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The Essex Record Office, Chelmsford 27th – 28th June 2016

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Courses for

Adults

Courses for

Adults

Summer

Schools 2016

Chelmsford 27th – 28th June 2016

Colchester 4th – 5th July 2016

ESSEX FEDERATION

Eastern Region WEA Festival of Learning 1

WEA Eastern Region

Festival of Learning

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The Essex Record Office, Chelmsford 27th – 28th June 2016

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T E Lawrence and the Middle East Tariq Sadiq The wars and conflicts of the modern Middle East are a product of history, a history shaped by the greed of colonial powers and the broken dreams and unfulfilled ambitions of its long-suffering peoples. At the turn of the 20th Century, the Ottoman Empire was entering its final death throes and Europe’s imperial rivals grabbed their chance to carve it up amongst themselves. The onset of the First World War thrust the Middle East into the theatre of conflict and the outcome was to have profound repercussions for the whole world, repercussions that we all feel to this day with the never-ending Arab-Israeli conflict and the civil war in Syria. Between 1916 and 1918, T. E. Lawrence, one of five illegitimate sons of an Anglo-Irish aristocrat and a governess, found himself, an obsessive archaeologist with an interest in medieval chivalry and crusader castles, leading the Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Empire to aid the British war effort against the Germans and their Turkish allies. A legend in his own time and a celebrity almost in the modern sense, his exploits captured the imagination of a global audience. But the myth and reality of Lawrence of Arabia often became confused; this, and the act of betrayal at the heart of his campaign, ended with the hero becoming a reclusive, tortured man who refused honours and eventually died a lonely violent death.

This two-day course will trace the life and legend of Lawrence and his leadership of the Arab Revolt, the collapse of the Ottoman Empire and the imperial politics of the Middle East in the early 20th Century, and the consequences for the Middle East and international relations today. Tariq Sadiq taught a course on the ‘History of the Cold War’ for the WEA in 2015 and has a longstanding interest in the history and politics of the Middle East. He took his Masters in the History of International Relations at the LSE focusing on the Arab-Israeli Conflict and wrote his thesis on Jordan in the mid-1950s. He has been a fundraiser for the past 25 years working for LSE, two Cambridge colleges, Chatham House, and an anti-corruption NGO and is currently working at the University of Hull.

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The Essex Record Office, Chelmsford 27th – 28th June 2016

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Monuments and Megalomaniacs Roger Simpson

A look at the less-frequented corners of popular art historical study and a view of art not simply as a collection of beautiful things but an invaluable expression of the history and culture of the peoples who created it Byzantium: Justinian’s Ravenna Justinian the Great (ruled 527 to 565), our first Megalomaniac, Emperor of the vast

Byzantine Empire stretching from North Africa to Italy, and the mosaic iconography developed under his reign

Hagia Sophia, Ravenna, the Monastery of St Catherine, Sinai

Solid Rock. Part

Built by angels: the rock-cut churches of Lalibela, Ethiopia

The new Jerusalem in the Heart of Darkness

Ancient troglodytes: the rock-cut civilisations of Cappadocia

Heaven and Hell: van Eyck and Bosch

Late Gothic painting: medieval and modern, sacred and profane

Jan and Hubert van Eyck’s Ghent Altarpiece and Hieronymus

Bosch’s Garden of Earthly Delights, 1432 and c.1500

Four: Perfect Architecture: the Taj Mahal

Perhaps the greatest building in human

history, built 1632–1653

Mughal Art, architecture and society from

Akbar to Shah Jahan

The birth and death of enlightened Islam

Five: Thomas Eakins American Realism: The way we live now; the

grandeur of the commonplace Painting, photography; the academic tradition,

and the end of painting

Six: Happy Holidays!

Fascist holiday resorts under Mussolini and Hitler

The Italian triumph of Futurist Modernism vs the Nazi rejection of it in favour of classicism; Modernity in the Soviet holiday resort

Roger Simpson was born in Hampshire, and grew up in Canada. He gained a BFA in studio art, at the University of Calgary, a MA in History in Art, University of Victoria (thesis: a critique of Modernism) and a PhD in History of Art in 1988, Essex University (thesis: monograph of Sir John Tenniel, Lewis Carroll’s illustrator). In 1994 he published ‘Sir John Tenniel, Aspects of his work’ (Associated University Presses) He has been a WEA tutor for 15 years. At present he is researching Victorian popular art, and views on social mobility, and is a garden designer as well as a freelance lecturer.

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The Essex Record Office, Chelmsford 27th – 28th June 2016

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Chelmsford 27

th – 28

th June 2016

The WEA Essex Federation Summer School will be held at The Essex Record Office, Wharf Road, Chelmsford, CM2 6YT. There is a public long stay pay-and-display car park (cash machine only) next to the Record Office, accessible from Wharf Road or in Baddow Road (off Parkway). Sandon Park-and-Ride is available at Junction 18 of the A12. Alight from the bus on Parkway just past the flyover, cross Parkway and walk through the public car park (next to B&M Homestore car park) and cross the pedestrian bridge over the river directly to the ERO. From Station (if walking): via Duke Street, High Street and The Meadows to pedestrian bridge.

