Past Events

Lecture by Geoff Mead, local historian and  Murray Smith, landscape designer with Untitled Practice.  The Society is concerned about the Council’s proposals for remodelling Valley Gardens. In order to encourage informed debate we have invited local historian Geoff Mead to tell the story of this important thoroughfare. Murray Smith, a landscape designer with Untitled Practice will then describe the current proposals. There will be an opportunity for the audience to ask questions and join in a discussion. This event is free…

Geoff Mead, lecturer at the Valley Gardens, Past, Present and Future event on 3 October, will lead a walking tour of Valley Gardens on Sunday 14 October from 11 am to 1 pm.  Meet in front of Brighton Museum.  £5 cash on the day. There is no need to book. Image by David Robson

The Madeira Arches need major restoration. The Council has raised over £460,000 through a crowd-funding campaign, £10,000 of which was donated by the Regency Society. However, this is only a fraction of the amount needed for complete restoration. Our event will help us understand how the problem has become so serious and what now needs to be done. We will also ask how the arches might be used once they have been restored. There will be plenty of opportunity for…

We all know that there is a housing crisis. The city plan identifies sites for 13,000 new homes. The likely need is well over twice that number. This raises some big questions. What sort of homes do we need to build? Where can these new homes be built? How can land, finance and ambition be brought together to get development moving? A panel of expert speakers will help us try to find answers. There will be plenty of time for…

Please note change of venue for this event which will now take place in the Hanover Room at the Brighthelm Centre on North Road.  A lecture by Simon Henley, with RS trustee Kate Jordan. Simon Henley is the co-founder of the award-winning practice Henley Halebrown and was UK Public Building Architect of the Year in 2011. Simon is the author of The Architecture of Parking and Redefining Brutalism and writes for ArchDaily. He teaches on the MArch programme at Kingston…

Lecture by Elain Harwood, researcher at Historic England and co-editor of the Twentieth Century Society Journal. Eric Lyons set up Span in order to revive the concept of ‘developer-architect’. He set out to build spacious homes at affordable prices using simple construction and off-the-peg materials. Span designs created car-free environments with separate parking courts and placed heavy emphasis on high quality communal landscaping. Park Gate in Hove was built by Span. Other Span developments can be seen in Richmond and Blackheath…

Lecture by Kate Macintosh,  a retired architect, celebrated for her ground-breaking work in the public sector. She worked for the London Borough of Southwark where she won an internal competition to design the acclaimed Dawsons Heights and also for Lambeth where she designed a sheltered housing scheme, 269 Leigham Court Rd, which was listed grade II in 2015. Taking early retirement in 1995, she went into private practice with George Finch. Their most important commission was an adventure playground and play-hall for the…

Work has been gathering momentum with over 70 volunteers working over recent months on a new website for our historic images based on the James Gray Collection. This evening we shall hear from Chris Horlock, photographer, author, photographic collector, local historian and close collaborator with James Gray about some of the images in the James Gray Collection, and his work alongside James Gray. There will also be a short presentation about the progress of the project to create the new…

The Antony Dale lecture will be presented by Duncan Wilson, Chief Executive Officer of the newly reconstituted Historic England. He will give a brief illustrated talk on how England’s heritage has been protected and the challenges we face in keeping it. Following this he will be joined by Gavin Henderson for a general discussion and Q&A session. Duncan Wilson OBE became Chief Executive of the newly formed Historic England in May 2015. Prior to that Duncan was Chief Executive of the Alexandra Park…

The John Small lecture this year treats us to a light-hearted glimpse of some buildings of Regency Square and the people that lived in them.  Suzanne Hinton, our Regency Society membership secretary,  has been a translator of literary fiction and historical documents for some 10 years and writes and gives talks on local history. This anticipated lecture relates to her recent publication 'Regency Square: its history and its stories'. Copies of the book will be available for sale at the…

Our tour of Merseyside in June 2019 is now fully booked.  It is being organised by a small team led by trustee, Richard Robinson with support from a company called Tailored Travel. We will travel by luxury coach to and from Liverpool and the 4 nights’ accommodation will be in the **** Mercure Hotel on Liverpool’s waterfront.  The cost is £460 for a shared room and £555 for a single. If you would like to be notified should any places…

  This year's summer garden party will take place in our traditional location, the Secret Garden in Kemptown. We can promise drinks, canapes, very good conversation with RS friends and, just this year, the secret tunnel will be accessible during the garden party and there will be the opportunity to enjoy William Pye's amazing water sculptures, presently being exhibited there. "The Secret Garden originally belonged to no 32 Sussex Square which was bought by its first owner, Lawrence Peel, younger brother of the…

The first event will be a somewhat different and more light hearted event than usual.  The work of four important local pioneers covering medicine, art, architecture and entertainment will be presented by Sue Berry, Alexandra Loske, David Fisher, and Maurice Howard. Who most deserved support? You decide!