WEA Courses

Pompeii and Herculaneum 5 meetings on Wednesdays starting 21/04/2021. 10:00am - 12:00pm Tutor: Sandra Smith

In this short course we will be looking at the destruction and preservation of two Roman towns, Pompeii and Herculaneum which were destroyed when Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79AD. We will look at the evidence of the eruption itself, how it destroyed the two settlements and how their consequent preservation was consequently different. This will then allow us to look at daily life as it was lived in these two places in the first century AD, a period in which the Roman Empire was at its most successful.

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A Day in the Factory: Life, Welfare and Leisure during the Industrial Revolution 10 meetings on Wednesdays starting 21/04/2021. 7:00pm - 8:30pm Tutor: Richard Marks

The Industrial Revolution changed Britain dramatically during the 18th and 19th Centuries but how did it change the daily lives of British people? In this course we will explore how the Industrialisation of Britain during this time changed how people worked and how the economy changed from craft to factory industries. We will also look at how new technologies changed medicine, leisure and education, and created the Middle Classes. We will discover how the railways changed how people travelled, where they lived and how it created the British Seaside Holiday.

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The Architecture and Engineering of Railway Stations and Airport Terminals 5 meetings on Thursdays starting 29/04/2021. 10:00am - 11:30am Tutor: Keith Hasted

Britain inspired the world with the development of railways in the 19th century - producing elaborate and inventive station designs such as George Gilbert Scott’s St Pancras and Brunel’s Paddington. During the 20th and 21st century airport terminals around the world have rapidly moved from "sheds around the airfield" to huge works of architectural design and engineering.

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Aldbrickham: Bricks and Brick Makers of Reading in the 19th and 20th Centuries 3 meetings on Fridays starting 30/04/2021. 10:00am - 11:30am Tutor: Margaret Simons

Often referred to as Reading’s fourth and often forgotten B, brick production was a part of the local economy and the local scene well into the 20th century. In considering why and how the industry developed in the area, who the main manufacturers were and what they produced we will realise why Thomas Hardy gave the town the fictitious name of Aldbrickham. Furthermore, we will develop a greater insight into a part of the town’s past which is still so evident in the built environment today.

This course will be delivered online.

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'Immortal Beloved': Muses of the Great Composers 4 meetings on Fridays starting 07/05/2021. 10:00am - 12:00pm Tutor: Chis Carter

Love, in its many forms, lies at the core of much of the world’s greatest music – as a subject in its own right, but more importantly, as a source of inspiration. In this four-week course, we look at a range of composers – from Beethoven and Berlioz through to Brahms and Britten – where desire, admiration or a vision of a beloved unlocked their creativity and helped give it voice. While the attention these muses received was not without its difficulties, without them, some of the great masterpieces of all time would never have been written.

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German Expressionist Cinema 3 meetings on Thursdays starting 13/05/2021. 10:00am - 12:00pm Tutor: Julie Charlesworth

This online course explores the origins, development and influence of German expressionist films after the First World War. These silent films such as Metropolis (1927), Nosferatu (1922), The Cabinet of Dr Caligari (1920), Warning Shadows (1923), Waxworks (1924), to name but a few, by directors such as Fritz Lang, FW Murnau, Robert Wiene and so on, were characterised by deep shadows, angles, over-expressive acting, and much happened in twilight and impossible surroundings.

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