Past Special Events
2025
Shakespeare Birthday Celebrations
A Club luncheon was held at the White Swan Hotel, on 26 April 2025 attended by around forty members. Toasts were proposed by Professors Lena Orlin and Carol Rutter, and Dr Susan Brock’s outstanding contribution to the Club was marked with a tribute and gifts.
2024
The 200th anniversary of the foundation of the Shakespeare Club of Stratford-upon-Avon.
This was memorably celebrated by the Club in many ways during 2024:
An article for the Stratford Herald was published in March, a blog post was written for and published by the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, radio interviews were held with Coventry and Warwick Radio and with Bob Griffiths of Coventry Hospital Radio, and Susan Brock was interviewed on BBC Midlands Today. An exhibition was held at the Public Library during April and on Shakespeare’s Birthday, 23 April, the Club’s anniversary received national publicity by being mentioned repeatedly by Petroc Trelawney on BBC Radio 3’s Breakfast show.
On April 13 the Club celebrated at Stratford’s Town Hall, for many years the venue for the dinner for Shakespeare’s Birthday organised by the Club. Eighty members and friends enjoyed tea during which a festive cake was cut by President Professor Emma Smith. Roger Pringle and Susan Brock led the event which featured talks by Robert Bearman and Sylvia Morris and was rounded off by the singing of the Club’s traditional song Rule Great Shakespeare. A Souvenir Booklet was published featuring previously unpublished versions of the talks given by Robert Bearman and Sylvia Morris, a piece by Sandra MacDonald on Holy Trinity Church and its involvement with the Club, and introductions and afterwords by Roger Pringle and Susan Brock.
On the Birthday weekend, 20-21 April 2024, the Club took part in the Birthday celebrations. For the first time in decades members led the procession on the Saturday with new banners, wearing stylish black and yellow rosettes. Members also took part in the procession to Holy Trinity Church on Shakespeare Sunday, and the Club was mentioned in the Shakespeare Sermon by Professor Alison Shell.
2023
Celebrating Shakespeare’s Birthday in Stratford-upon-Avon
The Club once again took part in the Birthday Celebrations on 22 April 2023. In the first indoor social event since lockdown, members and guests enjoyed a very successful luncheon, including a Shakespeare quiz, at the White Swan Hotel.
2022
A Walk Round Shakespeare’s Church
Twenty-five members of the Shakespeare Club enjoyed a unique event organised by Sandra MacDonaldon on 28 June 2022 when Rev Dr Paul Edmondson led A Walk round Shakespeare’s Church in the imaginary company of Master Shakespeare. With the church closed to other visitors, members were able to see closely the Chancel and Shakespeare’s Monument, the subject of Professor Lena Orlin’s Presidential Address in April.
Shakespeare Birthday Celebrations
On 23 April 2022 the Club paraded in the annual procession to Holy Trinity Church, where its laurel wreath was placed below Shakespeare’s monument. Over the weekend the restored statue of Shakespeare was unveiled by Dame Judi Dench and Kenneth Branagh.
Stratford’s Forgotten Theatre Exhibition
From 26 March 2022 the Club’s exhibition Stratford’s Forgotten Theatre, 1827-1872, postponed from 2020, was mounted at Nash’s House where it remained until the autumn.
Shakespeare’s Coming Home!
On 12 March 2022 members of the Shakespeare Club took part in Stratford-upon-Avon’s major fundraising community project Shakespeare’s Coming Home! by reading All’s Well That Ends Well at the Town Hall. President Lena Orlin and professional actor Mark Carey, who recently performed his one-man show for the Club, both took part. The reading was organised by Sandra MacDonald, and was attended by members, locals, and visitors. The Club was able to make a substantial donation to the fund that raised £45k for the restoration of Shakespeare’s statue on the building.
2021
Garden Party
Around 25 members of the Club attended a Garden Party on the afternoon of 11 September 2021 in the garden of local businessman Tony Bird. Mr Bird had offered to host this party for the Stratford Society and kindly extended the invitation to members of the Shakespeare Club. This was the first opportunity many members had to meet in person for almost eighteen months and was very much enjoyed.
Shakespeare Birthday Celebrations
With no formal Birthday Celebrations, a video was created for the April 2021 meeting entitled Celebrating Shakespeare’s Birthday in Stratford-upon-Avon: the Shakespeare Club remembers. Club members reminisced about Shakespeare’s Birthday celebrations and their impact on them. The Stratford Herald published a written version of the reminiscences, and the video was edited and added to the Club’s website where it received hundreds of views.
