I’m delighted to announce that Robert’s freelance courses for next term are now available for registration!

NB We’ve not yet been asked for what we’d like to offer WEA. As a heads-up, we’ve got two in-the-flesh (as it were) courses planned: one at Hartrigg Oaks and one at Guppy’s.* We’re going to request two slots for online courses with WEA, but are not currently sure what the situation will be vis-à-vis WEA online provision. We’ll keep you posted as we learn more.

*[An update for Yorkies, and especially those who have asked us how he’s doing over the months: Neal Guppy has just been to Wrightington Towers for a Sunday roast, and is in characteristically fine fettle. Hurrah!]

In the meantime, however, our freelance online courses are good to go, so without further ado…

First, as this term’s outing for our art history strand, we have Early Medieval Art and Architecture. This was originally scheduled for bricks-and-mortar venues in April 2020, but of course the best-laid plans, etc…. Some of you did the online version (our first zoom outing, waaay back in June 2020) - indeed, that was when we first met several of you! - but given the interests which so many of you have expressed over the last year or so, we thought it was time to dust it down and offer it to a larger audience! If you like the idea of a veritable smörgåsbord of gorgeous images of early medieval stuff (as I believe it’s known by the more serious-minded cognoscenti) from many parts of the world, this one may well be for you.

Next up, we have Rome 3: Just when you thought it was safe… etc., aka Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Apologies if the official title is an unwelcome spoiler for anyone (… or is it a spoiler…? <strokes metaphorical beard, deliberately mysteriously…>). Given the enthusiasm for various iterations of Romes 1 & 2, we hope that you’ll be as excited about this one as we are.

NB This course stands in its own right, so it will be suitable whether you’ve done Robert’s other Roman courses or not - come one, come all!

Our third freelance offering is in direct response to enthusiastic popular demand…. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you… Byzantium! We had overwhelmingly lovely feedback on our online taster courses and the WEA day school over the summer, and we know that several of you couldn’t attend them but really wanted to, so whether you’re completely new to Things Byzantine and Beautiful or have had your appetite whetted by a taster session for a full ten-week course, we look forward to welcoming you to this one!

Our final freelance full course will, we hope, appeal to those of you who like their history really old. Civilisations of the Ancient World goes still further back than Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, and will take you on A Journey* through the world’s most ancient cultures.

*[oh dear. I seem to have slipped into reality TV speak…]

And as if that weren’t enough excitement for one post, there’s yet more now available for the current term…!

Given the wonderfully positive response to our online two-Saturday taster sessions and the eager requests for the Holy Roman Empire in general and Charlemagne in particular, voila: Age of Charlemagne. It may be a while before we can offer a full course, so we hope that this will slake your thirst for things Carolingian whilst whetting your appetite for a longer iteration in due course.

Additionally, I’m pleased to announce that Robert’s new short course for PLACE, entitled Holy Places of Anglo-Saxon Yorkshire, is now available for booking. For those of you unfamiliar with PLACE, it’s an Education & Research Centre focussing primarily on the people, landscape and cultural environment of the historic county of Yorkshire. Robert has long enjoyed the support and encouragement of PLACE, and we’re delighted to have been invited to be part of this term’s events programme. For details of both the course and PLACE, see here.

Phew! So much newness! We have been working hard to try to offer something for everyone - not only in terms of specific tastes, interests, and requests, but also to cater for those who are relatively new to Robert’s courses as well as those who have been with him for up to 21 years. We very much hope that you think we’ve managed to pull it off!

Finally, a brief update on general developments at Wrightington Towers, specifically here with regard to course fees.

*[I shan’t go into the whys, wherefores, or potential whithers here. There’ll be another post soon on possible future directions, at which point we hope that you’ll be willing to help us establish which elements of what we’ve been doing you enjoy and value, which you could happily do without, and which you’d prefer weren’t there at all.]

Most immediately, the headline news is that registration fees for the courses outlined remain as we set them in May. We know only too well that things are tight for so many - especially in the light of Covid - and there’s no special pleading or moaning going on here (I trust that you know us well enough to know that that’s not our style, but just in case…). We’d like, therefore, to try a ‘pay what you think it’s worth and can easily afford’ model, while we work out what we can realistically do in the longer term, which will allow you to work out whether you still think it’s worth it at that point.

To that end, I’ve set up a ‘virtual tip jar’. If you like what we’re doing, if you think that what we’re doing is worth a little more than we’re currently asking, and if - and this is the most important ‘if’ - you can easily afford it, there’s now a button at the very bottom of this page (the “Buy us a coffee” button), via which you can ‘leave a tip’, as you might in a restaurant if you think that the food, service, and overall experience was worth it.

I am certain that at least most of you can imagine how horribly uncomfortable and squeamish we both feel about this, and we honestly don’t expect anyone to go there. Do please feel free to completely ignore it and, indeed, these last few paragraphs. But should you actually want to…

Anyway. Before I tie myself up into irrevocable paroxysms of squeamishness, back to the more important stuff.

To see all our new 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].

We hope you like the sound of our new offerings. And we also hope that you’re enjoying the current courses as much as we are!