Monday 6th December, 6.30pm - Christmas Party and Carols by the South Westminster Community Choir at Blue Orchid Wellington Hotel

2022

Tuesday 8^th February, 6.30pm - Palaces of Revolution: Life, Death & Art at the Stuart Court, a talk via Zoom by Dr Simon Thurley.

Tuesday 22^nd February, 6.30pm - Lambeth and Westminster Bridges Walk & Talk by The Illuminated Rivers Project.  In-person event.

Tuesday 8^th March, 6.30pm - The Sensational History of Petty France and the Parish of Christchurch Revealed, a talk via Zoom by Bryan Boese.

Friday 22^nd April, 11am - Virtual Tour of The Supreme Court, Parliament Square Led by an experienced guide, via Microsoft Teams.

Tuesday 3rd May, 12.30pm  SOLD OUT - Westminster/Kingsway College, Vincent Square, SW1P 2PD - Lunch in The Vincent Rooms Restaurant and tour of catering college (postponed from 2020).

Tuesday 14th June, 10.30am   SOLD OUT - Tour of Shepherd’s Bindery and Talk on Antiquarian Books by Anthony Davis.  In-person event (postponed from 2020).

Tuesday 21st June, 6.30pm - The Society's Summer Party - Details to follow

Tuesday 5^th July, 6.30pm - Looking at Commemorative Public Art on Thorney Island, a talk via Zoom by Melissa Jo Smith and Montaz Marché. 

Tuesday 4th October, 3pm     SOLD OUT - Visit to RUSI (Royal United Services Institute) Library, 61 Whitehall, SW1A 2ET (Members Only)  In-person event (postponed from 2020).

Tuesday 18th October, 6.30pm - Birthday Cocktails at the Cinnamon Club, Great Smith Street - Details to follow (postponed from 2020)

Tuesday 8th November, 6.30pm - The Society's 36th AGM and talk - Details to follow

Monday 5th December, 6.30pm - The Society's Christmas Party - Details to follow

Disclaimer:  The views and opinions expressed at the Society's events are those of the speakers and guides and do not necessarily reflect the stance of The Thorney Island Society.

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Recordings of previous talks & events can be viewed on our YouTube channel 3 months after the live event:     

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In recent years she has made a comeback into fashion partly due to Virginia Woolf’s famous exhortation on her tomb, that “all women together ought to let flowers fall”. Which is what happened in the Summer of 2021, when pupils from Urswick School in Hackney laid  flowers on her grave with personal messages after they had given a - socially distanced - performance of some of Aphra’s work in the hallowed atmosphere of Poets’ Corner. I (Victor Keegan) was delighted to be part of the audience along with others from London Historians. 

She was from a humble background but became an icon and role model way ahead of her time. She is still a fascinating talking point among feminists because while she dealt with gender mixing themes and was a proud libertine at a time when it was fashionable, she was also a Tory and a fierce royalist, which don't always go together. She didn't seem to believe in a God yet she dedicated part of a play to the staunchly Catholic James II before he did a moonlight flit out of the country.

In her time Aphra was a poet, novelist, spy and translator. She was probably the first woman to earn her living from writing even though she was always short of money. Nell Gwynn appeared in one of her plays as did Anne Bracegirdle, the esteemed actress, (in The Widow Ranter in 1689). Anne is buried next to Aphra in the East Cloister, close to Poets’ Corner but not quite in it.