A summary of some of our earlier presentations. For the latest event news, refer to our main News page.
20th April 2017 - "Lara" ‘Lara’, the untold love story that inspired ‘Doctor Zhivago’ ![]() an illustrated talk to be presented by Nadia Ainsworth. A new time, and a new place: 18th May 2017 - Russian Art and the state
15th June - Dickens's Russia and Russia's Dickens.
21st September - Sochi then and now The history of the city and the area, and where it is today. Sochi is situated on the shores of the Black Sea near the Caucasus Mountains, hosted the XXII Olympic Winter Games in 2014 as well as the Formula 1 Grand Prix. It will also be one of the host cities for 2018 FIFA World Cup.
By Sandra Hurst
19th October - V. Lenin, Petrograd, 1917 V. Lenin, Petrograd, 1917 2:00 pm, Thursday. 19th October. 16th November - Three Remarkable Women The account continues - Three more remarkable Russian women
2:00 pm, Thursday. 16th November 18th January 2018 - Memories of Berlin during the Cold War Espionage, intelligence, the night the Wall collapsed, and more…
Ian presents his own personal memories of living in Berlin - the divided city. An illustrated talk by Ian Gronbach
2:00 pm, Thursday. 18th January
15th February - Stone Carvers of the Ural Mountains The practice of creating coloured ornaments by carving and fixing together pieces of coloured rocks and minerals, has been carried out in the Urals, since the 18th century, when the mining of a large range of minerals first began. This talk will cover the practice of Stone Carving from the early years to the present day. Samples of some of the various rocks and minerals will be on display. You will learn of one famous Stone Carver, and find out about museums where such ornaments can be seen. ![]() An illustrated talk by Geoff Youd 2:00 pm, Thursday 15th February 15th March - Siberia and the Russian Far East Russia's land beyond the Urals is a land of superlatives - immensely large, unimaginably cold, full of natural resources and "eastern promise".An illustrated talk by Barbara von der Heyde
2:00 pm, Thursday 15th March 19th April - Russian Churches a talk on Russian churches, including their architecture and historical background, as observed on a river journey from St Petersburg to Moscow. An illustrated talk by Jessica Houdret.
2:00 pm, Thursday 19th April 17th May - Uzbekistan and the Silk Road Uzbekistan is known for its mosques, mausoleums and other sites linked to the Silk Road, the ancient trade route between China and the Mediterranean.
![]() This presentation looks briefly at the country, its geography and history, the importance of various cities along the Silk Road and the people who live there today.
An illustrated talk by Sandra Hurst.
21st June - Hello Dnipro... life today in Ukraine ![]() Situated between Russia and the west, Ukraine is today one of the most important countries in Europe but it's also one with the most problems. It is a country torn apart by two opposing ideologies, by corruption, poverty, political uncertainty and extremism. It has little foreign investment, a government that is almost bankrupt and it fights a never-ending war against forces backed by the largest country in the world. ![]() This talk will give a brief outline of the history of Ukraine and in particular about the people's revolution of 2013/14 and the changes since then and the country's relationship with Russia. During the last 18 months the speaker has lived and worked in Ukraine for more than 6 months as an English teacher and charity volunteer. He will discuss his own experiences of travelling around the country and meeting people, and will discuss what life is really like for ordinary Ukrainian people. An illustrated talk by Alan Taylor 2:00 pm, Thursday 21st June Oak Room, Downley Community Centre. (Map, and how to find us) 19th July - When Tolstoy came to London in 1861 - and what he didn't hear As part of his European tour the 32-year-old Russian aristocrat Count Leo Tolstoy visited London in March 1861. In this illustrated talk, Dr Tony Williams will explore Tolstoy’s reactions to and impressions of the metropolis in the nineteenth century. ![]()
20th September 2018 - Who Lost Russia? Based on the book by Peter Conradi - the foreign editor of the Sunday Times: during his seven years as a foreign correspondent in Moscow, he witnessed the USSR’s collapse first hand. The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 was hailed as the beginning of a new era of peace and cooperation between east and west, so what went wrong? an illustrated talk by Nadia Ainsworth. 2:00 pm, Thursday 20th September 18th October - Three Remarkable Russian Women Anna Dostoevskaya, Marie Bashkirtseff and Elizaveta Kuzmina-Karavaeva ... an illustrated talk by Ruth Sobel. Also, Autumn Book Swap - Bring your unwanted books - Russian, German, English etc, and pick up a few gems for yourself. 2:00 pm, Thursday 18th October 15th November 2018 - Impressions of Russia Today an illustrated talk by Sandra Hurst. Also, Autumn Book Swap - Bring your unwanted books - Russian, German, English etc, and pick up a few gems for yourself. 2:00 pm, Thursday 15th November 17th January 2019 - Russian cinema and Andrei Tarkovsky
2:00 pm, Thursday 17th January 21st February 2019 - Part 2 - Russian cinema and Andrei Tarkovsky 2:00 pm, Thursday 21st February 21st March 2019 - News from Russia Some unusual aspects of Russian life. From Ukraine to Siberia, and from women in taxis to women in spacecraft. These are items of news that you probably won't have seen in the mainstream media. 2:00 pm, Thursday 21st March 16th May 2019 - Summer Palaces of the Tsars an illustrated talk by Sandra Hurst. 2:00 pm, Thursday 16th May 2019 Oak Room, Downley Community Centre. (Map, and how to find us) 20th June - The Lykovs: lost to the modern world Old Believers are members of a conservative and rebellious group within the Russian Orthodox church. They trace their origins back to a revolt over religious reforms made by Patriarch Nikon in the mid 1600s. A talk by Matthew Cawthorne, a member of the Watford-Novgorod Friendship Society 2:00 pm, Thursday 20th June 2019 Oak Room, Downley Community Centre. (Map, and how to find us) 19th September - Imperial Images: Photography in Victorian London and Pre-Revolutionary Russia ‘Photography is a young art, but from its present aspect we can judge what power it will have in its maturity’ (Household Words 9 March, 1853). In this illustrated talk Past President of The International Dickens Fellowship, Dr Tony Williams will explore the way this new nineteenth-century art form enables us to make contact with a now vanished world from our vantage point onward in time. 2:00 pm, Thursday 19th September 2019 Oak Room, Downley Community Centre. (Map, and how to find us) 17th October - Music, Mahler and Russia The world famous composer Gustav Mahler, his connections with Russia and his influence on an equally famous Russian! The talk is illustrated by video recordings. a presentation by Catherine Alderson See also The Gustav Mahler Society UK 2:00 pm, Thursday 17th October 2019 Oak Room, Downley Community Centre. (Map, and how to find us) 21st November 2019 - Three Remarkable Women Three more women with 3 very different fates, which in a way reflect the times of the great upheaval in Russia. Maria Bochkareva - a soldier during WWI and then organised a women's battalion, Larisa Reissner - took part in the civil war on the side of the Reds, Sofia Nosovich - emigrated to France, and was in the French Resistance. An illustrated talk by Dr Ruth Sobel 2:00 pm, Thursday. 21st November 2019 |