Melanie Gibson-Barton is a full-time speaker whose first talk for DLHG is “Elizabeth Barton – The Maid of Kent” in June 2026. Many of her other talks have a French/Belgian theme, but she also offers talks on Suffragettes, Morris Dancing and Teddy Bears (!)
Mary Alexander has a degree in archaeology and worked for 33 years at Guildford Museum before moving to Kent. She gave us a well-received talk on “George Abbot, the Archbishop of Canterbury from Guildford” in 2024 and returns in 2026 for a talk on “Guildford’s Wool Trade in Medieval Times and Later””.
Jeremy Hodgkinson was a teacher, but is now a researcher and author specialising in the iron industry in the Weald, in which he did an MA in 1993. He is also a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London and has made several TV appearances. He lives near Crawley.
Paul McCue is a local and military historian and author, and the Executive Trustee of “The Secret WW2 Learning Network.” He lived in Surrey for many years, but now lives in Hampshire. Many of his talks are on the SOE in WW2.
Christoph Bull has delivered several very popular talks to us, including “Dickens in Kent”, “The Kaiser’s War: a different perspective on WW1” and “Who’s Who in Hoo”. He lives near Gravesend and leads organised walks around the area.
Pete Allen is the Director of The RC Sherriff Trust and is also a theatre director and film-maker. His talks include “Oh No It Isn’t: A History of Pantomime” and “To Journey’s End; The Life of RC Sherriff”, which he gave us in 2022 to great acclaim.
Steve Bird wowed us with a talk on “The Real Dad’s Army” in 2024. His other talks include “Kent in the English Civil War” and “Industrial relations at Ford in the 70’s and 80’s”
Frances Hurd has a PhD in Civil War history. Her talks include family history, WW1 & British churches (she was a Churches Conservation Trust official). Her talks include “Quakers at War” and “Confessions of an Ofsted inspector.”
William Aers is a lecturer at Mid Kent College, but he also runs a social enterprise which provides historical lectures to nursing homes, schools and many others. His highly-participative talks include “Anglo-Saxon Surrey” and “Anglo-Saxon Kent”,
Dr David Rudling FSA is a Sussex based archaeologist who specialises in the Roman period & numismatics (coins). He has undertaken extensive excavations at Bignor and is co-author of the book “Bignor Roman Villa”. His wife Mary offers Sussex social history talks.
Ian Everest is a Sussex-based speaker who worked in agriculture and was also manager of Newhaven Fort. His many talks include “The Ouse Valley- its past life and times”, “My Mum was a Land Girl” and “Newhaven Uncovered”
Geoffrey Mead is a retired Geography lecturer who now gives talks across SE England, including “Channel coastlands”, “Feeding the Nation-agriculture in the South” & “The South at work”, which he gave us in 2022. You may have seen him on TV, e.g. on “Who Do You Think You Are.”
The Wey & Arun Canal Trust can arrange many talks on the Wey & Arun Canal – “London’s Lost Route to the Sea” – especially the Trust’s work on restoring it
Hazel Basford is the Archivist at Kent’s Powell-Cotton Museum (PCM). She can offer talks on PCM as a hospital during WW1, the museum’s collections and the Quex House & Gardens.
Gravesend-based Toni Mount is a history teacher, a speaker and a history/fiction author. Her history talks include “The Dutch raids on the Medway” and “Ration-book Britain”, her fiction books include a series of 11 medieval murder mysteries featuring sleuth Sebastian Foxley
Richard Newman is the site manager at the Brickworks Museum at Swanwick, near Southampton, in the building of the last Victorian Brickworks in steam in the UK. He gives talks on, and tours of, the museum, and researches brickworks/ brickmakers throughout Hampshire.
Ros Black is a speaker and author whose most recent book “Scandal, Salvation and Suffrage–The Amazing Women of the temperance Movement” was the basis of her first talk for us, in 2022. She lives in Haywards Heath.(NB: Ros no longer does evening talks)
Ian Currie is a weatherman, broadcaster, author, and a Fellow of the Royal Meteorological Society. His talks include “Droughts, Deluges and Dust Devils. A look back at 350 years of South East Weather”. He now lives in Storrington, West Sussex.
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