmingham B3 3DH

Cost - £40 - to include coffee on arrival and sandwich lunch

The 'Birmingham Group' was an informal group of, now relatively unknown, Artist-Craftsmen, working in Birmingham in the late 19th/early 20th Centuries.  Professor Anderson will examine their legacy and how they were influenced by leading artists like Edward Burne-Jones and William Morris.  The day will conclude in the Museum galleries and with a visit to St. Philip's Cathedral.

Organiser: Mrs Margaret Locke - West Midlands ACE

Tel: 01939 210639  email: margaret@mlocke.co.uk

Application forms are available from www.westmidlands.nadfas.net 

Opera on Film with Michael Pyke

10.00am- 3.30pm  - Lichfield Guild Hall 

Cost -£12.00 - to include tea and coffee

This Study Day will examine the often fraught but always fascinating relationship between opera and cinema.  The morning session will cover the history of filmed opera which will be illustrated with excerpts from a wide range of films.  In the afternoon we will have a full screening of Powell and Pressburgers film of The Tales of Hoffman with an introduction and occasional commentary.  

Tickets available at next meeting or contact Anne Smith  01543 252036

A visit to the John Taylor Bell Foundry Museum and Bell Foundry in Loughborough.

Learn about the development of the art of English Bellfounding over at least 600 years.

Contact Anne Smith for more information - 01543 252036

e-mail - twoasx52@virginmedia.com

This year the National AGM of NADFAS is being held in Birmingham.  

The West Midlands Area are very involved in all the arrangements and very keen that members of all the Areas Societies get involved, and show that there is life outside London!

Anyone from Needwood DFAS can attend any of the sessions, but of particular interest to us will be the Young Arts Awards, where one of our sponsored young artists will have her entry exhibited and hopefully win a prize.

You will also note from the programme that one of the optional visits for attendees is to Lichfield Cathedral and the Arboretum, which has been organized by our past Chairman, Sarah Elsom.  So we are involved! 

Details of how to book are available in the Autumn Magazine or online on the West Miidlands NADFAS website.

http://www.westmidlands.nadfas.net

If members would like to let me know of any sessions they book, I will circulate to other members so transport could be shared or company provided for the journey into Birmingham.

I certainly intend to go to the Chairman’s reception at the Barber Institute,

Ron Peacock

STUDY MORNING

Thursday 23rd March 2017
Lichfield Guild Hall 10.00 a.m. - 12 noon

Tutor - Dr Richard Stone
Tickets £5 per person
 

Subject - "The Life and Work of Sir Frank Brangwyn - 12/8/1869 - 11/6/1956 - contoversial artist and craftsman."

Internationally renowned during his lifetime but ignored after his death. More recently a revival of interest and assessment of his work.

For further information contact Anne Smith 01543 252036 or e-mail - twoasx52@virginmedia.com 

SPECIAL  INTEREST  EVENT

Tour of Birmingham Symphony Hall

Thursday, 26th January, 2017 at 10.00 a.m.

Cost - £21.00

More details from Anne Smith

Exhibition on Screen

Film screening of "Renoir: Revered and Reviled" at the Lichfield Guildhall.

Thursday, 17th November - 10.00 a.m.

Price £5

More details from Anne Smith at the meetings or telephone: 

01543 252036

NADFAS West Midlands Area Special Interest Day -

The Art and Science of the Lunar Society - Sally Hoban

18th October, 2016 - 10.30 am - 3.45 pm

Venue: Lichfield Guildhall

Price: £32

Contact:  Margaret Locke, Church Farmhouse, Astley SY4 4BP

margaret@mlocke.co.uk

Application forms from: westmidlands.nadfas.net

Wedgwood and Artists

Thursday 13th October 2016 (10.30 a.m. - 3.40 p.m.)

Wedgwood Museum, Barlaston Stoke-on-Trent ST12 9ER

Throughout the centuries the Wedgwood company has employed some of the most celebrated artists to provide designs and inspiration for its products.  This day will look at some of the most influential of these artists who were renowned in other disciplines rather than ceramics such as John Flaxman, George Stubbs, Walter Crane, Thomas Allen, Eric Ravilious, David Shepherd, Eduardo Paolozzi amongst others and provide a new perspective on art and design.  After a keynote lecture by the museum curator, members will enjoy a personally guided tour of the Wedgwood Museum galleries followed by unique access sessions to its archives and reserve collections.  

Contact Anne Smith - Special Interest Day Organiser

Tel: 01543 252036  Email: anne.smith.3756@gmail.com

SPECIAL INTEREST MORNING -  Lichfield Guildhall

Thursday 21st April -10.00 a.m.

Exhibition on screen

Film screening of "The Impressionists and the Man who Made Them"

More details from Anne Smith