2025 Programme of Activities

Thu 23^rd January 2025 14.00	Trinity House, Newcastle upon Tyne	The Society’s Chairman, Capt. Stephen Healy, opens the 2025 programme with a look at ‘Gibraltar’s Trafalgar Graveyard’. While all is not as it at first seems, every corner of this quiet oasis on the Rock has a story to tell.
Tue 18^th February 202514.00	Trinity House, Newcastle upon Tyne	A debut for Society member Prof. George Bruce, examining the origins, design, performance and history of the ‘Workhorse – the 74-gun Ship of the Line’, mainstay of the navies of the Napoleonic era. At Trafalgar, the British fleet of 27 ships of the line included 16 74-guns, while the French had 14 and the Spanish 8 in the combined enemy fleet of 33 ships. George’s talk will tell us why they occupied such a high percentage.
Thu 6^th March 202519.30	The Miller Theatre, the Newcastle upon Tyne Royal Grammar School	We are honoured to be invited to contribute to the Royal Grammar School’s 500^th anniversary celebrations and to bring local favourite, architectural historian, author, TV personality and Society member John Grundy to the stage for the 2025 Collingwood Lecture, to tell us about ‘Collingwood’s Newcastle’ – stepping back in time to see our City through the eyes of Cuthbert Collingwood. A highlight not to be missed!
Thu 10^th April 202519.30	Trinity House, Newcastle upon Tyne	Another Society member presenting for the first time sees Pauline Piddington discussing those who Nelson, Collingwood and others faced across the waters – ‘Napoleon’s Admirals’. We may all have heard of Villeneuve at Trafalgar, but he of course was just one of several worthy of consideration and with whom we are not so familiar.
Thu 22^nd May 202519.30	Trinity House, Newcastle upon Tyne	A now regular speaker from the Society’s ranks, George Cansino, this time tackles the 1798 ‘Battle of the Nile’, one of the major naval conflicts prior to Trafalgar. Also known as the Battle of Aboukir Bay, the battle took place off the coast of the Nile Delta. The decisive victory for the British reversed the balance of naval power in the Mediterranean and significantly weakened the French force for the rest of the Napoleonic Wars.
Sat 28^h June 202510.30	Newbiggin Maritime Centre	This year’s Summer Outing sees us visit Newbiggin Maritime Centre for a private tour of their three museum galleries, based around the fishing industry of the town, the social history of Newbiggin by the Sea (a favourite jaunt of Admiral Collingwood by the way) and the Newbiggin RNLI service. A buffet from the charming Seahorse Café will be included and a look around the waterfront, the adjacent St. Bartholomew’s Church and the nearby oldest lifeboat station in continuous use in the UK will no doubt fill the following hours. The Maritime Centre has step-free, level access throughout.
Thu 10^th July 202519.30	Trinity House, Newcastle upon Tyne	Author and Speaker Philip K Allen visits us from Hertfordshire to deliver a new talk entitled ‘Wellington’s Navy’. Q&A afterwards will inevitably include interest in Philip’s popular historical saga based around Georgian naval officer Alexander Clay, currently in its eleventh volume, as well as how a dyslexic senior manager in the motor industry gives up a steady career to become an author of naval fiction!
Thu 18^th September 202519.30	Corn Exchange, Town Hall, Morpeth	Our usual visit coinciding with Morpeth’s (free) Heritage Event, this year sees another Society regular Terry Walton revisit his ‘Nautical phrases, slang and idioms’. If you fancy ‘shaking a leg’, or are just ‘at a loose end’, then this is the talk for you. Just make sure you don’t turn up ‘three sheets to the wind’ and you are not ‘under the weather’ – you might get a ‘shot across your bows’. We expect a good crowd – you could find yourself ‘chock a block’….
Tue 7^th October 202519.30	Trinity House, Newcastle upon Tyne	Continuing with our stable of in-house speakers, Tim Gittins addresses one of the more controversial incidents in naval history – the court-martial for cowardice and subsequent execution of Admiral John Byng on the quarterdeck of his own flagship in 1757. The talk draws its title from the log book entry of HMS MONARCH – ‘At 12, Mt Byng was shot’. Sure to be a fascinating analysis!
Sun 19^th October – Tue 21^st October 2025	various	The usual local annual commemorative events will be happening on and around Trafalgar Day, including those at St Nicholas’ Cathedral in Newcastle; the Collingwood Monument at Tynemouth; Morpeth Town Centre; and St. Mary’s Churchyard, Gateshead. These in addition to the service in the Crypt of St Paul’s Cathedral in London, at which we are always represented. Details to follow once confirmed.
Thu 13^th November 202519.30	Trinity House, Newcastle upon Tyne	Terry Walton returns to our home venue this time, to present ‘Frigates’ – a look at the ships intended for often long-range scouting, escort and patrol roles, but which often ended up doing much more. A class of ship with a long and distinguished history in many navies, a frigate was seen as a desirable posting, with increased chances of action, promotion, and prize money.
Thu 11^th December 2025 14.00	Trinity House, Newcastle upon Tyne	Completing the programme for 2025, David Byrne (yet another Society member) delivers a biographical talk on ‘Sir Thomas Slade, Architect of Nelson’s Navy’. The architect of HMS VICTORY, no less than eight British ships at the Battle of Trafalgar had been built to his design. It is said that ‘by common consent, Slade was the greatest British naval architect of the century…it was generally agreed (even by themselves) that his successors, though competent designers, never matched his genius.’