On Tuesday, 6 February 2024, David Warren will give a talk entitled A Personal 60-year Journey on Orford Ness.
David will explain his connection with Orford Ness from when he spent four years there as a Scientific Assistant going on to become a National Trust volunteer Ranger and, later, an independent military researcher. His long-lasting affinity with the Ness increased during his time spent at Aldermaston.
As a volunteer, David led a National Trust programme to find and record the memories of Orford Ness ‘Veterans’. The facts and memories shared by 55 Vets motivated him and other volunteers to work on acquiring and adding new information to that already published by the National Trust. David’s talk will include an overview of the vast range of military technologies that were carried out on the Ness, together with an explanation of the various projects newly discovered by independent researchers – now branded as IR-GON. It will also demonstrate IRGON’s use of CGI intended to give the public ‘virtual tours’ of the Ness and the interior of its many iconic structures. Analysis of the Vets’ recordings by a Framlingham-born, Canadian Sociology Professor in his academic work on ‘Secrecy’ will be explained, as will the boost given to research by AWE Aldermaston supplying 850 de-classified files.
On Thursday, 14 March 2024, Philip Wise, archaeologist, historian, Fellow of the Society of Antiquities of London, an Associate member of the Museums Association and of the Chartered Institute for Archaeologists, and Heritage Manager at Colchester & Ipswich Museums, will talk about The Fenwick Treasure.
In 2014, the Colchester Archaeological Trust undertook a major excavation at the Williams and Griffin, now Fenwick, department store on Colchester High Street. The Trust uncovered evidence of the Boudican Revolt, including the remains of a house, which had been destroyed by fire, burnt food items inside the house and the remarkable Fenwick Treasure. The Treasure is a hoard of Roman jewellery and coins which was hurriedly buried under the floor of the house shortly before it was destroyed. It consists of silver coins, gold finger rings, earrings, armlets, bracelets, and military awards, which are comparable to finds from Pompeii. In this talk Philip Wise, who was personally involved in arranging for the Fenwick Treasure to come to Colchester Castle Museum, will discuss the significance of the Treasure, especially what it tells us about life in Colchester at the time of the Boudican Revolt.
On Wednesday, 24 April 2024, Matt Salusbury will give a talk entitled The Woodwoses and Wildmen of Suffolk. In Issue 32 of The Orford & District Local History Bulletin published in the summer of 2019, Matt Salusbury wrote an article on this topic and was due to give a related talk to the Friends of Orford Museum the following autumn. Sadly, Covid meant that this had to be cancelled but Matt is now coming to Butley Priory on Wednesday, 24 April 2024 to give us the long-awaited talk. The article in question has been posted on our website at www.orfordmuseum.org.uk. Alternatively, if you would like a printed copy of the bulletin itself, please contact Elizabeth Spinney via museums@suffolk.gov.uk.
Woodwoses or wildmen – men covered in thick fur, sometimes carrying clubs – are a common sight in Suffolk’s churches, carved in stone on fonts, on porches or on church towers. It’s a mystery why they are so many woodwoses in Suffolk and so few elsewhere. There are some Medieval accounts of Suffolk encounters with wildmen, including a captive wildmen in Orford Castle.
In this talk, freelance journalist and author Matt Salusbury presents an extensive survey of Suffolk wildmen – and possibly at least one wildwoman. What are their origins? Were they just a cultural import from Northern Europe?
Matt is also an English language teacher and the author of Mystery Animals of Suffolk (Leiston Press 2023). He lived in Dunwich and Chediston throughout the 2010s and is still Chair of the Trustees of Dunwich Museum as well as BBC Radio Suffolk’s big cat expert. He is a regular contributor to Fortean Times, and has written for publications including the Guardian, The Independent and History Today.
All talks start at 6.00pm and last about an hour and a half. Tickets cost £15.00 for Friends of Orford Museum, £18 for guests and include a complimentary glass of wine.
To book tickets for these talks, please go to our website at www.orfordmuseum.org.uk or email the Treasurer at info@orfordmuseum.org.uk.