Please note: For access for our monthly meetings in the Mining Institute lecture theatre for those with mobility problems, the Institute’s volunteers can open the side door (down the alleyway) which allows access with one step only into the theatre. Our meeters and greeters will be looking out for people who would appreciate this. Alternatively, phone the Institute in advance, on 0191 232 2201, or e-mail them to arrange this

2018 programme

25 April, 6.00, AGM and Lecture, Scotland’s Law Lords v. Northumbrians Behaving Badly - a look at crossborder crime, Margaret Fox. Mining Institute.  Follow this link for AGM agenda

12 May, Country Meeting, Kiplin Hall, near Richmond, 9.00 pick up from Bewick Street. Booking form

19 May, Country Walk, The Roman Circle Line, led by Marta Alberti. Meet 10.00 am at the Roman Army Museum, circular walk of around 1 hour 15 mins, then head to Vindolanda for lunch. Charges apply at the Roman Army Museum and Vindolanda.

30 May, 6.00, Hoppy North: The Practice, Meaning and Sensory Experience of Brewing Beer in Rural Northumberland, 1560-…., Leona Skelton. Mining Institute.

15 June, 6.00, Summer Social Evening, St Ann's Church, Breamish Street, NE1 2DD. Tour of the church and the area led by Mike Greatbatch, followed by a buffet. Booking form

27 June, 6.00, The North East Coast Exhibition 1929, John Griffiths, Mining Institute.

2 July, 7.00, Summer Walk; Dobson's Newcastle, Meet Haymarket Metro Station 7.00, leader John Sadler

16 July, 7.00, Summer Walk: Saltwell Park, Meet main entrance of park,at corner of Saltwell View and Park Road (opposite Little Theatre). Leader Anthea Lang

23 July, 7.00, Summer Walk: Preston Park, Meet North Shields Metro Station, 7.00, leader John Griffiths

25 July, 6.00, John Clayton: Excavator, Collector and Conservator, Frances McIntosh, Mining Institute.

29 August, 6.00, William Corbett’s bookshop: a seventeenth-century Newcastle bookseller and his books, Claire Boreham, Mining Institute. Follow this link for the website Claire has created, on which you can browse the shelves of his shop.

1 September, Walk, Newcastle's Ancient Hospitals, led by Lawrence Bryson. Meet 10.30 am at Haymarket South African War Memorial. Finish 12.30 pm at the Guildhall.

22 September, Country Meeting, Edinburgh; National Museum of Scotland and Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Cost £20, 9.00 pick up from Bewick Street. Booking form

26 September, 6.00, Collecting at Alnwick Castle: engraved gems in the collection of the Duke of Northumberland, Claudia Wagner, Mining Institute

31 Oct, Public Lecture,  The Great Wall Story — the way I have discovered it, William Lindesay, Curtis Auditorium, Herschel Building, Newcastle University,

28 Nov, Impressing People. Seals and medieval society, Elizabeth New, Lecture Theatre 3,  Herschel Building, Newcastle University.

Looking ahead to 2019

20-28 July 2019, Fourteenth Pilgrimage of Hadrian's Wall, based in Newcastle and Carlisle. £410 plus accommodation as required. Follow this link for the booking form.

Events that have already taken place

31 January, 6.00, Anniversary Meeting and Lecture, The saint and the devil: St Cuthbert
and the Vikings, Max Adams.  Follow this link for the Anniversary Meeting notice, and this one for details of Max's new book on Aelfred's Britain.

 28 Feb, Northumberland and its Names c.1860 — New light from the Ordnance Survey Name Books, Diana Whaley. Cancelled due to adverse weather conditions, and will be rescheduled at a later date. But here is a taster of delights to come;

ROMAN WALL (Newburn 403: 88)

‘The best defined portion of the Roman Wall on this plan only represents an Embankment; Mr Dodd who farmed this ground for more than 60 years, informed me that he got upwards of a 100 Cart Loads of stones between the House called Thorntree Ho., and the Embankment on trace 2. A portion of the Wall is Standing … near Thorntree Ho. …

28 Mar, A frontier and community in transition: The Tungrian Vindolanda, Andrew Birley,

Follow this link for previous years' programmes