Robert’s WEA courses for next term are now also available for booking - hurrah! So…

…for your delight and delectation, we’re pleased to announce two bricks-and-mortar courses and two further online courses.

Mondays will see Robert back in Hartrigg Oaks, finally able to deliver A History of York, which was requested by this particular venue so long ago! He’s also looking forward to returning to Guppy’s, with an In Real Life iteration of Early Medieval Art and Architecture.

January’s online WEA courses are The Impressionists and Wine, Wool, and Spices: Medieval towns and trade - each of which had been planned for venues before Covid hit. They were very well-received as online WEA courses during lockdown - indeed we met a lot of you for the first time via them! - and as we know that several of Robert’s long-standing students who were then chary of online courses are now less so, we thought it was time to give these courses another outing for those who missed them last time.

A couple of WEA-related notes…

First, we know that several of Robert’s long-standing regulars are disappointed that there are not WEA courses in all five pre-Covid venues every term. We know that it’s been as valued a regular “date” for you as it has been for Robert, and are sorry that he’s not back into the traditional slots. It’s not a decision we’ve taken lightly, and I’d like to let you know here why we’ve had to make it.

As many of you knew before lockdown, Robert was about to reduce his WEA activity and increase his freelance work. What he didn’t say then is that this was because the income from five WEA courses per week simply isn’t enough to live on (to give you a rough idea, it falls far short of a single basic state pension). WEA admin plus travelling to five courses per week leaves little time for freelance activity or research for new courses. We’ve been working hard to work out how he can continue doing what he loves so much, and very much hope that you agree that less regular in-venue courses are better than no courses at all!

His current aim is to return to all of the venues in rotation, over the three terms. If there is sufficient interest, we’d like to offer in-venue day schools during the terms in which Robert’s not at your favourite venue, so you don’t have to be entirely Robert-less if you can’t make other venues in any given term! Might this be of interest? Do please let us know - either in comments at the bottom of this post, by email, or in actual conversation.

Secondly, a note for those who have joined our mailing list this term. Since we started Wright History, many have told us that navigating WEA’s website to book courses was somewhere between frustrating and impossible. To help on that front, I put together a ‘how-to’ guide a while back. If this might be useful for you, you’ll find it here.

Finally, for convenience’s sake, voila a full list of Robert’s current January schedule:

• Mondays 15.15, Hartrigg Oaks: A History of York (C3680099); 17/01/22-28/03/22

• Mondays 19.15, online: Early Medieval Art and Architecture (RJW F212208); 17/01/22-28/03/22

• Tuesdays 14.15, online: Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (RJW F212209); 18/01/22-29/03/22

• Tuesday, 19.15, online: The Impressionists (C3680139); 18/01/22-29/03/22

• Wednesdays 19.15, online: Byzantium (RJW F212210); 19/01/22-30/03/22

• Thursdays 14.00, Guppy’s: Early Medieval Art and Architecture (C3680140); 20/01/22-31/03/22

• Fridays 11.45, online: Civilisations of the Ancient World (RJW F212211); 21/01/22-1/04/22

• Fridays 14.30, online: Wine, Wool and Spices: Medieval Towns and Trade (C3680137); 21/01/22-1/04/22

We hope that we’ve managed to schedule something for everyone!

To see all courses now available in calendar order (along with the courses already underway) click here. Alternatively, click on the relevant course title[s] in this post to go directly to the relevant page[s].