2020
Following the COVID-19 outbreak and lockdown in March 2020, the Shakespeare Club abandoned its planned meetings. From October 2020 to May 2021 the Club ran a series of virtual meetings which included video messages from members of the committee followed by pre-recorded lectures on a range of Shakespeare-related subjects. These were extremely successful, gathering larger audiences for these talks than would have attended them in-person, and the Club’s mailing list almost doubled.
Gregory Doran talk, joint event with the Stratford Society
On Monday 17 February 2020 members of the Stratford Society and the Shakespeare Club held a joint meeting at which Greg Doran, Artistic Director of the Royal Shakespeare Company, gave a talk entitled “Shakespeare: the God of my Idolatry”. Rather than talk about his theatre work he spoke about his research into the stained-glass window dedicated to the nineteenth-century historian James Orchard Halliwell-Phillipps, directly behind Shakespeare’s monument in Holy Trinity Church. His talk focused on the symbolism of this window on the subject of the old-testament prophet Elijah and its possible relevance to Halliwell.
2019
Shakespeare Club Exhibition on the first Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon
In 2019 the Club was approached by SBT proposing that it create an exhibition to be mounted at Nash’s House in 2020 as part of the Trust’s Community Programme. A research group of six members worked on the history of the 1827 Shakespearean Theatre which stood on what is now New Place Great Garden. The Theatre had been largely paid for by members of the Club, and the Club sponsored a number of performances. The exhibition was designed by Club member Melissa Mailer-Yates and submitted for printing, to be put up in March 2020, but the COVID pandemic forced the exhibition and a planned outdoor event in the Great Garden of Nash’s House to be abandoned. The exhibition was put on display in 2022.
The Falcon Hotel
The Club’s summer outing on 22 June 2019 was a joint afternoon meeting with the Stratford Society to see the newly-refurbished Falcon Hotel (Hotel Indigo). The Club was founded at the Falcon in 1824 and for many years was closely associated with the building. Thirty Club members heard three short talks, from local archivist Dr Robert Bearman on the building, architect Peter McCurdy on the restoration work, and Sylvia Morris on the Shakespeare Club’s connections with the Falcon, before afternoon tea and tours of the building.
Shakespeare Birthday Celebrations
On 27 April 2019 the Club took part in the Shakespeare Birthday Celebrations in Stratford-upon-Avon. As has become traditional, Club members collected at the flag and current President Emma Rice, battling the wind, helped to carry the banner in the procession. Around thirty members then attended the Shakespeare Birthday Luncheon at the Crowne Plaza Hotel on three designated tables.
Wise Children
For the first time in several years the club held a theatre outing, to Coventry’s Belgrade Theatre to see the current President, Emma Rice’s production of Wise Children. Thirty members attended on Saturday April 6 2019. Although it was not a Shakespeare play the adaptation included plenty of Shakespeare references and it was greatly enjoyed.
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2018
Charlecote at Midsummer
Around thirty members of the Shakespeare Club spent a delightful Midsummer’s Night evening at Charlecote Park on 21 June 2018 where they strolled around the beautiful grounds on a perfect sunny evening before a buffet meal and entertainment on the theme of Shakespeare and Charlecote provided by some of the Club’s own talented members, scripted and presented by Susan Brock.
Shakespeare Birthday Celebrations
On 21 April 2018 the Shakespeare Club took part in Stratford’s traditional Birthday Celebrations. Members of the Committee walked in the procession under the Club’s banner and unfurled its flag before continuing to Holy Trinity Church where the Club’s wreath was handed over to be displayed in the chancel with the other floral offerings. More than thirty members of the Shakespeare Club enjoyed the Birthday Luncheon held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, the highlight of which was the speech given by actress Jane Lapotaire (Club President 1996-7) in accepting the Pragnell Award.
2017
The Story of the Shakespeare Club
During 2017 Susan Brock and Sylvia Morris continued to promote their book on the history of the Club by speaking to local groups including the Friends of Shakespeare’s Birthplace, the Stratford Society, King Edward VI School, Heart of England U3A History Group, Escape Arts at the Slaughterhouse and Stratford Rotary. At least 747 people attended these sessions, plus the whole of KES.
Shakespeare Birthday Celebrations
In accordance with tradition, the Shakespeare Club took part in Stratford-upon-Avon’s Birthday Celebrations walking with a new banner celebrating the publication of the Club’s history book in the traditional floral procession on Saturday 22 April 2017. Club members filled two tables at the Birthday Luncheon held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel and were delighted to be mentioned by the Mayor, Juliet Short, in her address.
