Members are warmly invited to join The Arts Society Worcester for a visit to Longborough Festival Opera to see a new production of Hansel & Gretel by Engelbert Humperdinck on Tuesday 4th August.

Longborough’s grounds and facilities open at 3:30pm. The performance starts at 5pm and has a generous interval of 90 minutes when you can enjoy your picnic in the marquee in true Longborough tradition. This is the perfect opportunity to bring a generous spread and perhaps a glass of something celebratory. The performance will finish at approximately 8:30pm.

Note that this tour was originally advertised as including coach travel - it has now been changed to own transport we would encourage car sharing. Further details are on the booking form.

The performance will finish at around 8.30pm.

To book tickets priced at £158 per person please complete the online booking form.

We are very sorry to have to inform our members that this visit has been cancelled due to the reported insolvency of Sherborne Wharf, the boat operator.

For further details see the link below.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cx2vy6zx565o

If you signed up and paid for this visit, please contact our treasurer Nigel Bullock via treasurer@tasworcester.org giving your bank details for a full refund.

A flyer and booking information are now available on our website.

We are delighted to invite you to join us on a special day trip to Blenheim Palace on Thursday 12th February.

Two days after our February lecture on the history of the Palace join us for a unique and exclusive visit to one of England's most magnificent stately homes and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Built for John and Sarah Churchill, the 1st Duke and Duchess of Marlborough, Blenheim was conceived both as a family home and a memorial to the Duke's greatest military victory, the Battle of Blenheim. Designed by the celebrated architect Sir John Vanbrugh, it stands today as a masterpiece of English Baroque architecture, surrounded by the breathtaking landscaped grounds of Capability Brown.

Our day includes coach travel and tips and entry to the palace and gardens, followed by a buffet lunch. In the afternoon, we'll enjoy an exclusive private guided tour of the house, taking place after it has closed to the public — a rare opportunity to explore its treasures in a peaceful and unhurried atmosphere.

Tickets are £105 places are limited, so early booking is recommended.

The booking form can be found online along with instructions for payment by BACS.

Coach trip to the new production of Roald Dahl's Big Friendly Giant at RST Stratford.

https://www.rsc.org.uk/the-bfg/trailer

We'll be attending the matinee performance 2pm Thursday 29th Jan 2026.

Tickets £54 per person, Inclusive.

Leaving Perdiswell Leisure Centre, Bilford Rd at 10.30am, back by 6.30pm.

This show is likely to sell out quickly so we will need payment by 30th July 2025.

A flyer and booking form can be downloaded from this website.

We are delighted to invite you to join us on a special day trip to Broughton Castle near Banbury on 17th November.

Broughton Castle is a beautiful, moated manor house dating from the 14th century, home to the Fiennes family for over 600 years. Inside, you’ll discover a fascinating mix of medieval architecture and later additions, set within lovely gardens and parkland. Our private guided tour will last around 1½ hours and will give us a real insight into the history of this remarkable house.

Bought by the Bishop of Winchester, William of Wykeham in 1377, the house passed to his nephew and then to a granddaughter who married Lord Fiennes who became Lord Saye and Sele. The castle is still home to the current Lord and Lady Saye and Sele.

Tickets are on sale at £80 per person and the online booking form can be found here. The day will include a visit to the castle and lunch afterwards at a nearby pub. 

For the first time, the Tony award winning musical "Moulin Rouge" comes to Birmingham. Based on Baz Luhrmann's spectacular film* with music from Offenbach to Lady Gaga this show takes us into a special place where Bohemians, aristocracy, artists and performers rub shoulders, sometimes with dangerous consequences.

This spectacular show celebrates Truth, Beauty, Freedom and - above all - Love!

We have just 36 tickets for the show, which is already nearly sold out, so download a flyer and booking form now and book your seats as soon as you can.

*Do see the director's cut if you can - the initial theatrical release was edited down clumsily...

A six night tour by ferry and coach from £819 per person (single supplement £165).

■Return P&O Ferry crossings from Hull to Rotterdam
• Cabin accommodation
• Dinner on board the ferry
■Valkenburg caves visit by train
■4 Nights bed and breakfast with one evening dinner at the Hotel Walram
■Maastricht guided tour
■Maastricht guided river cruise

A detailed flyer can be downloaded from our website.

A booking form can be downloaded from our website.

The final details are being arranged for this trip.

The trip will start with a tour of sites relating to the origins of the modern-day Olympic Games, followed by free time to visit the Monastery remains and museum and then a private tour of Priory House.

The tour of Priory House is exclusively for our group and numbers are strictly limited, with only 18 places available.

Because of this, tickets will be available to members of TAS Worcester only on a first come first served basis. Booking will be via eventbrite, with the link made public in February's Notes from the Chair mailing at 7pm on Saturday 22nd February. Thus there will be no paper booking form for this visit.

In the likely case of oversubscription a waiting list will be held in case of cancellations. If there is sufficient interest we will consider organising a second trip, subject to Priory House's tour availabilty.

This five day coach trip packs in a lot!

• The Oxburgh Estate (NT)
• A guided walking tour of Norwich, Blickling Estate (NT) visit
• Sandringham and free time in Norwich
• Holkham Hall and Wroxham Broads boat trip
• Ely Cathedral

We will be staying B&B at the four star Maids Head Hotel in Norwich, with evening meals on the first and last nights.
The cost per person will be from £779 for twin/double rooms.

A flyer and booking form are available for download from this website.

Just four places left on 6th of March. Be quick if you want to come along!

This coach trip to the Royal British Legion's National Memorial Arboretum will leave Perdiswell Leisure Centre, Bilford Road at 08:45 with a pick-up stop at Droitwich Lido car park at 09:00.

We plan to arrive NMA around 10:30. We have a Land Train tour booked at 11:00 which will last around 50 minutes.

