Programme of Meetings

2025-26

Wednesday 17 September 2025:
The John Player story – Peter Russell

Wednesday 15 October 2025:
Gentry families of the Lordship of Gower and their estates – Jeff Childs

The talk will focus on some of the major estates and their landowners, which were active within the Lordship of Gower (principally Anglicana – Peninsular Gower), primarily between 1750 and 1850. The presentation will highlight landed families, their estates and mansions, and the rise and fall of some families as well as the agencies of change.

Wednesday 19 November 2025:
Short Bros. (Plant) Ltd.: a South Wales Contracting firm – Nigel T. Wassell

No meetings in December or January

Wednesday 18 February 2026:
The Mond Nickel Company during WW1 – Rhian Evans

Wednesday 18 March 2026:
Annual General Meeting
Followed by a short topical presentation.

Wednesday 15 April 2026:
Swansea – Copperopolis (The Hafod Morfa Copperworks) – Ray Collier

Wednesday 20 May 2026:
Harry Grindell Matthews and the Death Ray – 100 years later – Gwilym Games

The strange tale of Death Ray Matthews, looking at the mysteries behind his discoveries and his secret mountain laboratory in the Swansea Valley. Was he a fraud and/or a misunderstood genius?

2025-26 meetings venue

The evening meetings are held at Sketty Community Church Hall, 36 Carnglas Road, Sketty, Swansea SA2 9BP (opposite Tycoch Post Office), on the third Wednesday of each month. They each commence at 7.30 p.m. and are of approximately one-and-a-half hours duration.
Carnglas Road is one-way from Tycoch Square to its junction with Gower Road. Sketty Community Church Hall is near Tycoch Square. Off-road parking is available in front of the church hall.