Rag members Maria and Julian Sturdy-Morton met through a shared love of the arts. In 2010, the dynamic duo founded A Bit of TLC, an online members club for those passionate about theatre, opera, music and film. Since then, the Sturdy-Mortons have organised numerous outings – from West End shows and historic house visits, to exclusive concerts and performances – for their members to enjoy in the company of likeminded others, and at special rates.
We are delighted to announce a new affiliation with A Bit of TLC. We are working closely with Maria and Julian to add more colour to our Member Events Programme. Please scroll down to find out more and to make bookings.
Rebuilding Notre Dame – Jonathan Deeming, conservator
Monday 28th April at 11:00 | £15.00 Per Person
The full title of this gripping talk is ‘Rebuilding Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris – Relearning the Art and Science of Great Mediaeval Cathedrals’
Jonathan Deeming, Surveyor of the Fabric of Canterbury Cathedral, was chosen by the London Institute Français to talk about the rebuilding of Notre Dame.
Almost all of us have a memory of Notre Dame, our first visit, hearing the music of a mass being celebrated there or appreciating the way it towers over the surrounding island in the Seine. We are keen to get to Paris to see the transformation from the horrendous destruction of this 850-year-old building in a fire that touched us all. We are trying to work out how to arrange a two-day visit with a private tour, for a date in the early summer (the first time at which groups will be allowed access).
Protecting the Nation’s Art Treasures in WWII – Caroline Shenton, Parliamentary archivist
Tuesday 13th May at 11:00 | £15.00 Per Person
This is a gripping and sometimes hilarious story of how a band of heroic curators and eccentric custodians saved Britain’s national heritage during the Second World War. As Hitler prepared to invade Poland during the sweltering summer of 1939, men and women from across London’s museums, galleries and archives forged extraordinary and ingenious plans to send their collections to safety. Using stately homes, tube tunnels, slate mines, castles, prisons, quarries and their own houses, a dedicated bunch of unlikely misfits packed up the nation’s greatest treasures and, in a race against time, set out throughout the country on a series of top-secret wartime adventures. Dr Caroline Shenton is a public historian, archivist and formerly Director of the Parliamentary Archives in London.
An Appreciation of Anatolia – Jeremy Seal, best-selling author
Tuesday 27th May at 11:00 | £15.00
Jeremy Seal is an award-winning writer, journalist and intrepid traveller who’s been exploring Turkey for almost forty years. His books on Turkey, history-rich travelogues, include A Fez of the Heart (1995), Santa: A Life (2004), Meander(2012) and A Coup in Turkey (2021).
Jeremy lost his heart to Turkey when he was posted there as a teacher in the 1980s. He has returned very frequently since, to write and to explore, alone and with others. In the process he has learned as much about the country as anybody. In a wide-ranging and well-illustrated talk Jeremy examines what it is about this pivotal country that so inspires him.
Jane Austen – celebrating the 250th anniversary of her birth – Gill Hornby, best-selling author
Monday 9th June at 11:00 | £15.00
Gill Hornby wrote Miss Austen, a novel about the life of Jane Austen through the eyes of her older sister Cassandra (painter of this portrait from 1810). She has since written two more novels connected to Jane Austen.
Gill has established herself as an outstanding champion of the author of six novels, highly regarded by loyal Janeites for the way in which she has unlocked the author’s personality in a fresh way. Jane Austen was born in 1775 and died in 1817, having written what Gill describes as ‘the six best novels in the English language’.
Sir Jeremy Hunt in conversation with Quentin Letts about his newest book, Can We Be Great Again?
Monday 23rd June at 11 am | £15.00
The Rt Hon. Sir Jeremy Hunt, MP is an backbencher who served as Health Secretary, Foreign Secretary and Chancellor in the last Conservative administration. He is widely talked about as a future leader of the Conservative Party and perhaps also a future PM. His previous book, Zero, examined the NHS and received praise from all sides of the House for its measured and well-informed approach.
Quentin Letts is a best-selling author, long term Parliamentary sketch writer and one time theatre critic. Few people know the personalities in Westminster better, having been at the heart of their dissection since the mid-1990s.
Eric Schmidt, former CEO of Google, writes that the book Can We Be Great Again? is a ‘masterly analysis of why Britain has much more global influence thank it thinks’.
