Events ARCHIVE
2025
Explore FREE taster event
Start of Season Two - Monday 20th January 2025
Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle upon Tyne
New to Explore? Come and find out about our programme & organisation to enjoy a session with our expert tutors.
View our Season Two Programme on our programme page - take a look, book your place and enjoy!
All welcome.
(If you've missed our Taster Event you can arrange a free taster session directly at any point in the season - just
get in touch to arrange.
2024
Explore FREE taster event
23rd September to 27th September 2024
Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle upon Tyne
New to Explore? Come and find out about our programme and organisation, by joining our members to enjoy a session by one of our expert tutors.
You can view the Weekly Summary and our full Season One Programme on our programme page - take a look, book your place and enjoy!
All welcome.
'Angels of the North - Notable Women of the North East' with Baroness Joyce Quin
Tuesday 10th September 2024 - 18.00
Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle upon Tyne or via Zoom (Face-to-Face or Zoom ticket options available)
In the Gordon Brown Memorial Lecture 2024, Baroness Joyce Quin, former Parliamentarian and MEP will introduce us to some of the notable women of the North East that she has included in her two books Angels of the North and its recently published sequel Angels of the North 2 which focuses on the women of Newcastle. (Both books were written in collaboration with Moira Kilkenny.)
Join us to hear about these remarkable women and their achievements.
All welcome - please select either the
Face-to-Face or
Zoom/Remote access Ticket options to book your place.
International Women's Day Events
As part of this year's IWD celebrations we welcome all members and non-members to events presented by highly respected women and experts in their fields. Our lead event is a Free Public Lecture for all on Thursday 7th March. In addition, we have two additional sessions which non-members are welcome to attend alongside our members - just get in touch to arrange a Free Taster.
7th March 2024 - 18.00 to 19.00
Prof. Louise Robinson DBE
'Dementia: Care and Prevention as well as Cure'
Face-to-Face and Online Options Available
Professor Dame Louise Robinson will present the special public lecture about current research in three key areas of dementia; care, cure and prevention.
You can read more and book your FREE ticket via the green buttons, with both Face-to-Face or Zoom options available.
11th March 2024 - 13.30 to 15.00 (via Zoom)
Dr Alexandra Makin
'The Pioneering Women of Early Medieval Textile Analysis'
See details on our Blog or Page 13 of our Online Programme
Contact Us to attend with a Free Taster Session - everyone welcome!
4th March 2024 - 10.30 to 12.00 (via Zoom)
Prof Elizabeth Cumming
'The Art & Craft of Phoebe Anna Traquair'
See details on our Blog or Page 9 of our Online Programme
Contact Us to Attend with a Free Taster Session - everyone welcome!
2023
'All At Sea; Travels & Travails of the Tyne Sailor' with Michael Chaplin
Tuesday 12th September 2023 - 18.00
Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle upon Tyne or via Zoom (Face-to-Face or Zoom ticket options available)
In the Gordon Brown Memorial Lecture 2023, writer and Explore Patron Michael Chaplin will take his audience on an epic journey spanning 2,000 years and the Seven Seas of the world, with one common thread: the ships in this story all began or ended their voyages in the River Tyne.
The Romans started it. They usually did. Their discovery of outcropping coal at Benwell created the richest of exports from the river over two millenia and a constant search for cargoes to bring back: timber, tar and herrings from the Baltic; citrus fruits, olive oil and wine from the Mediterranean; millstones from the Loire; mahogany from Mexico; tea from China and guano from the world’s most desolate shores. Seamen from the Tyne faced many dangers and privations to make safe passage home, many didn’t succeed. Without them Tyneside would not have grown as it did, but now these men are pretty much forgotten.
In his talk Michael seeks to put that right and in the process tell their stories - comical, tragical, compelling and sometimes jaw-dropping – and honour the memory of these mythic travellers of the past.
Please join us for this voyage through time and space. Here be storms and stowaways, heroes and villains, fortunes made and lost, epic battles, shipwrecks and mutinies…
All welcome - please select either the Face-to-Face or Zoom/Remote access Ticket options to book your place.
2022
'People, Religion & Change in the Hinterland of Hadrian's Wall'
- historian Lindsay Allason-Jones OBE
The Gordon Brown Memorial Lecture via Zoom
Wednesday 14th September 2022 at 18.00
The area immediately to the south of Hadrian's Wall is often forgotten when Roman Britain is discussed, as it is seen as being neither part of the Military Zone nor of the civilian south. However, recent excavations are beginning to reveal the area to be of great interest, reflecting the changes wrought by the Roman invasion. This talk uses recent work on the sculpture from the region to shed light on the changes experienced by the inhabitants of the area, whether military or civilian, in their religious and cultural lives.
Everyone is invited to this FREE ONLINE event - you only need 1 ticket per household.
Lindsay is a leading authority on Hadrian's Wall and Roman Britain. At Newcastle University. She was previously Director of Archaeological Museums and is now a Member of the University's Materiality, Artefacts & Technologies in Culture & History Faculty Research Group.
2021
'Understanding the Northumbrians: Excavating the Foundations of North East Culture'
- author Dan Jackson
The Gordon Brown Memorial Lecture
Wednesday 22nd September 2021 at 18.00
Our 2021 annual public Gordon Brown Memorial Lecture was held on Zoom and welcomed writer and historian Dan Jackson to present his lecture 'Understanding the Northumbrians: Excavating the Foundations of North East Culture'.
In this talk Dan Jackson, author of the best-selling ‘The Northumbrians: North East England and its People, A New History’ explored the roots of the distinctive culture of the lands between the Tweed and the Tees, and how centuries of border warfare, heavy and dangerous industries, and the sociability and hedonism that so defined the communities of the North East has left an enduring cultural imprint.
LISTEN to an audio version of Dan's fascinating talk via the button the right.
2020
2019
- Does it feel different to the bio-medical advances with which we are more familiar such as heart and liver transplants, prosthetic limbs and pacemakers?
- What does it mean when we talk of trans-humanism?
- Might this lead to the enhancement of humankind?
- And as these technologies develop, what might humankind look like in fifty or a hundred years time?
- Dr. Azadeh Fattahi-Savadjani
- Johanna Weston
- Dr. Laura Greaves
2018



2017


2016
Front Street gig November 2016
The Late Shows
The Late Shows take place in mid May each year as part of the 'Museums at Night' national event. Explore has regularly taken part in the Late Shows courtesy of Ampersand Inventions. Our expert tutors have given a series of mini lectures to give an idea of the programme for visitors.Leader of the Opposition Jeremy Corbyn Visits Explore
March 2016
Jeremy Corbyn MP visited Explore on Monday 3rd October 2016 on the first morning of our new season for 2016-17. Our VIP visitor said hello to members who were enjoying art tutor Peter Quinn's lecture on the 'body in art'.
Jeremy was interested in and impressed by our innovative, member run, professionally delivered programme.


British Science Week