After the tour there will be free time to explore the NMA before lunch (included) at 13:00.

We will leave NMA 14:30 heading to nearby Lichfield, where we will have free time to visit the Cathedral, Samuel Johnson's Birthplace Museum or the Darwin House Trust. We will leave Lichfield at 17:00, returning to Perdiswell by around 18:30

Price per person will be £50 and a flyer and booking form can be downloaded now.

The Arts Society Worcester is delighted to offer members a talk on the new exhibition "Elizabeth & Stanhope Forbes: A Marriage of Art" at Worcester City Art Gallery and Museum.

Featuring a sumptuous selection of artworks by the power couple of British Impressionism, Elizabeth and Stanhope Forbes, the exhibition includes intricate portraits and landscapes, many on loan from Penlee House Gallery & Museum and visiting Worcester for the first time. Also featured is the local favourite by Stanhope Forbes from Worcester’s own collection; Chadding on Mounts Bay.

The talk will be delivered by Natasha Wilcockson, the Art Gallery & Museum’s Curatorial & Exhibitions Assistant who was involved in putting the show together.

Our ticket price of £12 includes entry to the exhibition and is open to non-members of the society. Tickets may be purchased on eventbrite.

Maximum Number 25

Red Shoes, Swan Theatre Stratford
Wednesday 08 Jan
Matinee
Cost £58 per person
Leave Perdiswell Leisure Centre, Bilford Rd. 10am
Back by 5 pm.

Flyer and booking form is available to download from here on this website.

A three day tour with two nights at the 3* York House Hotel in Eastbourne, where you may also visit the Towner Gallery.

On the way down we will visit Bateman's, the home of Rudyard Kipling. (NT property, members don't forget your card for free admission.) On the return trip we'll experience the Weald and Downland Open Air Museum (admission included in tour).

The main event is of course our visit to Glyndebourne for the late afternooon performance of "Il Turco In Italia" followed by a set two course dinner.

An outline of the itinerary can be found on the Tailored Travel website.

Full details can be found in the downloadable flyer and booking form.

Cost £70 which includes the coach, gratuities, buffet lunch, teas and coffees and Tim’s time.

Back by popular demand, the historian Tim Bridges is offering another magical tour of some of the lesser known churches of Worcestershire.

We shall explore some of the delightful village churches in the district of Malvern Hills with the hills themselves making a spectacular backdrop to our journey.

Our first visit is to St Edburga, Leigh, a large Norman and medieval church once held by Pershore Abbey. Fine Romanesque architecture is complemented by a rare carved figure of Christ, but we shall also see a medieval screen, 17th century monuments and a superb 21st century stained glass window.

After coffee, we go to St Mary, Madresfield, a Victorian Gothic Revival church with interesting fittings, wall paintings and stained glass as well as memorials associated with the Lygon family of Madresfield Court.

After lunch at the Plough and Harrow, Guarlford we visit St Giles, Little Malvern, where the surviving chancel and tower of the priory dissolved in 1534 form the parish church with some good medieval furnishings and tiles, as well as stained glass of the 1480s.

Our final stop is to St Mary, Ripple, another large early medieval church, which was once a possession of Worcester Cathedral and noted for its collection of 15th century misericords. We shall have tea here before returning to Worcester.

A flyer and booking form can be downloaded from this website.

"Hamilton" comes to the Birmingham Hippodrome this summer, we are arranging a trip to the matinee performance on Wednesday 7th August.
Leave Perdiswell Leisure centre 10.30 Droitwich Lido 10.45.
Closing date for applications, 16th April. (Note that this is an extension of the original March booking deadline).
Cost £78 per person.

For further details and a booking form download the flyer from our website.

In case of difficulty contacting Sue Russel Jones by mobile, try her landline on 01905 923143.

The Dame Laura Knight Exhibition at the Worcester Museum and Art Gallery opened recently. We have managed to organise a private talk on the exhibition for our members on Thursday 16th May.

This event is fully subscribed - a waiting list has been opened.

The ticket price includes entry to the exhibition for a reduced fee and can be booked via Eventbrite. Non-members are welcome to join us if tickets are unsold two weeks after going on sale (from 6th February).

Our April lecture is "A Village in Heaven: Stanley Spencer's Cookham" and we will make a tie-in day visit on Thursday 9th May to the Stanley Spencer Gallery at Cookham and Hughenden Manor, Disraeli's house.

A flyer and booking form is available to download from our website. This trip is now fully booked, but a waiting list has been opened.

Our trip will arrive at Cookham at 11am, where we will split into two groups to tour the gallery and the town.

After a buffet lunch at the Kings Arms we will leave Cookham for Hughenden where will will have a tour and talk.

The cost per head will be £64 for NT members (free admission to Hughenden) and £78.20 for non members.

Our Munich and Oberammergau tour, with added Schloss Neuschwanstein.

This tour is fully subscribed.

Receiving rave reviews at its opening in Boston, this show has come to the Tate Modern. (Jonathan Jones of the Guardian hated it - what's not to like?)

Our full day inclusive tour on the 18th of March includes return coach travel to the door of the Tate, a welcome coffee, an introduction to the exhibition by Arts Society Lecturer Frank Woodgate, a buffet lunch (all exclusively for us in the Clore Foyer) and admission to the exhibition.

This trip is fully subscribed.

For more details download a copy of the flyer and booking form from this website.

We are running a coach trip to Stratford on Avon to the matinee performance of The Box of Delights at the RSC.

After a seemingly chance encounter on a train, orphaned schoolboy Kay Harker finds himself the guardian of a small wooden box with powers beyond his wildest dreams. Caught up in a battle between two powerful magicians, Kay fights to save not just the people he loves but also the future of Christmas itself.

The cost will be £55 per person, covering coach travel, tickets and gratuities. Our coach will leave Perdiswell Leisure Centre at 10:15, returning by 18:00.