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Castle Methodist Church, Colchester

4th – 5th July 2016

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Colchester 4

th – 5

th July 2016

The WEA Essex Federation Summer School will be held at the Castle Methodist Church, Maidenburgh Street, Colchester, CO1 1TT. The Church is just off the High Street, at the Castle end, and near to both bus and train stations. There is no parking on site, except very limited parking for the disabled – please request in advance if necessary. There are public car parks nearby. The Colchester Park and Ride operates from Junction 28 of the A12 to Colchester High Street.

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Castle Methodist Church, Colchester

4th – 5th July 2016

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The Making of London Honor Ridout

The capital began in its earliest days as a thriving commercial centre, with a centre of government growing a mile up-river, on an island in a marsh. How did these unlike twins grow into the greatest city on earth? Through the ambitions of developers and the talents of great architects and engineers, we’ll trace the spread that united the two.

As one side of town became the fashionable quarter of the upper classes, the other side was taken over by the needs of manufacture and the river trade. Here commerce required the building of great docks, with attempts to create more crossings for people and carts. Enter the Brunels, father and son, with their contribution to solving the problem. At the other end of town, Nash was cutting through some less-salubrious housing, to create the broad route that would take the Regent from his Palace to his Park. The rapidly growing population necessitated enormous works to build the drainage needed, and Bazalgette’s work resolved the problem and created one of the best-known features of modern London. In the nineteenth century development at all social levels spread the Metropolis ever further across the fields. Developers, engineers, philanthropists, and the new LCC and London Boroughs wrestled to make a London that worked. We’ll explore the tensions that continue to the present day. Honor Ridout was born and grew up in London and explored its history from her teens. A degree in Anthropology provided a wider approach to the study of History. She has taught for the WEA on various history and local history topics for many years, and returns here to her earliest enthusiasm.

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Castle Methodist Church, Colchester

4th – 5th July 2016

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Elizabethan Gardens and Shakespeare’s Flowers Andrew Sankey

'Inclosure of the fields for Gardens wherein are builded many fayne summer houses, and as in other places of the Suburbs, some of them like Midsomer Pageantes, with Towers, Turrets, and chimney tops, not much for use, or profite, as for shewe and pleasure......' John Stow tells us of the wonderful expansion of London in 1598 where every house now had gardens for pleasure with fine banqueting houses. This was a golden age where England`s gardens & orchards became splendid with their knots, mazes, arbours, mounts and 'new' kitchen gardens. It was also a time of wondrous exotics from far flung places - tulips & crown imperials from Turkey; the tufted or French lavender; the tomato, potato, marigolds from S. America. Day One of the course will look at the gardens & plants of the period including Theobalds, Kenilworth, Lyveden New Bield & Beddington Park, Wallington.

Shakespeare was born into this hugely exciting time in history and his plays reflect the plants and gardens he knew so well. Day Two of the course will compare two plays – A Midsummer Night`s Dream & The Winter`s Tale. The first relates to Shakespeare`s youth and the flowers of meadow, field, wood and bank; whereas the second relates to garden plants which he would have known, being by then a gentleman gardener. It will be fascinating to compare the two plant lists! Beware –

the tutor may well have to recite Shakespeare! Andrew Sankey is an ex graphics teacher who went into garden design/landscaping. He ran his own specialist nursery in Lincolnshire and created a cottage garden. Chairman of Lincolnshire Cottage Garden Society for many years & on Lincolnshire Garden Trust committee. He has written a number of booklets related to cottage gardening & lectured widely both in the UK and the USA.

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WEA Essex Federation

www.wea-essex.org.uk

Festival of Learning 8

Each course is for 2 days and runs from 10.15 am – 4.15 pm with a lunch break of 1 hour at approximately 1.00pm. All information pertaining to the course is found in the course description. If the course requested is full or cancelled, you will be contacted. No formal academic qualifications are required for any of the courses. Our courses attract people from many walks of life who are united in a desire to develop their own understanding through study with a specialist. For their part, the tutors are chosen not only for their command of their subjects but also for their ability to interpret their material for the specialist and beginner alike. A loop system is available; please ask in advance if you need this. Refreshments: Tea/coffee & biscuits (donations) available but no other facilities. So bring your own lunch or go into town to eat. Fees for tuition only: £35.00. No fee if in receipt of means tested benefit, but returnable deposit required of £20.00 to secure a place. Please complete the booking form, and send to Mrs Jane Dougan.

The Workers' Educational Association is a charity registered in England and Wales (number1112775) and in Scotland

(number SC039239) and a company limited by guarantee registered in England and Wales number 2806910. Workers' Educational Association, 4 Luke Street, London, EC2A 4XW.