A new pop-up display, created with financial assistance from the Town Trust, was displayed in the foyer of the Hotel during the Birthday Luncheon, and at Club meetings. The Club also had a bookstall and display at the Bardsnight event on 21 April and at Stratford Literary Festival on 23 April.
Shakespeare Club Memorabilia on display
One of the most successful event publicising the Shakespeare Club following the publication of the book on its history was held on 24 January 2017. More than twenty Friends of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust enjoyed a talk by Susan Brock and Sylvia Morris and a display of original archives and artefacts arranged in collaboration with the SBT Collections Department. Items such as the magnificent glass goblet presented to the Club in 1830, rosettes from the 1930s, publications describing the early celebrations organised by the Club and a selection of minute books, medals and photographs, were bought out from the vaults at the Shakespeare Centre for this special talk which was made possible by the assistance of Stratford-upon-Avon Town Trust.
2016
History of the Club Book launch
Monday 29 November 2016 was the official launch of the book The Story of the Shakespeare Club of Stratford-upon-Avon 1824-2016: Long Life to the Club call’d “Shakspearean”, written by Susan Brock and Sylvia Morris. It was an opportunity to celebrate the way the Club’s story is entwined with the history of the whole town and some of its most important organisations. Several, including King Edward VI School, the Shakespeare Institute, and the Swan of Avon Masonic Lodge were represented. The Club’s most honoured guest was Juliet Short, the current Mayor of Stratford-upon-Avon. Her presence was appropriate since she follows in the footsteps of Annie Justins, Stratford’s first woman mayor and ex officio president of the Shakespeare Club, shown on the cover of the book carrying the Club’s wreath in 1930. The launch was held in the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust’s bookshop which had copies of the book on sale.
World Shakespeare Congress
In 2016 the World Shakespeare Congress held its five-yearly International Conference in Stratford and London, attended by over 800 delegates. To mark this event, on 1 August the Shakespeare Club hosted a tea at Holy Trinity Church for speakers and seminar leaders. Several Past Presidents were present, and twenty-five current members attended. Life Vice-President Roger Pringle welcomed guests and spoke briefly about the history and significance of the Club. Old friendships were reinforced and new contacts made.
Trainee Teacher visit
During a meeting in 2015 it was suggested that the Club could sponsor visits to Stratford by trainee teachers, enthusing them for the life and works of Shakespeare and thereby enhancing their future teaching of his work in schools. In June 2016 this was put in place with Emma Dawson and Marie Solomon being hosted by committee-members to a performance at the RSC and a visit to Shakespeare’s Birthplace.
Falcon Hotel Luncheon
To mark the double celebration of the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death and the 200th anniversary of the first Stratford celebrations of his birth, on Saturday 7 May 2016 fifty-five members of the Shakespeare Club lunched at the Falcon Hotel where the Club had been founded in 1824. The date was selected in order to avoid the Birthday weekend. The Club had originally been founded to hold a “periodical meeting, and to pay an annual tribute to [Shakespeare’s] memory by a public dinner on his birth-day”. This was the first meal that the Club had hosted for a number of years and was very successful.
After lunch, the members were treated to a series of entertainments, almost entirely delivered by the Club’s talented members. Mr Robert Lister, dressed in Victorian splendour, was the Master of Ceremonies and Toastmaster. Roger Taylor and Tasha Moss sang one of Shakespeare’s songs as well as leading the National Anthem and songs including Garrick’s Warwickshire Lad, first sung in Stratford in 1769. There were readings from the Chairman of the Club Jean Lawrance, Jane Taylor and James Stredder. Most of the organisation of the day was by Susan Brock, the Club’s Secretary.
Shakespeare Birthday Celebrations
On 23 April 2016 members of the committee of the Shakespeare Club took part in the traditional Stratford-upon-Avon celebrations for Shakespeare’s Birthday. The Club was allocated a position high up Bridge Street in acknowledgement of its historic role in the organisation of the Celebrations. After pulling the Club’s own flag, Club Chairman Jean Lawrance carried the traditional laurel wreath to Holy Trinity Church where it was laid beneath Shakespeare’s monument amidst the thousands of other floral tributes.
900th Club meeting
The Club celebrated its 900th meeting on 9 February 2016. Members raised glasses of sparkling wine to toast the prosperity of the Club, looking forward to its 1000th meeting which will take place, at the normal rate of eight meetings a year, in 2028.