A flyer and booking form can be downloaded here.

From the 28th of November to 1st of December we will have a pre-Christmas three night tour to London.

The price will be a maximum of £552 per person, based on shared rooms and thirty participants.

The price includes return coach transfer to London, three nights four star B&B, gratuities, a light lunch on the trip to London and all excursion entries.

Outline Itinerary:

Tuesday 28 November - travel to London.

• Late morning departure from Worcester, light lunch en route
• Kew Gardens Illuminated Trail
• Arrive at our hotel around 8:30pm

Wednesday 29 November - Leighton House and Sambourne House.

• Two visits near the hotel in the morning
• Afternoon free

Thursday 30 November - Art Deco Tour of London

• A mix of coach and walking tour this day takes us to fourteen superb examples of Art Deco buildings
• There will be a lunch stop* at Battersea Power Station
• The tour finishes with a visit to the RIBA building

Friday 1st December - Postal Museum and travel home.

• The Postal Museum, complete with its own underground railway
• Travel home with break at Osterley Park

A flyer for this trip may be downloaded here.

A booking form for this trip may be downloaded here.

*Meal not included

A local visit by coach to the Lord Leycester Hospital  and St Mary's Church in Warwick on Thursday 19th October.

The trip will cost £47 for coach, guided tour of St Mary's and also Lord Leycester Hospital.

Lunch and refreshments are not included but can be taken in the Lord Leycester Hospital Café.

For more details a flyer and booking form can be downloaded here.

A rare opportunity to see an extraordinary collection of the work of the Painter of the Dutch Golden Age Frans Hals. Sometimes dismissed as a genre artist his skill and deftness of touch has to be seen in the flesh to be appreciated. Hals is often overlooked and known only for his most famous work The Laughing Cavalier, which will be at this exhibition, having been lent by the Wallace Collection for the first time ever.

This full day visit by coach will cost £55 per head which includes coffee or tea on arrival at the National Gallery and a light lunch but not admission to the exhibition.

You will need to book your timed admission tickets directly with the National Gallery. Recommended time slots Noon, 12:15 or 12:30.

Members of the National Gallery can book free admission for the exhibition. Bookings may be made via the National Gallery website, here.

Booking for non-members of the National Gallery opens on 16th August at £20 per head for standard adult admission*. Bookings may be made via the National Gallery website, here.

*Concessionary rates will be available, £18 for students, NHS workers, unemployed, Museum Association and disabled visitors. Art Fund members with a National Art Pass will pay £10.

A flyer and booking form for the trip can be downloaded from this website.

A trip to the evening performance of Hamnet at Stratford-upon-Avon.

"Warwickshire, 1582. Agnes Hathaway, a natural healer, meets William Shakespeare, the Latin tutor. They create a life together and make a family. When the plague steals one of their children from his loving parents, they must each confront their loss alone. And yet, out of the greatest suffering, something of extraordinary wonder is born. The story pulls back a curtain on the imagined family life of the greatest writer in the English language, William Shakespeare, his wife Agnes and their children and is a love letter to passion, birth, grief and the magic of nature."

We will be attending the 7:30pm performance. Our coach will leave Croft Road car park, Worcester at 4pm.

Tickets will be priced at £58 per head, including transport and gratuities. We have an allocation of only thirty tickets, as the show is selling very well, so please book early (tickets can only be held until February).

A booking form is now available to download from this website.

Between the 27th and 31st of March 2023 we will be visiting Glasgow and its surroundings, staying in the Ibis Styles hotel in the city centre. Travel to and from Scotland will be by air from Birmingham.

The visit will include Glasgow's many galleries and museums, a walking tour of the town and a trip out to Dumfries House, including a three course lunch in the Great Steward's dining room. For further details, download a copy of the Glasgow flyer from this website. (Note that there may be some amendments to the meals provided as part of the tour, the flyer will be updated when these have been decided.)

A booking form is now available to download from our website, or you may book directly via the Great Days website. Great Days offer a discount for group members who book directly on their website – to take advantage of this you will must enter the following discount code when prompted (this is on the pricing summary screen) – ART2023.  This can only be used when booking online.

Please email Becky Dale directly to let her know that you have booked, this is the easiest way for her as tour organiser to keep her records of interest and bookings up to date. She'd like to know contact details; names, addresses, email and mobile phone numbers and also preferences on room sharing as the single supplement is quite high.

Please also bring your National Trust membership card as it can be used in Scotland as well.

We are running a ballet visit to the Birmingham Hippodrome for the matinee performance of “Swan Lake” on Thursday the 16th of February 2023. The production is a revival of Peter Wright and Galina Samsova’s version for the Birmingham Royal Ballet.

Prince Siegfried is out hunting one night when he happens upon a flock of graceful swans. When one of them turns into a beautiful woman, the Prince is utterly smitten – but Odette explains that she has fallen under an evil spell cast by the evil Baron von Rothbart, which keeps her in swan form from dawn to dusk. Can Siegfried's love break the spell? Find out in this exquisite production of a true ballet classic.

Our coach will leave Perdiswell Leisure Centre at 11:00am, allowing time for eating or shopping before the 2pm performance. We expect to return to Perdiswell by around 6pm.

The cost of the visit will be £50 per head including coach travel, tickets to the performance and all gratuities. Please book by the 6th of December.

A flyer and booking form may be downloaded here.
 

Sue Russell Jones

Amendment: 6th November.

We are sorry to announce that Chatsworth have now informed us that the full Christmas Market will not be in operation during our visit. This does not affect the price of the tour, as admission charges were for the house and grounds not the Market. People who have booked on the tour will shortly receive a mailing giving full details of this change and the itinerary for the day.

The glorious lanscaped grounds and superb interiors of Chatsworth House have traditionally hosted a spectacular winter event.

