Monthly Speaker Meetings are our main event

Members are welcome to attend our Monthly Speaker Meetings in St Mary’s Church, Upper Street. These generally fall on the fourth Thursday of the month. The talks - all by a high-profile speaker - start at 11.00am and doors open at 10.30am to give everyone a chance to first meet and greet over tea or coffee. Greeters at the door keep an eye out for anyone new.

View our Monthly Speaker Meeting 2026 calendar.

Upcoming Monthly Speakers

Forthcoming events

Monthly Speaker: Quentin Peel on Reading Russian Wrong: from Perestroika to Putin

27th August 2026

11:00am

The talk starts at 11am but join us for tea and coffee from 10.30am.

Venue: St Mary’s Church, Upper Street

Previous Monthly Speakers

Previous events

Monthly Speaker: Carole Tongue on why the UK must rejoin Creative Europe

16th July 2026

11:00am

Please note that this talk will be held on the 3rd Thursday of the month. It will start at 11:00am but join us from 10:30am for tea, coffee and cakes.

Venue: St Mary’s Church, Upper Street

Monthly Speaker: Sue Richards on extra tutoring of the poorer kids among us

25th June 2026

11:00am

Click on the link to view Sue Richards talk on YouTube and see the slide presentation

Venue: St Mary’s Church, Upper Street

Monthly Speaker: Vicky Pryce on What Politicians Won’t Tell You About the Economy

28th May 2026

11:00am

Vicky Pryce's talk will start at 11:00am but join us from 10:30am for tea, coffee and cakes.

Venue: St Mary’s Church, Upper Street

Monthly Speaker: Martin Plaut on Unbroken Chains: a 5,000-year history of African enslavement

23rd April 2026

11:00am

Martin Plaut's talk starts at 11:00am but join us from 10:30am for tea, coffee and cakes.

Venue: St Mary’s Church, Upper Street

Monthly Speaker: Baroness Margaret Hodge minces no words in her Arts Council Review

26th March 2026

11:00am

Baroness Margaret Hodge's talk will start at 11:00am but join us from 10:30am for tea, coffee and cakes.

Venue: St Mary’s Church, Upper Street

Monthly Speaker: Sarah Ogilvie on the unsung heroes who created the Oxford English Dictionary

26th February 2026

11:00am

Professor Sarah Ogilvie's talk starts at 11:00am but join us from 10:30am for tea and coffee.

Venue: St Mary’s Church, Upper Street

Monthly Speaker: Dr Cary Bazalgette - Is it OK for toddlers to watch TV?

29th January 2026

11:00am

Dr Cary Bazalgette's talk starts at 11am but join us for tea and coffee beforehand from 10.30am.

Venue: St Mary’s Church, Upper Street

Monthly Speaker: Professor Lewis Dartnell and the ultimate origin story

27th November 2025

11:30am

Professor Lewis Dartnell on Origins: How the Earth Shaped Human History. The talk starts at 11:30am, following our AGM.

Venue: St Mary’s Church, Upper Street

Monthly Speaker: Dame Vera Baird, DBE, KC - Criminal Justice: What’s Next?

23rd October 2025

11:00am

Criminal Justice: What’s Next? asks Dame Vera Baird, DBE, KC. The talk starts at 11am but join us for tea and coffee from 10.30am.

Venue: St Mary’s Church, Upper Street

Monthly Speaker: Ian Martin - What Future for the United Nations?

25th September 2025

11:00am

John and Yoko wrote Give Peace a Chance in 1969. Ian Martin has been working towards it for nearly as long.

Venue: St Mary’s Church, Upper Street