Events & talks

SATURDAY 3 MAY 2025 (DIBDEN PURLIEU)

The Race to Prevent Hitler Getting an Atomic Bomb

SOLD OUT

“They did nothing less than save the world” wrote one CBS News correspondent. Changing the course of history in one of the most inhospitable environments on earth in freezing temperatures, carrying over 35 lbs of individual kit. This is the fascinating story of highly dangerous missions in Norway by Special Operations Executive during WW2 that prevented Nazi Germany from developing a nuclear bomb. The commander of enemy troops during the occupation of Norway reported “British gangsters….the finest coup I have seen in this war”.

Some years ago the presenter met the leader of probably the most successful SOE mission ever and will use his words to describe what actually happened to stop a global catastrophe and in so doing rewrote the course of history. Failure to succeed would have meant an utterly different world today

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FRIDAY 16 MAY 2025 (EAST BOLDRE)

Returning a UK-Built Mosquito to the Skies

SOLD OUT

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.

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SATURDAY 7 JUNE 2025 (DIBDEN PURLIEU)

The Story of the Schneider Trophy: Air Races 1913 to 1931

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ThURSDAY 19 JUNE 2025 (EAST BOLDRE)

RAF Lymington: An American Airfield in the New Forest

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SATURDAY 5 JULY 2025 (DIBDEN PURLIEU)

RAF Lymington: An American Airfield in the New Forest
(REPEAT DATE)

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SATURDAY 2 AUGUST 2025 (DIBDEN PURLIEU)

What We Can Learn from Pillboxes

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SATURDAY 6 SEPTEMBER 2025 (DIBDEN PURLIEU)

Louis Strange: The Dorset Biggles

Born near Blandford in Dorset, Louis developed a love of aviation after seeing the International Air meet at Bournemouth in 1910. He went on the learn to fly before joining the RFC. Serving in both world wars he be came highly decorated as both a pilot and leader. He was decorated by both the British and the Americans. The only pilot to be awarded the DFC in WW1 and WW2.

Between the wars he was both an aircraft manufacturer, salesman and air race competiter. Post WW2 he returned to his roots once more and went back to farming . Louis died age 75 in 1966.

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SATURDAY 4 OCTOBER 2025 (DIBDEN PURLIEU)

D-Day Landing Craft

The enormous contribution of landing craft and their crews to the 1944 Normandy campaign is often overlooked. This book (published in 2024 by The History Press) tells the story of the operational use of landing craft and landing ships across all five D-Day beaches. It includes the experiences of the British, American and Canadian crews, and of the troops they carried.

It also examines the many different types of landing craft used in the operation, and how they were built in both the UK and North America. The author Andrew Whitmarsh has for many years been the curator of The D-Day Story, Portsmouth, home to the last surviving ‘Landing Craft, Tank’ that took part in the Normandy Landings (LCT 7074).

D-Day Landing Craft, by Andrew Whitmarsh (Published 23 May 2024 by The History Press). ISBN 9781803994451. Hardback available to buy.

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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.

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SATURDAY 6 DECEMBER 2025 (DIBDEN PURLIEU)

The Road to Victory: Preparing for D-Day on the South Coast

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