This year the theme is Nordic, with natural decorations in the house and a lighted trail through parts of the garden, with 'Northern Lights' over the canal pond and music in the maze. (The walk is 1.8km long, with no steps but some inclines and narrow sections.)

Alongside the lavish decorations and son et lumiere the Chatsworth Christmas Market will also be taking place, ideal for finding quality decorations and presents for the festive season.

A flyer and booking form with more details may be downloaded here.

The Owl and the Pussycat were far from the first animals that Lear drew. Before finding wide fame for his writing, he was well known as an artist specialising in Natural History subjects.

Lear was a keen traveller, and energetically put his artistic talents towards documenting his journeys through Europe, the Middle East and India, making more than five thousand known drawings and sketches during his travels.

The "Moment to Moment" exhibition at the Ikon shows some sixty of these images, curated to show Lear's approach to seizing the moment in on-site drawings, sketches and annotations.

We have a Private Tour arranged exclusively for TAS Worcester members and their guests. This will cost £11 which also includes coffee (or tea) and cake in the Ikon's café afterwards.

As you can understand, £11 does not include getting you to Birmingham! We are experimenting here with a relatively local visit to which you are expected to make your own way. We'd suggest car shares (the Ikon is in the Clean Air Zone, visit this government website to find out if your vehicle is chargable or exempt) or public transport. The flyer and booking form for this visit to "Moment to Moment" may be downloaded here.

Neil Woolford has offered to flex his Senior Railcard and act as pilot on the journey by train and tram. He'll be at Worcester Foregate Street Station around 09:15, ready to take the 09:24 service to Birmingham New Street (platform 2), This would normally connect with the tram ("West Midlands Metro") in Stephenson Street a short walk from the train's arrival platform, which would take us to Brindleyplace, very near the Ikon. However, there is an industrial dispute at the moment and it is unlikely that there will be trams operating on that leg of the network when we visit.

So the plan now is to walk from New Street Station to the Ikon. As the crow flies it is less than 3/4 mile, by a pleasant walking route (through the Mailbox and then along the Canal via Gas Street Basin) it is still under a mile of easy walking which will take us about 25 relaxed minutes, arriving at the Ikon before 10:40am.

This exhibition, perhaps the most ambitious in the history of Worcester's Art Gallery and Museum, brings together paintings from the collections at Woburn, the Tate, Compton Verney and Birmingham plus works from Worcester's own collection. The core of the exhibition is the paintings commissioned by the fourth Duke of Bedford in the 1730s, paintings which seldom leave Woburn Abbey.

The paintings show how Canaletto pionered painting from life rather than in the studio from sketches and explores his use of colour, ground and canvas which has had immense impact on the work of generations of artists who have followed him.

The Private Talk that we have arranged will be limited to 25 participants, at a cost of £5 each. After the talk you will undoubtedly wish to visit the exhibition itself, which has a discounted entry charge of £4 for Worcester residents (this discount is also available to holders of the Art Fund National Art Pass). Full adult entry is £8 per person. Please book entry to the exhibition yourself via the Art Tickets Website. The site will show you full price tickets at the first step; later in the process you can claim your 50% discount for Worcester residency or Art Fund National Art Pass. (Please bring your Art Pass or a copy of your Council Tax bill if taking advantage of the discount.)

This event is now full. A waiting list is in operation. A flyer and booking form for this event may now be downloaded from our website.

For more details see the flyer and booking form here

The visit is going ahead, there may be late availablility depending on space on the coach. Contact Lynda Townsend for details.

Image credit By Photograph by Mike Peel (www.mikepeel.net)., CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=51249783

Dear Theatregoers,

At last we have confirmation that Les Misérables will be performed in Birmingham this year.

We are running a coach trip to the evening performance on Thursday 25th August. Our coach will leave Croft Road at 3:30pm with a pickup at Droitwich Lido at 3:45pm.

Our arrival in Birmihgham will be early enough to allow for shopping or a pre-show meal. We aim to return to Worcester by about 11pm.

The cost per head is £67 including coach, stalls tickets and gratuities.

The show is selling fast, so please apply for tickets by 25th of May as the theatre will not hold them longer.

A flyer and booking form may be downloaded here.

Sue R-J

Schedule

9.30am departure from Perdiswell Leisure Centre, Bilford Road, Worcester, WR3 8DX (Cost of parking is currently free).

10 30am Arrive at Stockton Bury Gardens. Tea/coffee & biscuits on arrival, this is included in the price

10.30am Talk about the gardens by Tamsin Westhorpe, an experienced horticulturalist, journalist, gardener and RHS Chelsea Flower Show Judge

Walk round Stockton Bury Gardens at your own leisure

12.45am   Leave Stockton Bury Gardens

1pm Arrive at Hampton Court Castle

1-2.15pm Lunch at Hampton Court Castle – note this is not included in the price

2.30pm Tour of Hampton Court Castle explaining its history

Walk round the gardens at Hampton Court Castle at your own leisure

4pm – Set off back

5pm Arrive back at Perdiswell Leisure Centre

The cost including transport, entry fees, gratuities and morning coffee (not lunch) will be £51.50.

A flyer and booking form can be downloaded here.

Our first overseas trip for years!

In summary:

• Coach transfers from Worcester area to Birmingham airport and return
• Return flights from Birmingham
• All coach transfers in Belfast
• 3 evening dinners, meal before return flight home
• Irish entertainment 2 evenings
• Entrance to Crumlin Road Gaol including lunch
• Entrance to Hillsborough Castle and Gardens
• Giant’s Causeway (Free Entrance for National Trust Members)
• Distillery Shop only visit to Bushmills
• Entrance to Titanic Exhibition
• Guided walking tour of central Belfast
• Guided walking tour of Derry
• Tour of Parliament Buildings Stormont

For more details, download the flyer. and then of course the booking form!

