Join The Arts Society Wrekin for a fascinating Day of Special Interest (DOSI) with Timothy Walker.

This day will explore the use of colour in gardening and fine art, showing how garden borders and contemporary paintings have evolved along parallel lines over the past 150 years. Timothy also examines the relationship between fine art, gardening, and science, offering fresh insights into the history of garden design.

Timothy Walker is a botanist, horticulturist, and experienced lecturer. A former Director of the Oxford Botanic Garden, he has presented programmes for BBC Four and regularly lectures for The Arts Society.

Venue: The Red House, Albrighton

Booking
Booking will open in early September 2026. Further details of the programme and booking arrangements will be sent to members in a Mailchimp email.

Christmas would not be Christmas without music. And the story of what we perform, listen to and share at that most festive of seasons is both fascinating and transformative. Having had its roots in Rome during the fourth century with chants like Veni redemptor gentium, Christmas music has since gone on to become one of mankind’s most enduring cultural and religious phenomena. Whether it is heard as part of the liturgy or at the cinema, Christmas music never fails to trigger a sense of wonderment. Using carefully chosen sound recordings and film clips, this lecture will trace the history and impact of Christmas music from its Roman roots to the present day.

Born in Australia, Professor Raymond Holden AM studied at Sydney, Cologne and London and is both a critically acclaimed and a multi-award winning writer, conductor, broadcaster and lecturer. He has performed with the Philharmonia Orchestra, the Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestra of the Emilia Romagna and the New Symphony Orchestra of London, and has been published regularly by Oxford, Cambridge and Yale University Presses, the Royal Academy of Music Press, Hans Schneider Verlag (Vienna) and by ICA, EMI and Warner Classics. Professor Holden has appeared on BBC Television and Radio, Servus TV (Germany), RAI Television and Radio, ABC Classic FM, 3MBS FM, Vision Australia Radio, SRF (Switzerland) and Classic FM (South Africa), and has spoken at many of the world’s leading music and literary festivals, universities, conservatoires and research institutes. He was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in the 2019 Queen’s Birthday Honours List and is currently Emeritus Professor of Music at the Royal Academy of Music, London.

Fashion is My Passion tells the story of 20th century fashion design, tracing how clothes, textiles and accessories were influenced by contemporary history.

It includes the elegant fashions of the Edwardian era, the glamour of the 1920s and 1930s, the austerity of the 1940s, the futuristic fashions of the 1950s, the liberating styles of the 1960s and the avant-garde fashions of the 1970s to the present day.

Dr Sally Hoban has lectured extensively on art, design and antiques throughout the UK and at The University of Birmingham. She has broadcast on BBC Antiques Roadshow, BBC Two, BBC Four and BBC Radio 4 and her publications include the book Miller’s Collecting Modern Design. She has an Honours level certificate in public speaking from The London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, and is a freelance arts journalist for local, national and international media. Sally has a PhD in the history of art and design from The University of Birmingham and currently runs her own antiques businesses specialising in 19th and 20th century decorative arts and antique and vintage clothing and textiles.