Events & talks
Below you can find details of the latest guest speaker talks and events planned at East Boldre Village Hall. This historic building was built in 1917/18 as part of the Royal Flying Corps training airfield during WW1. It has a stunning stage, large hall, and various rooms including displays about the local airfields.
SATURDAY 5 APRIL 2025 (DIBDEN PURLIEU)
RAF Old Sarum: A History in Peace & Wartime
SOLD OUT
Tim Cornish will be talking about the rich heritage of RAF Old Sarum, from its beginnings in 1917 to the modern day as an airfield for parachuting and general aviation. The airfield has played it’s part both in war & peacetime with a great amount of heroic, selfless & sad stories to tell, with many of the buildings constructed during that period remaining to this day.
The airfield site was designated as a Conservation Area in 2007 & as such this has helped to preserve it’s original WW1 Training Depot Station layout.
FRIDAY 16 MAY 2025 (EAST BOLDRE)
Returning a UK-Built Mosquito to the Skies
Hythe resident Alan Pickford is Chief Financial Officer and a trustee of The People’s Mosquito, a charity looking to return a de Havilland Mosquito to the UK skies for the first time in 30 years. The talk will cover the history of the aircraft, including its connections to this area, before going on to provide the status of the charity’s activities.
ThURSDAY 19 JUNE 2025 (EAST BOLDRE)
RAF Lymington: An American Airfield in the New Forest
SATURDAY 5 JULY 2025 (DIBDEN PURLIEU)
RAF Lymington: An American Airfield in the New Forest
(REPEAT DATE)
SATURDAY 2 AUGUST 2025 (DIBDEN PURLIEU)
What We Can Learn from Pillboxes
SATURDAY 4 OCTOBER 2025 (DIBDEN PURLIEU)
D-Day Landing Craft
SATURDAY 1 NOVEMBER 2025 (DIBDEN PURLIEU)
My Uncle: The Battle of Britain VC (The Story of James Nicolson)
Jim Nicolson will talk about his uncle, James Brindley Nicolson, who was the only Fighter Command pilot in the whole of the Second World War to be awarded the Victoria Cross. Jim’s talk focuses on his uncle’s early war experiences; the action over Southampton which resulted in the award of the Victoria Cross; the impact that the award had on him and his wife; his subsequent death in action in Burma near the end of the war; ending with the steps taken to remember his gallantry.
SATURDAY 6 DECEMBER 2025 (DIBDEN PURLIEU)
The Road to Victory: Preparing for D-Day on the South Coast
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Previous Events & Talks
2025
- 21 March (East Boldre): Hidden in Plain Sight: Reminders of WW2 in the New Forest (Marc Heighway)
- 1 March (Dibden Purlieu): HMS Agamemnon: Navigating the Legend (Mary Montagu-Scott)
- 21 February: (East Boldre): Wings Over the Forest: The New Forest’s Aviation Pioneers (Marc Heighway)
- 1 February (Dibden Purlieu): Violette Szabo GC: Carve Her Name With Pride (Jeremy Prescott)
- 17 January (East Boldre): Winkle: The Extraordinary Life of Britain’s Greatest Pilot (Paul Beaver)
- 4 January (Dibden Purlieu): Wings Over the Forest: The New Forest’s Aviation Pioneers (Marc Heighway)
2024
- 21 December (Dibden Purlieu): A Tale of Two Extraordinary British Agents (Peter Power)
- 7 December (Dibden Purlieu): Forgotten Armour: Tank Warfare in the Burma Campaign (Jack Bowsher)
- 23 November (Dibden Purlieu): Battle Over the Forest (Richard Reeves)
- 15 November (East Boldre): A Tale of Two Extraordinary British Agents (Peter Power)
- 2 November (Dibden Purlieu): Southampton’s Darkest Hour: The Blitz (Andy Skinner)
- 18 October (East Boldre): LCT 7074: Saving D-Day’s Last Landing Craft Tank (Stephen Fisher)
- 5 October (Dibden Purlieu): History of RAF Beaulieu (Marc Heighway)
- 20 September (East Boldre): The Beaulieu River at War (Marc Heighway)
- 7 September (Dibden Purlieu): The Beaulieu River at War (Marc Heighway)
- 17 August (Dibden Purlieu): The EIGHTH Aircrew (Colin van Geffen)
- 3 August (Dibden Purlieu): SOE: The Secret Saboteurs of WW2 (Peter Power)
- 6 July (Dibden Purlieu): Sword Beach: The Untold Story of D-Day’s Forgotten Victory (Stephen Fisher)
- 14 June (East Boldre): SOE: The Secret Saboteurs of WW2 (Peter Power)
- 1 June (Dibden Purlieu): The Waterside at War (Marc Heighway)
- 17 May (East Boldre): The New Forest Auxiliary Units: aka Churchill’s Secret Army (Will Ward)
- 19 April (East Boldre): Stoney Cross: From Gliders to Lightning Strikes (Simon Daniels)
- 6 April (Dibden Purlieu): The Logistical Build-Up to D-Day (Chris Barrington Brown)
- 16 March (East Boldre): The Logistical Build-Up to D-Day (Chris Barrington Brown)
- 10 March (Dibden Purlieu): Needs Oar Point: A Story Rarely Told (Marc Heighway)
- 16 February (East Boldre): Needs Oar Point: A Story Rarely Told (Marc Heighway)
- 19 January (East Boldre): My Flying Boat War (Richard Hodgkinson)
2023
- 15 December (East Boldre): History of RAF Beaulieu (Marc Heighway)
- 17 November (East Boldre): The Jutland Survivor in Portsmouth Harbour (Stephen Fisher)
- 20 October (East Boldre): History of RAF Beaulieu (Marc Heighway)
- 15 September (East Boldre): Remember the Regulars (Chris Kolonko-Weet)
- 16 June (East Boldre): An Evening on the Home Front (Dale Johnson, Marc Heighway, Pete Harrod, & John Wareham)
- 19 May (East Boldre): Building Spitfires Without a Factory (Alan Matlock)
- 21 April (East Boldre): Southampton: From Blitz to D-Day (Jake Simpkin)
- 17 March (East Boldre): Calshot: The RNAS Years (Colin van Geffen)
- 17 February (East Boldre): The Lumberjills: Britain’s Forgotten Army (Joanna Foat)
- 20 January (East Boldre): Special Operations Executive & The Beaulieu Finishing School (Nick Saunders)
2022
- 14 October (East Boldre): The Road to Victory: Preparing for D-Day on the South Coast (Stephen Fisher)
- 2 to the 5 of June (East Boldre): RAF Beaulieu History Exhibition over 3 days