7.30 pm Friday December 15th 2023

Sally is a multi award-winning television writer, producer and director. She is renowned for the creation of drama series such as Scott & Bailey, followed by Last Tango in Halifax (which won the Bafta for Best Drama Writer in 2013) and Happy Valley (winning the 2015 Bafta for Best Drama Series - and also winning the Best Drama Writer Award at the Broadcasting Press Guild Awards in the same year). For Happy Valley, she also won the RTS Best Drama Writer Award in 2017, as well as TV Choice Awards, WGGB Awards and Edinburgh TV Awards.

Sally started her writing career with a stage play called Hanging On at the Edinburgh Festival. She then started writing for The Archers, followed by five years writing for Coronation Street. She created her first original drama series, At Home With The Braithwaites in 2000 which ran for four series.

This was followed by the three-parter, Sparkhouse; a six-part series, called The Amazing Mrs Pritchard, and a further six-parter, called Jane Hall. In 2009, Sally won the RTS Writer of the Year Award for a three-part drama, called Unforgiven, starring Suranne Jones.

In 2016 Sally wrote and directed a two-hour drama for BBC One called To Walk The Invisible: the Bronte Sisters. She also wrote and executive-produced the eight-part BBC drama, Gentleman Jack, about the extraordinary Yorkshire landowner diarist and traveller, Anne Lister, who kept diaries of her daily life, including her lesbian relationships. Sally also directed four of the episodes and it won the Royal Television Society Award for Best Drama Series in 2020

Sally wrote and executive-produced the fifth series of Last Tango in Halifax, which was transmitted in 2020. Similarly, she wrote and executive-produced the second series of Gentleman Jack, transmitted in 2022, and the third series of Happy Valley - broadcast to great acclaim in January 2023 with consolidated audience figures of 13.2 million. She has also created an original eight-part drama called Renegade Nell for Lookout Point/Disney+






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7.30 pm Friday January 19th 2024 (130th event)

He began his acting career on stage and appeared in many West End theatre productions, including several Shakespeare plays. He made his Broadway debut in Tom Stoppard's The Real Thing, receiving a Tony Award for Best Actor in a play. On television, his break-out role came in the ITV series Brideshead Revisited (1981) when he played Charles Ryder to international acclaim

Jeremy's first major film role came in The French Lieutenant's Woman (1981) for which he received a BAFTA nomination for Best Actor. After starring in dramas such as Betrayal (1982), The Mission (1986) and Dead Ringers (1988) he received the Academy Award (Oscar) for Best Actor for his portrayal of Claus von Bulow in Reversal of Fortune (1990).

Other notable films include Kafka (1919), Damage (1992), M. Butterfly (1993), Die Hard with a Vengeance (1995) Kingdom of Heaven (2005) Appaloosa (2008) and Margin Call (2011). Jeremy voiced the role of Scar in The Lion King (1994) and played Alfred Pennyworth in the DC Extended Universe (2016–2023) series of films.

He received a Primetime Emmy for his performance in the mini-series, Elizabeth I (2005), as well as starring as Pope Alexander VI in the historical series The Borgias (2011-13) and also playing Adrian Veidt/Ozymandias in HBO's Watchmen (2019)). In October 2011, Jeremy was named the Goodwill Ambassador for the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations


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(Children over 16 welcome) Entry is £10 in cash and includes free food, featuring delicious sandwiches and sumptuous rocky-roads., with wine and soft drinks available for a modest donation

7.30 pm Friday February 16th 2024

Sir Ian was Chief of Staff in Riyadh in the 1991 Gulf War and was later Commander of British Forces in the Middle East. He also saw action during the Falklands War when he was the first RAF pilot to fly the F4 Phantom aircraft to the islands.

From 1991, as an Air Vice Marshal, Sir Ian was Assistant Chief of the Defence Staff and was later promoted to Air Marshal and became Director General of the Saudi Arabia Armed Forces Project. Earlier in his career, he was a flying instructor and a member of the Poachers formation aerobatic team at the Royal Air Force College, Cranwell. He was also the RAF solo display pilot for the Phantom.

Sir Ian is a former Lieutenant Governor of the Isle of Man and, for five years, he was Constable and Governor of Windsor Castle. He is a former National President of the Royal British Legion and later Honorary Inspector General of the Royal Auxiliary Air Force






If you are interested in attending this talk or would like to reserve a ticket please Contact us

(Children over 16 welcome) Entry is £10 in cash and includes free food, featuring delicious sandwiches and sumptuous rocky-roads., with wine and soft drinks available for a modest donation