The Charlbury Society

We are most fortunate this year to have an excellent speaker list of historians, writers and researchers, who are all specialists in their fields. All of them are based in Oxfordshire and we are delighted to welcome them this season.

Julie Ann Godson studied modern history at the University of Oxford and has worked in publishing and PR. She is a well-respected and entertaining local historian and gives regular talks on her work. www.julieanngodson.com.

​November's talk about Ditchley and Churchill will be given by Mike Montagu.  Mike is a retired career soldier, now resident in Charlbury, who was Bursar at Ditchley Park for 9 years before taking on a part-time role there as Host and Historian.

In December, Paul Booth will join us to talk on Roman settlements in Oxfordshire. Paul is a retired senior project manager of Oxford Archaeology and an honorary research associate of the Institute of Archaeology, University of Oxford.  His research interests are in a wide range of aspects of Roman Britain, but with particular focus on the Roman archaeology of the local region.

​Sharon Bennett Connolly, is an author and historian.  She has published four non-fiction books including, Women of the Anarchy (2024), ‘The story of the Anarchy from the unique perspective of the two women at the centre of the struggle for the crown’, on which her January talk will be based.

This will be followed in February by a talk by Bill King. He is a retired management consultant who has developed a keen interest in Britain's history and has particularly researched the organisation and training of underground resistance WW2 fighters.

The March talk will be given by historian, Alison Butler, who is a Methodist Heritage Consultant and Community Coordinator and Council Member of Oxfordshire Historic Churches Trust. 

Simon Randall will join us in April. He is a former solicitor, and has a particular interest in the English Civil War in the Cotswolds, which arose following a significant find in a Lincoln’s Inn rubbish skip.

The year will end with the Chief Executive of the Wychwood Forest Trust, Neil Clennell, who will update us on the Trust's progress.