Conference Weekend

Outings

Conference Weekend

The OUHS weekend conference gives both old and new speakers a chance to share the work that they are doing on their OU or studies. The theme of the weekend was “Work and Employment”, and as usual this inspired several different views of the subject.

Friday evening after dinner Robert Sharpe spoke on the title “It’s all about the land”, he explained how most employment can be related to land in one way or another. Then Ruth Barbour talked about the Birth of a Leisure Venue, which incorporated her interest in showing dogs.

On Saturday morning Alan Clarke gave his talk entitled “The Quaker Mission to the Tsar”. An intriguing subject covering a piece of obscure history relating to the Crimean War. It is hard for us now to imagine how members of the Bristol Quaker mission were able to travel overland early in the 1850’s all the way to Moscow let alone have an audience with The Tsar. Next, Nigel Oakley, discussed “Is Reading Working”, explaining how much work goes into researching, writing and the ancillary employments given in writing a book. This was based on his experience researching two historical fiction books.

After dinner Jenny Ross gave a very interesting talk on the rise of the Co-op in Lancashire. We learnt about its pioneers, its founding and growth as well as its buildings.

Our last morning was a little more intense, with three talks. Siobhan Hayes gave an enlightening insight into “Workers in the SE Wales Docks”, the types of work available and how much of it was organised. This was followed by the usual thought-provoking talk by Alan Carroll, this time on “The Transition of Work in Cumbria”. It is a region that prior to the railways and toll roads was more cut off from the rest of the country than it had been in the days of the Roman Empire. He pointed out how employment had changed as communications improved.

Our final talk was by Jillian Opitz, “Jobs in Early Modern Medicine” which showed how medical knowledge has improved, and how the medical profession has changed from the days of the barber-surgeon.

The weekend was again interesting with plenty of variety and much knowledge gained by all who attended. Watch out in Open History for some of these talks being translated into written articles.