Thoroton Society Events
Lectures, unless otherwise stated, are held at Nottingham Mechanics, 3 North Sherwood Street, NOTTINGHAM NG1 4EZ. Lectures start at 2:30 pm.
This venue is fully accessible and has facilities for disabled people. A bookstall is available from 2:00 pm.
Saturday, 14 February 2026
Rosalys Coope Lecture: ‘Florence Boot’
Sian Trafford, Chair, Nottingham Women's History Group
Siân Trafford worked in the School of Sciences at Nottingham Trent University for 26 years in various capacities. The position she held for the majority of her time there involved helping students to develop academic writing skills. Siân says that it was immensely rewarding, seeing ‘the penny drop’, as the students grasped the principles of academic expression, referencing and so on and improved their grades accordingly. She does miss working with students, but not enough to give up retirement and return to early mornings and rush hour traffic!
Siân will be talking about Florence Boot who was, of course, the wife of Jesse Boot, and a woman way ahead of her time. The talk will explain how the retail experience she gained as a young girl in her father’s Jersey stationery shop was a vital ingredient in turning Boots the Chemist into the business we know today, while she simultaneously provided for the wellbeing of Boots employees and others, especially women. By the end of her talk, Siân hopes that you will agree with Nottingham Women’s History Group that Florence Boot deserves her place in the history books just as much as her husband Jesse.
Saturday, 14 March 2026
Maurice Barley Lecture: ‘Nottingham Children's Hospital: a history’
Martin Hewitt
The first hospital for sick children in Nottingham was established in 1869 near the General Hospital before moving to Forest House and then the QMC. The talk will explain how the first institution was part of a national trend in late Victorian health care. It will also introduce some of the nationally recognised doctors and nurses who helped in the development of the Nottingham hospitals.
Martin Hewitt is a retired Consultant Paediatrician at QMC with particular responsibility for children with cancer. He was appointed as a Consultant in 1993 having trained in paediatrics in south of England and has a long-standing interest in the history of children’s health care. Martin was a founder member of the History of Paediatrics group at the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health.
Saturday, 25 April 2026
Spring Meeting & AGM
At 2pm. Venue: Stoke Bardolph Village Hall, Stoke Lane, Stoke Bardolph, NG14 5HS.
Entry to the AGM is free to all Thoroton Society members. Following the meeting there will be an afternoon tea, for which places must be reserved at the nominal charge of £15 per person.
Thursday, 28 May 2026
Excursion to Mansfield Fire Museum and Fire Station
Thursday, 25 June 2026
Excursion to Nottingham Arboretum and Historic Nottingham
A guided tour of The Arboretum led by Kevin Powell. The Arboretum was created from land set aside by the 1845 Inclosure Act as a public park and is on the English Heritage Register of Parks and Gardens.
Tuesday, 14 July 2026
Excursion to Taylor's Bell Foundry and Queens Park Museum, Loughborough
The Thoroton Society last visited Taylor's Bell Foundry in 2023. Since that time the Foundry has been refurbished and a museum established thanks to grants from several heritage charities.
Taylors is the last major bell foundry in Britain having produced 25,000 bells since being established in 1839.