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 7 JUNE 2025 (DIBDEN PURLIEU)
The Story of the Schneider Trophy: Air Races 1913 to 1931
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 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.
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.
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
- 16 May (East Boldre): Returning a UK-Built Mosquito to the Skies (Alan Pickford)
- 3 May (Dibden Purlieu): The Race to Prevent Hitler Getting an Atomic Bomb (Peter Power)
- 18 April (East Boldre): Spitfire: Hampshire’s Iconic Aeroplane (Paul Beaver)
- 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