(The booking form should be returned direct to the tour operator with your £200 deposit.)

This trip will cost £48.50 per person. That covers coach travel from Worcester, morning coffee and cake on arrival at Berkeley Castle and all admissions, tours and gratuities.

A flyer and booking form can be downloaded from here.

This tour has a small handful of remaining place available at 18th February. Contact Maggie Keeble (chair@tasworcester.org) for further details.

You may also download a flyer and booking form from here.

Returning by popular demand, historian Tim Bridges is offering another magical tour of some of the lesser known churches of Worcestershire. Our journey will take us to the Vale of Evesham, famous for its market gardening and orchards, by the River Avon, close to Bredon Hill and the Cotswold Edge. We shall visit a selection of attractive medieval village churches in the Vale, built mostly of local limestone and containing fine fittings and impressive monuments.

We will start at Throckmorton chapel, with tea or coffee in the village hall afterwards. Then comes St Leonard’s Bretforton. Lunch at the Thatched Tavern in Honeychurch (included in the price) will preceed exploring St Ecgwin’s. The next stop is St John the Baptist in Wickhamford prior to tea at the Queens Head in Elmley Castle. A short walk from the pub is our final stop, the medieval church of St Mary’s with its carvings, sundials and ‘excellent memorials’.

Please note that this event is on FRIDAY the 25th, not Thursday as incorrectly stated in the headline of the recent mailing.

Join us in tilting at windmills, and a welcome burst of Spanish sunshine (simulated).

Please book by the 17th of January. Dowload a booking form here.

The Ashmolean was Britain’s first public museum and has its roots in the collection presented by Elias Ashmole to Oxford University In 1683. The collection featured miscellaneous man-made and natural specimens and curiosities from every corner of the world. In the 1840s the museum moved to its current site, and continued to collect and display a wide range of art, ethnographic objects, archaeological treasures and natural specimens. The eclectic collection contains, among many other things, Greek sculpture, paintings from old masters to contemporary works, a stuffed dodo (he used to be complete, but now alas only his beak remains*), the Alfred Jewel (see photo) and Abingdon Sword, a noted Stradivarius violin, T E Lawrence's ceremonial arab robes and the lantern carried by Guy Fawkes as he guarded the barrels of gunpower... truly this museum has something for every taste and interest.

For our visit we will be leaving Perdiswell (North Worcester) by comfortable coach (Commandery Coaches) at 9:30am, reaching Oxford for coffee at the museum by 11am.

After coffee we will be given an introductory lecture about the museum and its collections by Jude Barrett, the museum's Adult Learning Officer.

When the lecture finishes we will  have a break from 12:30 to 14:00 during which we can explore to museum or get lunch at one of the many excellent cafes and restaurants in Oxford.

When we re-convene at 2pm Jude Barrett will lead us on a two hour guided tour of some of the museum's galleries and collections, allowing us to experience the exhibits mentioned in her lecture.

After the tour, our coach will collect us at 16:00 for the trip back to Worcester, where we should arrive at around 18:00.

The total cost of the visit is £44.50 per person. This covers coach travel, museum entry, coffee or tea on arrival and gratuities. Lunch is not included but can be taken in the town or the museum itself which has a well regarded cafe/restaurant, though booking is essential for this.

The flyer and booking form for this visit may be downloaded here. Please book for this trip by Monday the 31st of January.

*The poor dodo's remains are now in the collection of the Oxford University Natural History Museum.

What an amazing outing to go on for my first coach trip with The Arts Society Worcester!

All week I'd been watching the weather and hoping for a fine evening, so I was relieved it was only slightly damp with scudding clouds and the moon appearing now and again to add drama to the scene. But first, I have to mention supper. This had been arranged at Beckford Inn and they did us proud with a well cooked meal (in my case the vegetarian option), lots of fresh veg and gravy along with some really delicious sweets. It was just as well it was not far to Sudeley Castle and we were going to get a chance to walk some of it off! The first view of the Castle with it's mature trees, lawns and lake lit with changing colours was wonderful. Speakers with gentle ambient music added to the atmosphere, as did the sound of the wind in the trees. It took about an hour to go round the gardens and there was plenty to see from the glitter ball elephant (one of the Elephant Family I'd seen on a visit earlier in the summer) to the chapel dressed for Christmas. The formal gardens and topiary were beautifully outlined with hundreds of small white lights while large flowers glowed and changed colour in the centre of each square. On the upper terrace there was a changing neon display of half circles and in the herbacious garden dry ice reflected light beams which also caught the underside of shrubs, making them glitter.

It was lovely to get to know other members of TAS as we went round the gardens. I'd gone on my own, but since everyone was so friendly it was easy to feel comfortable. The trip was well organised and (given we were all good time-keepers) we didn't keep the coach driving waiting. This has set the bar for TAS coach trips so I'm now thinking about booking up for the next trip to see Birmingham Royal Ballet and Don Quixote.

All in all it was magical trip!

Jane Arthur

Original information about the trip.

Celebrate the start of the festive season by exploring the magical after dark experience following the New illuminated trail around the beautiful castle grounds. Enjoy the wonderful music as you discover each new secret of this romantic environment. New for 2021 the light curve and the flickering flames in the Queens Garden. Gaze at the sparkling water features and the mesmerising Carpet of Colours.

An early two course dinner will be served at the Beckford Inn, Cheltenham Road GL20 7AN before continuing to Sudeley Castle

There is festive food and warm drinks as you go round the Castle Terrace. Time will be allowed to browse in the Christmas gift shop.

Download full details and a booking form here. Cost £55 which includes the coach, gratuities, an early dinner and entrance to the light show.

Please book by the 15th of November, as Sudeley require early booking for this popular event.

