Calendar of DNHAS events

See also the Calendar of Events on the Museum website and the programmes of the various special interest groups, especially Natural History field meetings.

Events are at the Dorset County Museum unless otherwise stated.

2009
June 20, till August 21: Langton Matravers bronze axe hoard on show in the Victorian Hall. The largest hoard of Bronze Age axes ever found in Britain. Over 400 bronze and tin axes were found in four pits at Langton Matravers, Dorset, in 2007. They were freshly cast around 800 BC and had never been used. Now purchased by DNHAS as a result of individual donations totalling £15,000 and matching grants from The Museums Libraries and Archives/V&A Purchase Grant Fund and The Headley Trust.
July 2 (Thursday) 13:00: Dorchester Piano Trio with Walter Brewster, clarinet. Lunchtime concert: Brahms Clarinet Trio and Bartok Contrasts. Entrance free.
July 3 (Friday) 18.00, Came Down: Archaeology field meeting: Walking the South Dorset Ridgeway, exploring the prehistoric monuments and their landscape.
Conygar Hill, to visit barrows excavated by Edward Cunnington: meet at SY 6895 8910 (allotment gardens opposite Winterbourne Hospital).
July 4, till July 18: Exhibition Evolver Prize 2009. Work from Wessex artists, photographers and graphic designers selected for Evolver magazine's front cover competition. Sales exhibition, entrance free
July 4 (Saturday): Family activity: Declare your Independence! Imagine you had your own country : what would your flag be, or your Coat of Arms? What rules would you have? Come to the Museum and we'll declare it an independent State for the morning.
July 9 (Thursday) 10.30, Studland: Natural history field meeting, details here
July 10, till September 30: Reynolds Stone Centenary exhibition.
Master engraver, printmaker and craftsman, Reynolds Stone was one of 20th century Dorset's most important artists. This display, on the centenary of his birth, placess a selection of his work and the tools he used to create it in the context of the county he loved.
July 11 (Saturday) 10.30 to 12.30 (provisional): Museum Club: programme to be announced
July 11 (Saturday) 10.30, Godlingston Heath: Dorset Flora Group field meeting: Bog Orchid and Sundews, details here.
July 13 (Monday) 18.30: Annual General Meeting of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society. Not July 9 as previously stated here
July 16 (Thursday), Ringstead: Natural history field meeting, details here
July 18 (Saturday), Cranborne Common: Dorset Flora Group and County Boundary Survey joint meeting, details here
July 23 (Thursday) 10.00 to 15.30 (also September 24): Enter the Vaults: tours of the Museum's stores. Full details here.
July 25, till August 31: Exhibition Ladybird Make and Do. Including artwork recently recovered from the Ladybird Books archive, originally published in Things to Make, More Things to Make, Easy to Make Puppets and Tricks and Magic. Activity corners for children and adults. Make your own Punch and Judy puppet show, try your hand at conjuring at the magic table, and watch archive footage of Valerie Singleton.
image © Ladybird Books Ltd MMIX
August 1 (Saturday) 10.30, Hartland Moor: Dorset Flora Group field meeting: ferns. Details here.
August 5 (Wednesday) 10.00 for 10.30, Stockland: Dorset County Boundary Survey meeting on the Devon border. Details here.
August 5 (Wednesday) (also August 12, 19 ,26): Family activity: Ladybird Make and Do. Details here
August 12 (Wednesday) (also August 5, 19, 26): Family activity: Ladybird Make and Do. Details here
August 19 (Wednesday) (also August 5, 12, 26): Family activity: Ladybird Make and Do. Details here
August 26 (Wednesday) (also August 5, 12, 19): Family activity: Ladybird Make and Do. Details here
September 2 (Wednesday): Family activity: Dinosaur activity day
September 5 (Saturday) 10.30 to 12.30 (provisional): Museum Club: programme to be announced
September 12 (Saturday): Family activity: Every Painting Tells a Story. Listen and join in with a specially written story all about the people and animals in the paintings in the Museum. Make a mask to take home.
September 20 (Sunday) 14.00--16.00: Steam Teas in conjunction with Puddletown Parochial Church Council. Details to follow.
September 24 (Thursday) 10.00 to 15.30: Enter the Vaults: tours of the Museum's stores.
Places on tours are strictly limited; each tour takes 90 minutes. Tickets £6.50 from the Museum or Dorchester Tourist Information Centre, corner of Trinity St and Antelope Walk.
October 1 (Thursday) 9.00, Frome Valley: Winter farm bird survey, details here
October 7 (Wednesday) 10.00 for 10.30, Dorset-Hampshire border: Dorset County Boundary Survey meeting on the boundary with Hampshire, Details here.
October 10 (Saturday) 10.30 to 12.30 (provisional): Museum Club: programme to be announced
October 10 (Saturday): Family activity: The Big Draw. Come and join us for our 4th annual Big Draw. The subject for the Big Draw has not been announced yet.
October 24 (Saturday): Dorset County Boundary Survey meeting at the Museum, with speakers from Cornwall and Devon. Details here.
October 31--November 1 (Saturday--Sunday): Family activity: Hallowe'en Sleepover
November 5 (Thursday) 9.00, Frome Valley: Winter farm bird survey, details here
November 7 (Saturday): Family activity: Sea Monsters! Make your own sea monster. Use the monsters on our old maps to give you ideas. We will provide all the materials to make a papier-maché monster to take home.
November 14 (Saturday): DNHAS and the Parish of Dorchester present
The legacy of Charles Darwin: a day for learning and discussion
Denis Alexander, Cambridge: Evolution and the biological sciences since Darwin
Prof. Emeritus Keith Ward FBA, Oxford: Theological responses to `The Origin of Species'
Prof. Simon Conway Morris FRS, Cambridge: Geology since Darwin
Prof. Peter Andrews, Natural History Museum: Darwin and human evolution
Tickets £12.00 (concessions £4.00) and detailed programme from the Museum
November 21 (Saturday) 10.30 to 12.30 (provisional): Museum Club: programme to be announced
November 21 (Saturday) 12.00: Dorset Local History Group day school : 'Dorset and Disease'. Mark Forrest, Martin Ayres, and others. DLHG welcomes offers of presentations: see here for details.
December 2 (Wednesday) 10.00 for 10.30, Dorset History Centre: Dorset County Boundary Survey Christmas round-table meeting with mince pies. Details here.
December 3 (Thursday) 9.00, Frome Valley: Winter farm bird survey, details here
December 5 (Saturday) 10.30 to 12.30 (provisional): Museum Club: programme to be announced
December 12 (Saturday): Family activity: Stained Glass Windows. Get ready for Christmas. Make a `stained glass' window panel to put in your window for Christmas.

A voluntary collection at Society meetings gives an opportunity for members to donate using the gift aid arrangements. The Society's Council urges members to consider a donation. Music Society concerts, Literary Lectures and some other special events will carry a separate admission fee via advance booking or at the door.

Last revised 2009-07-02