Following the success of the inaugural Rex Russell Memorial Lecture in 2024 the Civic Society and Wilderspin & National School Museum are once again joining forces to present an extended session focussing on themes dear to Rex delivered in the manner of his popular Saturday Schools .

Keynote speakers:

Keith Miller, a former adult education colleague of Rex, will speak about Rex’s work researching the Charities, Friendly Societies and labouring movements of the 1800s – early examples of community self-help prior to state support which was to evolve in the twentieth century.   Part of Keith’s session will involve a brief “field trip” (another reminder of Rex’s teaching methods) to look at surviving evidence of this Victorian legacy in the town centre.

Another of Rex’s interests was the reorganisation of land for agriculture in Lincolnshire and elsewhere.  The Enclosure Acts changed the way people had farmed in England for centuries. Between 1604 and 1914 there were over 5,200 bills enacted by Parliament which equates to a little more than one fifth of England (F. A. Sharman (1989).  Emulating the former students of Rex, Andrew Robinson has been researching enclosure in Barton and Barrow and shares his discoveries to date from documentary sources and on the ground.

£12 Members /£20 non-members