A coach trip to the matinee performance of Sir David Bintley's version of The Nutcracker at the Birmingham Hippodrome, on Thursday the 2nd of December. This Birmingham Royal Ballet production is the one usually staged at the Albert Hall in London, and has not been seen in Birmingham before. (The set for the traditional Birmingham version by Sir Peter Wright is being refurbished and it will return next year.)

Coach travel included, departing from Perdiswell at 10:30am, returning by 6pm.

Cost will be £55 per head including coach, perfomance tickets and all gratuities.

Application  for tickets is now open, using this booking form closing on the 10th of November.
 

A new musical, based on the novel by Kate DiCamillo, by the team behind The Boy in the Dress.

Tickets have sold briskly, and we have now been offered the option of some more seats. The booking form can be downloaded via the link below.

http://theartssocietyworcester.org.uk/DocumentStore/Shakespeare.pdf

We will be attending the matinee, with the coach leaving Perdiswell at 10:30.

The price per head including coach by Commandery Coaches will be £72. If the trip cannot be run, full refunds will be given.

Although the formal booking deadline has passed there may be limited late availability, contact Sue Russell-Jones directly on 07851 425948 with enquiries.

The flyer and booking form for this visit is now available to download here.

The trip will last three days, (Wednesday to Friday) with two nights stay at the highly rated four star Hydro Hotel in Eastbourne.

Day 1 (20th October). En route to our hotel in Eastbourne we visit Eltham Palace, the childhood home of Henry the VIII and also a stunning Art Deco home built by the Courtauld family.

Day 2 (21st October). In the morning we have a guided tour of the Towner Art Gallery in Eastbourne, an award winning contemporary art museum which boasts over 4,000 works by historic, modern and contemporary artists including Edward Bawden, Paul Nash, Duncan Grant and Eric Ravilious. On returning to our hotel, we have time to freshen up and change before our coach transfer to Glyndebourne. On arrival at Glyndebourne we have an included dinner followed by the evening performance of Fidelio.

Day 3 (22nd October). On our return route to Worcester we visit Penshurst Place near Tonbridge in Kent. A ‘quintessentially English home’ to the Sidney family for over 450 years, Penshurst Place displays much of its original medieval and Tudor buildings and historic garden design, we have time for lunch here too, before travelling back to our original pick up point.

We will start the day in style at the highly rated Cotswold Food Store Café for mid-morning coffee and cake. When replete, we shall move on to the second objective of the day, Sezincote Hall.

We will have a guided tour of this extraordinary house and gardens; the only Mughal palace in northern Europe, and the inspiration for the Brighton Pavilion.

After a lunch break in Broadway (bring your own or buy locally) we finish the day with a guided tour of the Gordon Russell Design Museum.

The cost of the visit will be £43.50 including coach and entrance fees and gratuities. For more information please download the flyer and booking form.

We are holding a social event on Friday the 20th of August, Tea at Thorneloe.

From 3pm to 6pm on Friday the 20th of August at Thorneloe, 14 Stephenson Road, WR1 3JE, Becky and Douglas Dale are inviting members of the society to share tea in their lovely garden.

Memebers of the society have received a mailing with full details of this event.
 

Weston Park is a grade one listed 17th Century Hall set in grounds landscaped by Capability Brown. It also holds one of the greatest collections of paintings still in private hands.

Our visit will include a tour of the house, lunch in the Granary Brasserie (sadly not the Dining Room in the picture!), a behind the scenes tour, and of course the gardens  - which may have been the inspiration for P.G. Wodehouse's Blandings Castle.

The price is £30 per head. Please note that TAS Worcester is not providing transport due to the difficulties of maintaining social distancing on a coach. Members who wish to visit should drive or car-share.

For more information please download the updated flyer and booking form.

In this virtual talk - his second for our society - Vincent and his iphone will take us live through the streets of London on the track of William Shakespeare, showing the traces left by him and discussing his life, career and times.

We will start 'North of the River' in the respectable and staid City of London, with Wren's monumental cathedral. Then we will venture across the river to sample the pleasures of raffish Southwark with its beargarden, playhouses, taverns and stews.”

Join Blue Badge Guide Viv Haxby, as she talks about the lives of 4 of our Queens Consort. She will tell us about the requirements of the role from providing the ‘heir’ and the ‘spare’ to being a bejewelled ambassador for Great Britain Plc. Queens Caroline and Charlotte helped their husbands to bed down the Hanoverian dynasty. Queen Alexandra had the unenviable task of having Queen Victoria as a mother in law, and Queen Mary upheld the dignity of monarchy during the dark days of the First World War and became our Queen’s role model. All of them espoused charitable causes, to some extent supported the scientific endeavours of their times, and contributed to the Royal Collection. Finally we will look to the future and consider the Queens Consort in waiting.

The illustration is Queen Charlotte, as painted by Gainsborough in 1781.

Please note that our lecturer for this event is not accredited by The Arts Society.

Street Art: An urban gallery

David will first touch upon the emergence of graffiti in America and the whole scene around that in the 1980s and how it was largely criminalised leading to, some might argue, a more sophisticated brand of urban art arising into what we now know as street art.

He will then look at

• the different methods of producing the art itself
• areas in which it has emerged in London and further afield
• different styles of art; political, fun, commercial
• different mediums from chewing gum to trash
• different scales from tiny to the size of tower blocks
• and cover some of the big names in the street art world

Born and bred in Yorkshire, David studied American History and Politics in Liverpool and Rhode Island. He later became a fitness trainer moving out to Sydney to work at the 2000 Olympic Games. After a stint in Primary Education teaching all over London before he moving into Tourism in 2007 and qualified as a London Blue Badge Guide in 2011.

To join in please pay £5 per person.by bank transfer to sort code 40-47-17, account number 51810057, account name “The Arts Society Worcester” with reference VTSAW. Please invite your friends to join us. People who are not members of Worcester are very welcome to join in.

