These are held at 19:30 on the nearest convenient Wednesday to the Solstices and Equinoxes.
Tickets are on sale three weeks ahead from Portsmouth Sailing Club, 21 Bath Square and First Fitness, 37 Clarendon Road, Southsea. Tickets may also be ordered through Tony Spender on 07730 982809 or by emailing wyllie@portsmouthsc.co.uk. A reserve list is available as sometimes tickets are returned. Please pass your details to Tony in order to be placed on the reserve list. You may request to be included on our data-base so that reminders about lectures can be sent to you from time to time. We will not use your information for any other purpose.
The information below is correct at the time of posting but is subject to change.
Who is reading this? To show how effective this site is becoming would you please send a quick email to wyllie@portsmouthsc.co.uk now. Many thanks. Tony
The Coming Lecture:
22nd September 2010 - Sex and the City
Professor Ray Riley has thoroughly researched the area around PSC and beyond, the way it used to be in the 18th and 19th Centuries. You may be surprised to learn what once stood where your house is now! Until the 1950s Portsmouth was a garrison town, most of the barracks being located in Old Portsmouth. This talk looks at Old Portsmouth in mid-19th century when the town was surrounded by fortifications and was home to about 3000 soldiers, representing one-third of the population inside the walls. Not surprisingly such a large body of men attracted prostitutes, of whom there were approximately 225 in 1851, many from Ireland, doubtless because of the potato famine there. They were clustered along St Thomas's Street and Prospect Row (now Gunwharf Road) where brothels and beerhouses abounded. Venereal disease was rife, causing the War Office to provide three hospitals, one in the stables at the back of the Lieutenant Governor's house in the High Street. The fatality rate among soldiers was much higher than similarly aged civilians. Yet only a few yards away from the red light district was the High Street, the epitome of Victorian respectability.
Future Lectures:
15th December 2010 - The New Theatre Royal
Professor Tony Pointon guides us through the history, including its alleged ghosts, of one of Portsmouth's greatest cultural assets, once sited where the Portsmouth Grammar School Music Department now stands.
23rd March 2011 - Wyllie's Point
Nigel Grundy makes a very welcome return to the series with the inaugural W L Wyllie lecture given in June 1999.
This lecture may be over-subscribed but Nigel may be able to repeat it the following evening if there is sufficient demand. Please book early to avoid disappointment.
In addition, to celebrate the 160th anniversary of the birth of W L Wyllie (and the 80th since he died) there will be a Coffee Morning at Tower House, where W L Wyllie lived, on the following Saturday from 10am until noon.
22nd June 2011 - Snippets of Gosport History - David Maber
21st September 2011 - The Battle of the Nile - Andrew Bennett
14th or 21st December 2011 - The Westerman Yarns - Nigel Gossop
21st March 2012 - A History of Point - Dr John Stedman
20th June 2012 - Early Naval Gunnery and HMS Excellent - Lt Cdr Brian Witts RN
19th September 2012 -
19th December 2012 -
Tickets are on sale three weeks ahead from Portsmouth Sailing Club, 21 Bath Square and First Fitness, 37 Clarendon Road, Southsea. Tickets may also be ordered through Tony Spender on 07730 982809 or by emailing wyllie@portsmouthsc.co.uk. A reserve list is available as sometimes tickets are returned. Please pass your details to Tony in order to be placed on the reserve list. You may request to be included on our data-base so that reminders about lectures can be sent to you from time to time. We will not use your information for any other purpose.
The information below is correct at the time of posting but is subject to change.
Who is reading this? To show how effective this site is becoming would you please send a quick email to wyllie@portsmouthsc.co.uk now. Many thanks. Tony
The Coming Lecture:
22nd September 2010 - Sex and the City
Professor Ray Riley has thoroughly researched the area around PSC and beyond, the way it used to be in the 18th and 19th Centuries. You may be surprised to learn what once stood where your house is now! Until the 1950s Portsmouth was a garrison town, most of the barracks being located in Old Portsmouth. This talk looks at Old Portsmouth in mid-19th century when the town was surrounded by fortifications and was home to about 3000 soldiers, representing one-third of the population inside the walls. Not surprisingly such a large body of men attracted prostitutes, of whom there were approximately 225 in 1851, many from Ireland, doubtless because of the potato famine there. They were clustered along St Thomas's Street and Prospect Row (now Gunwharf Road) where brothels and beerhouses abounded. Venereal disease was rife, causing the War Office to provide three hospitals, one in the stables at the back of the Lieutenant Governor's house in the High Street. The fatality rate among soldiers was much higher than similarly aged civilians. Yet only a few yards away from the red light district was the High Street, the epitome of Victorian respectability.
Future Lectures:
15th December 2010 - The New Theatre Royal
Professor Tony Pointon guides us through the history, including its alleged ghosts, of one of Portsmouth's greatest cultural assets, once sited where the Portsmouth Grammar School Music Department now stands.
23rd March 2011 - Wyllie's Point
Nigel Grundy makes a very welcome return to the series with the inaugural W L Wyllie lecture given in June 1999.
This lecture may be over-subscribed but Nigel may be able to repeat it the following evening if there is sufficient demand. Please book early to avoid disappointment.
In addition, to celebrate the 160th anniversary of the birth of W L Wyllie (and the 80th since he died) there will be a Coffee Morning at Tower House, where W L Wyllie lived, on the following Saturday from 10am until noon.
22nd June 2011 - Snippets of Gosport History - David Maber
21st September 2011 - The Battle of the Nile - Andrew Bennett
14th or 21st December 2011 - The Westerman Yarns - Nigel Gossop
21st March 2012 - A History of Point - Dr John Stedman
20th June 2012 - Early Naval Gunnery and HMS Excellent - Lt Cdr Brian Witts RN
19th September 2012 -
19th December 2012 -