A Series of talks during 2024

There was a time, in the Middle Ages, when Tolworth Manor was a place of some influence, on the road joining Hampton Court and Nonsuch Palaces.  But, on the whole, it was never a place of huge significance.  However, it has been around for a very long time, and many really interesting currents of British history, from the Conquest onwards, have touched it.  This talk will be an exploration of the long chain of owners and tenants who have governed Tolworth (or Talworth) Manor.

With Bob Phillips

Joanna will talk from first-hand knowledge of how our major local newspaper was produced and printed in the 1970s. She will talk to us about the newspaper's links with other Kingston institutions, some of which are no longer with us. Joanna will address the role that the Surrey Comet played in Kingston upon Thames over the years in the days when local newspapers were a force to be reckoned with, and the Surrey Comet was one of the best of them.
 

The Friends of Kingston Museum and History Centre welcome you to their first talk of 2024 - taking place at Kingston Museum art Gallery, at 6:30pm where you have time to mingle and chat before the talk starts at 7pm. There will be time for questions with the speaker after.

"What a Load of Collops!"

The full story of Kingston's last 'tradition' has sat for 150 years in the fading pages of The Surrey Comet, and other regional and national papers, until now. Local Kingston Tour Guide and Local History author, Julian McCarthy (Secret Kingston Upon Thames and The A-Z of Kingston upon Thames) has trawled through the newspapers. He has published the results in and, in his book, What a Lot of Collops in which he has transcribed the reports, letters, Council Meeting reports, etc., to tell the full story of the Kingston game. Julian will tell us the story in this presentation.