Please note that our lecturer for this event is not accredited by The Arts Society.

Another in our popular virtual tour series of virtual guided tours and visits.

"One should either be a work of art, or wear a work of art." Oscar Wilde.

Award winning Blue Badge Guide Simon Whitehouse will guide us through the London and life of Oscar Wilde, from dazzling literary and theatrical successes to disgrace and a prison cell following the most infamous criminal trial of the 19th century.

To join in please pay £5 per person.by bank transfer to sort code 40-47-17, account number 51810057, account name “The Arts Society Worcester" using VTOWW as a reference. Please invite your friends to join us. People who are not members of Worcester are very welcome to join in.

Please note that our lecturer for this event is not accredited by The Arts Society.

Another in our popular virtual tour series.

Vincent Manda will be our guide for a live guided walk from the Banqueting House to Buckingham Palace, streamed from his phone.

To join in please pay £5 per person.by bank transfer to sort code 40 47 17, account number 51810057, account name “The Arts Society Worcester” with VTRBW as a reference. Please invite your friends to join us. People who are not members of Worcester are very welcome to join in. Please contact The Arts Society Worcester, digital@artsocwoo.org, for the link to the event.

Viv Haxby will guide us through the Queen’s personal jewellery collection. Probably the most important collection of its kind in the world, this extraordinary collection comprises the items that HMQ wears as she carries out her roles of head of nation, and head of state. We will hear about tiaras, necklaces, bracelets and brooches that have been accumulated by two queens regnant and 4 queens consort. There are fascinating stories about how many of them have entered the collection, and much thought is put into what she wears for particular occasions.

To join in please pay £5 per person by bank transfer to sort code 40 47 17, account number 51810057, account name “The Arts Society Worcester” (Please use VTQCW as a reference). Do invite your friends to join us. People who are not members of Worcester are very welcome to join in. Please contact The Arts Society Worcester, digital@artsocwoo.org, for the link to the event.

Blue Badge Guide, Emma Matthews, has lived in Fulham and Chelsea all her life. Her entertaining virtual tour of these two London riverside boroughs brings their history to life. She starts in Fulham, with its Palace and gardens of the Bishops of London since the 700s, Victorian almshouses, 18th century potteries and mansions. Then we sail downriver to Chelsea, home to Sir Thomas More, the Royal Hospital, botanic gardens and artists' studios. Chelsea has always attracted the intellectual and the artistic making it a great place to explore - on foot or from you armchair by zoom!

To join in please pay £5 per person.by bank transfer to sort code 40-47-17, account number 51810057, account name “The Arts Society Worcester” (Please use VTCF as a reference). Feel free to invite your friends to join us. People who are not members of Worcester are very welcome to join in.

The Arts Society Worcester presents a virtual walk and talk on ‘Highlights of the British Museum’ led by Anna Warrillow. Anna is an accredited Blue Badge Guide. She is also an adjunct professor at Richmond The American International University in London where she teaches undergraduates the history of London. She worked for 6 years as a curator in the sculpture department at the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Anna is taking us on the virtual tour of Highlights of the British Museum on Tuesday, 3rd November at 11am. The virtual tour will last an hour. Please join the Zoom link at 10:45 so we can have a prompt start at 11am.

The charge for the tour is £5 per person.

The East End is one of London’s most fascinating and dynamic districts. It is essentially the story of immigration, wave after wave of people coming to London to seek refuge, looking for a better life. The Story of the Old East End Virtual tour tells their story. Using powerful images, video and google street view our journey takes us from the arrival of French Huguenots in the 1680’s through to the late 1930’s and the arrival  of nearly 10,000 mainly Jewish children who arrived at Liverpool Street station on the Kindertransport. 

The travel company organising this trip for us (SAGA) have now informed us that it has been cancelled by them. Deposits have been refunded.

We have been offered the opportunity of a very similar trip in September 2021, conditions permitting.

Details have been emailed to people who had booked on this cancelled trip. As a society, we don't intend to make any immediate decision about future overseas travel.

Although our tour of Ghent and physical visit to the Flemish Masters has had to be cancelled, we would encourage you to visit The Stay at Home Museum.

By the magic of YouTube, you can have your private guided Flemish Masters tour.

Curator Till-Holger Borchert guides you personally through the biggest ever exhibition of Van Eyck's masterpieces. In under half an hour you will see beautiful painting, and have hidden meanings explained to you.

On Thursday, 9th January The Arts Society Worcester organised a treat to give us a good start to the New Year.   We were told to meet at Perdiswell (free parking) to board the coach at 10.30 to go to Stratford to see the musical from David Walliams' book of The Boy in the Dress. Sue Russell-Jones checked us all on her list and then we set off. We got to Stratford in very good time for an early lunch in one of the many restaurants over the road before the show and then settled down in our very good seats in the stalls.

We all thoroughly enjoyed the performance.   We thought the set was wonderful and the acting was superb.  As for the costumes....  The young boy, Dennis, was outstanding and while there were some absolutely hilarious moments (especially with Raj in the local corner shop waggling his eyebrows) he took us on a sensitive journey featuring the relationship between his parents, the loss of his mother when she walked out and his father's conflicting opinions of shame and final acceptance of his son wearing a dress.   The music and the play had a feel good atmosphere and we all came out feeling suitably uplifted.  The coach was waiting right outside the door and there was the usual friendly atmosphere on board.   Many thanks for a wonderful day out.

 Lucy Fisher 

Subs add review here !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Join us to start Christmas celebrations with a Christmas lunch in the Five Arrows Coaching House Hotel, visit the East and Bachelors’ Wing dressed for Christmas, explore the Christmas Gift Fair and the Food Market and view the Light Installations in the house and garden.

Waddesdon Manor was built by Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild from 1874 to display his outstanding collections of Art Treasures and to entertain the fashionable world. Each year the Christmas decorations have a different theme; this year the theme is the world of music with a festive twist from Christmas carols to Christmas No 1s.

