Meetings

We meet on the first (occasionally second) Monday of the month at 7.30 p.m. in the Upper Hall (there is a lift), Bearsden Community Hub, 66 Drymen Road, Bearsden, G61 3QT (near Bearsden Cross).
This map shows the Hub and the main car parks in the area.

Membership is £15 per annum, and visitors are welcome (£4 per talk & 50 pence for juniors). Tea is served after the talk and there is an opportunity to chat and socialise.

Membership form
You can print an application form here.

For further information please contact us at enquiries@mbhistorical.org

PROGRAMME FOR 2022-2023

2022

Monday 3rd October
James Duncan of Benmore: An Enlightened Victorian
Andrew Watson
James Duncan was a businessman and sugar refiner who became a philanthropist and art collector. His house and grounds became Benmore Botanic Garden.

Monday 7th November
The Galloway Hoard
Andrew Nicholson
A cache of Viking-age gold and silver was unearthed in 2014 and was the richest collection ever found in Britain. It is of international significance.

Monday 5th December
The Baldernock-Roosevelt Connection
Niall Logan
This talk is about the direct ancestral line of Theodore Roosevelt and Eleanor Roosevelt originating in Baldernock in the 17th century, and the story's connection with the disastrous Darien Expedition of 1698-99, the American War of Independence, the American Civil War and the Panama Canal...

2023

Monday 9th January
Powerful Women of Ancient Egypt
Hanan Atalla

Monday 6th February
Robert Burns - Why all the fuss?
Why is there such world wide interest in Burns, why are there Burns Suppers in over 200 countries throughout the world and why is he the only figure in world literature who is treated this way?
Len Murray

Monday 6th March
The Navvies at Loch Chon
James Kennedy

Monday 3th April
Ancient inspiration for modern living: Alexander Greek Thomson and Owen Jones
Alexander ‘Greek’ Thomson (1817-1875) and Owen Jones (1809-1874), were architects and designers based in Glasgow and London respectively. Almost direct contemporaries, they were known for their innovative adaptations of the styles of ancient foreign cultures – primarily the Grecian for ‘Greek’ Thomson, and the Islamic for Jones. Both were enthusiastic historians of design but, unlike many Victorian Revivalist architects, they did not merely copy the forms of the past, but developed their own architectural language fit for the modern age. They experimented with new materials, like cast iron and plate glass, and created uniquely dramatic, colourful interiors. They designed the types of buildings required by the commercial Victorian age: villas, tenements, warehouses, bazaars, exhibition halls. Yet both men were idealists, with a profound belief in the importance of architecture and design for society.
Ailsa Boyd

24th April
AGM and Members' Night
Short talks to be arranged.