WEA Courses

This is a chance to explore stories of people who are often overlooked – and who some would rather forget. We will explore opposition and resistance to World War One, from conscientious objectors who refused to fight to women peace activists who held an international peace congress in the Netherlands, from religious groups that split over the war to soldiers who mutinied. We will focus on Britain, although international comparisons and influences will also be mentioned.

Women’s suffrage had been a hotly debated subject for over 50 years prior to the passing of the Representation of the People Act on the 6th February 1918. However, the vote was only extended to women over 30 and then only if they met the £5 property qualification. In this course we explore this journey from the Berkshire perspective, using local press coverage and suffrage literature to establish the progress of the movement within a contextual framework and follow its progress until legislation finally gave women franchise equality.

In 1910 an exhibition called Manet and the Post Impressionists was held in London. The term Post Impressionist had not been used before and was adopted by the organisers to characterise the work of a varied and exciting selection of artists working in France at the end of the nineteenth century, all of whom had been associated at some time with the Impressionist group. These artists modified and experimented with style and subject in their work which made it different to that made by artists such as Monet and Degas.

There are a number of issues which are of great moral concern today. This course is an introduction to some of these issues:    the family ; abortion ; euthanasia;  (experiments on) animals ;  immigration ; multiculturalism; freedom of speech and religion ;  capital punishment ; war ; and world hunger. In each case , we'll arrive at an understanding of the issue and then (in the main) consider the case for and against.

Huntley and Palmer was one of Reading's '4bs' of biscuits, beer, bulbs and bricks fame.  However, it was neither the oldest of the four or the one that could claim to have been in business the longest, but it was by far the town's largest employer by the turn of the 20th century and perhaps the one ‘b’ that is most fondly remembered.  Generations of the same family worked at the factory on the King's Road, many workers lived close by in Newtown and Redlands and today there are still those who remember the men and women who worked there.

The century after 1550 saw many newly wealthy families, who had often benefitted from the dissolution of the monasteries, create splendid new country houses such as Longleat to show their wealth and power. These houses were increasingly influenced by ideas from the Renaissance. We will see how these houses reflected their owners’ lives and aspirations, including the Cecil family as chief ministers to Elizabeth I and James I, builders of great houses including Burghley and Hatfield.

The Stonehenge landscape as seen today, took around 1,500 years to develop by people of different cultures and beliefs This day school will attempt to unravel the competing theories that exist on its purpose and offer a view of why it is where it is; the stages of its development; and its place in British prehistory. In addition, Stonehenge will be considered in the wider context of the spread of farming from the so-called fertile crescent in modern day Iraq throughout Europe and the associated appearance of similar megalithic monuments.