Nigel Metcalfe explores the real meaning of some of our favourite nursery rhymes. They’re not always as innocent as you might think, with some referencing plagues, philandering, gluttony, executions, taxation, religious persecution, prostitution, and peep shows. These are not exactly the subjects you would expect to feature when you sing your favourite nursery rhymes to your children or grandchildren! Many of them date back hundreds of years, and this talk explores the theories and facts behind fifteen well-known nursery rhymes. In doing so, many dark stories are revealed. The talk is fully illustrated.

Stourbridge Glass Museum reflects the industrial efforts of such world-renowned makers as Richardson’s, Stuart Crystal, Royal Brierley Crystal and Webb Corbett’s. Yet how many pieces in the collection have been produced solely by women?

Within those hot working factory conditions, it was said that the only limitation to the glass-blower’s art was ‘the strength in his arm’. The hot shops were considered an all-male environment - women were not allowed. Archive sources and ladies who subsequently worked in the glass industry have helped Kate Round uncover a fascinating picture of this ‘glass ceiling’. From the 1860s to the present day, this is a revealing account of changing attitudes and the struggles between unions, management and workers to finally allow women to do “men’s” work.

Photo: Edith Shutt, acid-dipping at Stuart Crystal, Red House Glass Cone

Quintin Watt offers an overview of the famous Worcestershire firm that created the gates at Buckingham Palace, the Liver Birds and many other well-known artistic monuments both in the UK and around the world. Working in wrought iron, bronze, wood plaster and stained glass, their work can be seen in many places.

Photo: Liver Bird on a tower of the Liver Building in 2005. Credit: Chris Howells

Judy Davies takes us on a photographic journey round the lanes of Codsall picking up some of its history along the way. Drawing on an enormous collection of archive photographs compiled by her over many years, our chairman chooses a selection which portray an ever-changing village.

Photo: The Bull public house, Codsall Square, in 1935

Drawing on 40 years’ work as conservation officer at South Staffordshire Council and latterly as a consultant on historic buildings, tonight’s talk by David Burton-Pye features many timber-framed buildings – the speaker’s favourite type of construction. Exploring the evolution of the craft, David explains the simple techniques from which complex structures were created and includes two local examples that won national awards in 1997 and 1999 for the best restoration of timber-framed buildings.

Photo: The oldest building in Codsall, dating from the late 16th / early 17th centuries: a timber-framed dwelling house on a sandstone plinth in the village centre, taken in 2007 when it was the Rajput Indian restaurant. Credit: Brian Robert Marshall

Former Archaeologist at Stafford Borough Council, David Wilkinson, explores the history and development of mediaeval market towns throughout our county; the royal charters bestowed upon them and the markets and trades that developed there.

Photo: The Ancient High House in Stafford, constructed in 1595 by the Dorrington family from local oak. It is the largest timber-framed house in England and is pictured here as it looked in 2008.

She was the greatest airship in history, the pride of Germany and the personal triumph of her designer Hugo Eckener. The airship Hindenburg was the epitome of luxury air travel in the 1930s. As big as the Titanic, she flew across the Atlantic majestically. The history of airship travel was fraught with both tragedy and technical brilliance, but it was felt that with the Hindenburg, the airship had come of age. Yet it was also the era of National Socialism and a growing fear of war. To the anger of her designer, the Hindenburg became a propaganda weapon. Her fate would capture the imagination and lead to much speculation as to the cause of the accident. Tonight, Andrew Lound will capture a lost age and examines what might have caused the loss of the world’s greatest airship. His talk will be accompanied with audio recordings, archive video and music.

Photo: The Hindenburg after its first commercial flight - to Rio in April 1936. There is a temporary repair of the lower fin after an accident during a tour of Germany the previous month. Credit: Wide World Photos, first published by Brooklyn Daily Eagle May 8, 1936.

Whilst best-known for the tower bearing his name, there is much more to Gustave Eiffel and this talk by Alan Hill covers his early life, work as a railway engineer and his ill-fated involvement with Ferdinand de Lesseps on the Panama Canal. This all preceded his work on the Eiffel Tower which would be his last and most famous engineering project. Afterwards he changed direction to become a pioneering practical scientist.

Photo: Gustave Eiffel in 1888 by the French photographer, journalist and novelist, Félix Nadar.

Charles George Gordon (also known as Chinese Gordon, Gordon Pasha and Gordon of Khartoum) was a hero prised from the true Victorian heroic mould. In this talk, Max Keen examines the life of this British Army officer and administrator who rose to prominence due to his military exploits. But why was it that a crude, insubordinate and untrustworthy junior general became a national hero who brought down a government? Max seeks to uncover the truth about Gordon of Khartoum and what lay behind his appeal to both the British people and Queen Victoria.

Photo: General Charles George Gordon in uniform and cape on a rooftop in Khartoum. Source: Anne S. K. Brown Military Collection