Special Interest Days & Study Days Special Interest Days Visit to Ely Cathedral Tuesday, May 21st. 2024 Meet at TOMKINS butchers to board the coach at 9.00am in Radcliffe on Trent or at 9.10am at the WHITE LION on the main street in Bingham. The coach will drop us at the entrance to the Cathedral, where a guided tour is booked for 11.30am. An optional extra at the Cathedral is a visit to the wonderful Stained Glass Museum, which is accessed by 47 steps. There is No LIFT. Lunch is available in the Almonry, but this is NOT included in the price for the visit. There are also many excellent places in Ely, which you might like to explore. The coach will depart from the Cathedral for home at 4.00pm. The prices for the day are: Travel and Cathedral Guided Tour: £34.50 Travel, Cathedral Guided Tour and Stained Glass Museum £40.50 Please click here for further information and a booking form Study Days Wednesday 16th October 2024 at Grange Hall Ian Cockburn The History and Material Culture of al-Andalus The invasion of the Iberian peninsula in 711AD by the Umayyad Caliphate quickly overthrew the Christian Visigothic kingdom and began the nearly 800-year occupation that ended only in 1492AD, when the Catholic Monarchs, Ferdinand and Isabel, completed the reconquest of the Kingdom of Granada – the same year that those two visionary monarchs also sent Christopher Columbus off to discover the New World. During the intervening centuries, the mixture of Islamic, Christian and Jewish influences produced a unique hybrid culture. This study day tells the story of the Moorish invasion and the Christian reconquest, through an introduction to the surviving architecture and other areas of the material culture, in particular silk textiles and carved ivory caskets. The Alhambra, photo V Jarivs Wednesday 26th March 2025 at Grange Hall Chris Aslan Unravelling the Silk Road The study day comprises three lectures, each exploring a textile and a road. We examine how textiles have changed the course of Central Asian history, politics and a way of life. We also revel in the intoxicating designs, colours, and techniques achieved with these three textiles, from breath- takingly intricate suzani embroidery and robes fit for a Shah, to world-class carpets, cheerful shyrdyk felts and diaphanous cotton, lighter than a spider’s web. Each lecture will also be embroidered with Chris Aslan’s own experience of living and working in the region for 15 years as he attempts to justify a rather bold assertion that everything is about textiles Carpets, photo V Jarvis