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Meeting dates 2024

Meetings are held at The Barn, Goosecroft, Purley on Thames RG8 8DR

Friday 19th January, 7:30 pm.  Nick Brazil:  Swan Upping – a 900-year Royal Tradition

Friday 16th February, 7:30 pm.  Sarah Somerville: The History of Shaw House in Newbury

Friday 15th March, 7:30 pm.  AGM followed by Richard Marks: Biscuits for Queen Victoria – the story of the early days of Huntley and Palmers

Friday 19th April, 7:30 pm.  Dr Stephen Goss: From Doomsday Book to listening in for doomsday: Caversham Park’s 930 years at the centre of history

Saturday 8th June, 1:00 pm.  D-Day Commemoration Event

Friday 7th June, 7:30 pm  Rain or Shine Theatre Company: The Importance of being Earnest (A Trivial Comedy for Serious People) by Oscar Wilde

Friday 12th July.  Outing by coach to Chiltern Open Air Museum

Friday 20th September, 7:30 pm.  Members’ meeting – Hobbies and Collections

Friday 18th October, 7:30 pm.  Ellie Thorne: The Shops, Trades and Businesses of Pangbourne, 1949 to the Present Day.

Friday 15th November, 7:30 pm.  Richard Marks: Berkshire’s Forgotten Railways

Friday 20th December.  Social: Christmas Party

Rain or Shine: Frankenstein

The Rain or Shine Theatre Company will be back in the Barn in Purley on Thames on Friday 8th December 2023, hosted again by Project Purley.  As usual, we look set for an evening of great acting and much laughter.

Mobirise

Victor Frankenstein is on a scientific quest. He believes that he alone is destined to break through the greatest boundary of the medical world and harness the power to control life and death. Along with his faithful assistant, Igor, he finds that the act of creation is not all it’s cracked up to be when his efforts finally bring a homemade man to life. The only true question is who is the monster? Victor or his creation? Join Rain or Shine this winter for their hilarious take on this Gothic classic. Expect gags, fast paced chaos, well-timed comic set pieces. And hats. Lots and lots of hats.

Tickets are on sale now at £12 adult and £8 concession either from David Downs face-to-face or on 0118 942 4167.

Christmas Party in the Barn 2023

The Project Purley Christmas Party will be held on Friday 15th December at 7:30 pm in the Barn.  

There will be a hot supper and a Christmas Quiz.  A professional caterer will supply a choice of three different main courses, and you can pre-order your preference.  There will be a charge of £12 to cover the cost of the catering.  Members should bring their own crockery, cutlery, glasses and drinks.  Before, during and after the food there will be a photograph quiz.

Pre-booking is required, contact Jean Chudleigh.

Summer Outing – Visit to Purley Hall and its grounds

Project Purley’s Summer Outing will be a visit to Purley Hall
19th May 2023 from 2:00 pm to 5:00 pm.

Purley Hall pictured across the man-made canal. Photograph: Catherine Sampson

Built in the early 1600s, Purley Hall is a very attractive property set in stunning grounds.  It is privately owned, and we are grateful to Mr & Mrs Anderson for welcoming us to their home.  Weather permitting, our visit will include time to explore the gardens, which includes a canal, boat house, rustic temple, and walled garden, and also a tour of the main reception rooms downstairs with Ben Viljoen.  We will finish afterwards in The Barn for refreshments.

The visit costs £5 per person, which includes refreshments.  Advance booking required: contact Catherine Sampson.

Rain or Shine: The Comedy of Errors by William Shakespeare

The Rain or Shine Theatre Company will be back in the Barn in Purley on Friday 16th June!

The Rain or Shine Theatre Company is back, hosted again by Project Purley.  As usual, we look set for an evening of great acting and much laughter.  Do come if you can. Tickets are on sale now at £16 adult and £15 concession either from David Downs face–to–face or on 0118 942 4167, or by card on the box office ticket line 03306 600541 or online at www.bit.ly/PurleyCOE.

Meeting dates 2023

Meetings are held at The Barn, Goosecroft, Purley on Thames RG8 8DR

Friday 20th January, 7:30 pm.  Mike Cooper: Tilehurst in the Second World War

Friday 17th February, 7:30 pm.  Richard Marks: The History of Sutton Seeds of Reading

Friday 17th March, 7:30 pm.  AGM followed by John Chapman: Getting to Know You: how Purley people communicated with the rest of the world

Friday 21st April, 7:30 pm.  Catherine Sampson: The River Estate in Images

Monday 8th May, 2:00 pm to 5:00 pm.  Small Coronation display on King Charles III & past Coronations in the Barn as part of wider Coronation celebrations in Purley.

Friday 19th May, 2:00 pm.  Visit to Purley Hall and its grounds with refreshments afterwards in the Barn.  Advance booking required.

Friday 16th June, 7:30 pm.  Rain or Shine Theatre Company:  The Comedy of Errors by William Shakespeare.  Tickets are available to purchase from David Downs.  Proceeds will go to local good causes.

Friday 15th September 2023, 7:30 pm.  Members’ Evening: Fish & Chips supper, followed by “Coronation and Jubilees”.  Advance booking required.

Friday 20th October 2023, 7:30 pm.  Rob Wallace: Roads Built and Unbuilt in the Purley Area.

Friday 17th November 2023, 7:30 pm.  Peter Halman: The Thames from Oxford to Windsor: shaping history through the centuries.

Friday 8th December 2023, 7:00 pm.  Rain or Shine Theatre Company’s Christmas production: Frankenstein – a comic take on Mary Shelley’s classic Gothic novel.

Friday 15th December 2023.  Christmas Party – Supper and quiz.  Advance booking required.

 

 

Christmas Party in the Barn 2022

The Project Purley Christmas Party will be held on Friday 16th December at 7:30 pm in the Barn.  

There will be a hot supper and a Christmas Quiz.  A professional caterer will supply a choice of three different main courses – two curries and one non-curry, and you can pre-order your preference.  There will be a small charge to cover the cost of the catering.  Before, during and after the food there will be a table quiz, which this year will have a distinctive Purley theme.

Pre-booking is required.

Rain or Shine: Sherlock Holmes and the Music Hall Mystery

Rain or Shine will be back in in the Barn in Purley on Friday 2nd December!

Sherlock Holmes and the Music Hall Mystery

When Sherlock Holmes and his trusty assistant Doctor Watson are asked for help by a music hall performer in distress, the pair spring into action to foil a deeply dastardly plot of national importance that rocks London to the core!

Following on from their previous Sherlock Holmes mysteries – The Hound of the Baskervilles and The Case of Jekyll and Hyde, Rain or Shine Theatre invites you to enjoy an evening of adventure, mishaps, tomfoolery, and lashings of comedy!

Tickets are £12 adult and £8 child (under 15), available from David Downs at a Project Purley meeting or 0118 942 4167, or from the Rain or Shine website or from their box office ticket line on 03306 600541 (card payments).