Visit the Christmas Fair in the grounds, enjoy a Christmas dinner.

Tour the glorious house, walk in the outbuildings and gardens to see the light shows and installations.

We plan to leave Waddesdon at 5.30pm to return home for approximately 7.30pm.

Price per head will be £54 for National Trust Members, £70 for non-members.

The Welsh National Opera's production of Carmen will be visiting the Hippodrome in Birmingham.

We are running a return coach from Droitwich for the evening performance on Tuesday the fifth of November.

The total cost per person will be £54.

We will visit the Richard III Museum in the morning, to learn about the last English king to die in battle, and the first to be DNA tested. Find out more about the context of the Wars of the Roses, Richard's rise to power and weigh the evidence about the fate of the Princes in the Tower. Then follow the modern detective story that led to Richard's burial site, hidden under a council car-park.

Lunch will be taken indepedantly, and then In the afternoon we will visit the Battle of Bosworth Heritage Centre, set in the beautiful Country Park with its Battlefield Trail (just over a mile) and interactive exhibitions about medieval warfare.

This site was pivotal in English history, with the battle of 1485 moving power from the Plantagenets to the Tudors with the death of Richard and the victory of Henry.

The trip will cost £40 per head including coach travel, entry fees, battlefield tour and gratuities.

We will travel by coach to Edinburgh, where we stay for 5 nights in the Old Town. Two full days will be spent in Edinburgh City and we will have one day in Dundee and another in Stirling.

On our journey up we will visit Dalemain House for a tour and a light lunch.  Returning home we will call at The Royal Armouries Museum in Leeds.

Our accommodation is in The Hotel Ibis Southbridge, a modern 3 star hotel, within walking distance of the Royal Mile, which will provide bed and breakfast and two dinners.

Highlights to include:-  Royal Yacht Britannia, The Scottish Parliament Building, Edinburgh Castle, The Real Mary King Close, The V and A Museum, Dundee, Stirling Castle, Bannockburn Monument. Dinner and Show of Scottish Culture at Prestonfield House.

TO OBTAIN FULL DETAILS AND BOOKING FORM PLEASE CLICK HERE

Thirty-nine of us flew from Birmingham Airport on the 15th June to Kiev via Istanbul. The change of planes was straightforward according to the travel agent, but due to a late departure, two drives round Istanbul airport and a mistake on the electronic ticket, we were stranded for the night at the airport. Half a night in Yotel revitalised us and we flew out at seven am to Kiev.

The ships crew worked very hard to get us back on schedule; an early lunch and we were off on our city tour. Ignoring our early start we all coped very well seeing the austere blocks of flats, the delapidated parks and squares. Everything was damaged, neglected or not cared for. The trip to St Sophia Cathedral  lifted the spirits. and we returned to the ship to recover from a very long day. By the second day we were settling into our shabby-chic cabins, we had found the bars and open decks, we had taken on the management over fixed seating in the dining room and won, however we had to survive guerilla tactics from the Maitre D to sabotage the win.

Day three was really good; we visited a working monastery set in forests. As it was a special time of the year, services were in full swing. The service seem to be between the priests and the choir both on high and the congregation mill round below (no seats) lighting candles, confessing mistakes, kissing lots of ikons and eating. The services go on for hours. The richness of the interiors, the robes and the singing plus the fervour of the congregation was very dramatic.

We walked through the monastery grounds to the underground labyrinths where the monks were buried. Quite an experience, creeping into the catacombes with a small lit candle. In contrast our evening visit to the Ukrainian all male National Choir, set in a large comfy 50s style theatre was fun and very good.  

We set sail as light was failing but we were all on desk to watch the sky line of Kiev pass. The river is already very wide in Kiev, but when we woke the next day we could not even see the shoreline. Much of the river has been made into reservoirs. We had a leisurely day, learning how to make borscht soup, language lessons and watching the world go by.

Day 5 We arrived at the Cossack Town of Zaporizhia, here we learnt about the Cossacks, who seem rather like mercenaries, they would fight for any side providing they got paid. We visited their island learnt about their lifestyle and had a lively demonstration of their fighting skills. All this was washed down with generous tots of vodka and a plate of food. 

The next couple of days were rather like wind in the willows sailing downstream stopping to investigate rural life, which always meant eating a plate of food washed down with liberal tots of Vodka.

Day 8 we arrived in Odessa and moored at the bottom of the Potemkin Steps; a hundred and ninety-two steps to the top plus about another fifty to get from the port across the road to the base of the steps. It is a beautiful city, however the inhabitants are a little light fingered, especially on those steps. The buildings are well proportioned, graceful and the city layout is linear, tree lined boulevards, leading to large squares with fountains, statues or parks. It was a beautiful city and we took a walking tour and visited the Fine Art Gallery.    

Our final day was a Sunday and we went on a church crawl; Russian Orthodox, Greek Orthodox, Roman Catholic, a Mosque and finally a Synagogue. It was one of the best tours we did. Still being Pentacost all the churches were celebrating so at the first three we witnessed, packed services with beautiful singing and all the grandeur of high church. The mosque was empty but beautiful integrated decor. The synagogue made all the men wear the little skull caps and we ladies had to cover out heads. It was a most thought provoking tour.

The final icing on the cake was the trip to the Opera House in the evening to see Swan Lake. It was enchanting, the dancing excellent, the building rather like a large tiered cake fully decorated with huge chandeliers.

So we had no rain, lots of sunshine, quite high temperatures, just a few minor accidents and thirty-nine very happy tourists. We managed the return flight with out a problem.

Where too next I hear you ask?  I am investigating part of the Silk Road, which looks like it will have to be in September So if you want an adventure in 2020 watch out for my flyer

Rebecca Dale