Conversations Over Lunch

Come and learn about the work of the Trust and particularly about the restoration of the Hereford and Gloucester Canal.

TV antiques expert Kate Bliss will deliver this early evening talk and will spend some time giving valuations of antiques brought in by members of the audience.

We are on a steep learning curve of discovery with AI – a whole new swathe of developments in health care, education, the work environment and how we live our lives. In the coming years a tsunami of change will engulf us and we have little to guide us through as AI increasingly shapes and governs our world. Privacy is a thing of the past with our vapour trails on the internet and through the technology we use in our everyday lives enabling the tracking of our every move.

Our world is rapidly becoming managed by AI with chatbots already with us and humanoid robots shortly to be a part of our lives. Can we control the world we are creating and manage the revolution we are creating? Just maybe the dystopian Hollywood movies were right after all.

John has spent most of his career in the technology field managing large-scale change within Government and for major corporations, before becoming a senior advisor to various organisations and Chief Executive of a technology futures company. He is a Fellow and former Council member of the British Computer Society and a Liveryman of the City of London. His talk promises to be a challenging and stimulating critique of our changing world; the issues it presents for the future of our society, and indeed for the survival of our species.

The Sunday Times bestselling author of the acclaimed Italian Renaissance novels, The Birth of Venus, In the Company of the Courtesan and Blood and Beauty, has an exceptional talent for breathing life into history. Now Sarah Dunant turns her discerning eye to the foremost female art collector and patron of the Renaissance — Isabella d’Este, the Marchesa of Mantua — in a bold, new history that blends fiction with biography and art.

Sarah studied history and has, along with a successful career as a journalist with the BBC, written 13 novels many  of which bring to life the richness of the Italian Renaissance. 

The book will be available to buy from Rossiter Books on the day. More on Sarah here.

The City of London, that part of the Capital which sits on the North bank of the river Thames and is often called the Square Mile, has a long and interesting history.  Founded by the Romans, it has been central to the development and economy of Great Britain for nearly two thousand years. Its traditions and institutions are woven into the fabric of the country and are now of major international significance.

Rod Barker’s talk will comprise some history, legend and anecdotes from a speaker who spent most of his working life in the City.

Keith has dedicated his self-study, in retirement, to learning from Psychiatry, Philosophy and Neuroscience about ‘how our brain works’. While his talk’s title is typically challenging, he will be offering ideas which are accessible and applicable to our own daily living and which he believes are much needed in the current environment. It it he will draw on ideas from Sir John Harvey-Jones’ culture of “caring for others”

Keith Ray, an octogenarian has been a Ross resident for the past 37 years and is still actively involved in the locality.