Edgar Royston Pike, formerly Chairman of the Esher Council, introduced the ‘Esher Library Lectures’ in the late 1960s.
In 1974, Elmbridge Borough Council changed the title of these lectures to the ‘Royston Pike Lectures’ in appreciation of his 20 years’ work on the Library Committee.
Autumn 2025 Programme
Wednesday 10 September at 7:30pm: 'A Short History of Flowers: The Stories That Shaped Our Gardens' by Advolly Richmond
Have you ever wondered where your favourite garden flowers came from? Where their names are derived from? Or why some cultivars go in and out of favour? Every flower has a story, and in this lecture Advolly Richmond will take you on a tour of the most intriguing, surprising, and enriching ones. She uncovers tales of royalty, scholars, pioneers, and a smuggler or two that have all played a part in discovering and cultivating some of our favourite species. From the exotic bougainvillea, collected by an 18th-century female botanist in disguise, to the humble snowdrop casting a spell and causing a frenzy.
Advolly Richmond is a plants, gardens and social historian based in Shropshire. A fellow of the Linnean Society and Champion for the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, she lectures and writes on a variety of subjects from the sixteenth century to the early twentieth century. She is a columnist on Scribehound Gardening and contributes garden history features on BBC’s Gardener’s World.
Book tickets for 'A Short History of Flowers'
Wednesday 15 October at 7:30pm: 'A is for Arsenic' by Dr Kathryn Harkup
Agatha Christie revelled in the use of poison to kill off unfortunate victims in her books; indeed, she used more poisons more accurately than any other crime writer. The poison itself often became a central part of the novel. This talk looks at how the writer used her extensive knowledge of drugs and medicines mixed with real life cases to create her brilliantly plotted crime novels. Her poisons were picked with care, often providing vital clues to the discovery of the murderer. We will look at whodunnit but whodunnit is for you to find out.
Kathryn Harkup is a former chemist turned writer and science communicator. Her interests are in anything gothic, gory and geeky, and preferably all three. She has written several books on the crossover between science, literature and pop culture including: A is for Arsenic: The Poisons of Agatha Christie.
Book tickets for 'A is for Arsenic'
Wednesday 12 November at 7:30pm: 'The Chatley Heath Semaphore Tower' by Caroline Stanford
Built in 1822, the Semaphore Tower on Chatley Heath is a unique survival from a chain of semaphore towers that once stretched from Whitehall to Portsmouth Harbour, commissioned in the aftermath of the Battle of Waterloo. The semaphore was invented by Rear Admiral Sir Home Riggs Popham and stood briefly at the cutting-edge of communications technology and is still in use today. The tower was restored anew by the Landmark Trust in 2021-22. This talk will tell the fascinating history of the Tower’s construction and inhabitants, and its recent restoration.
Caroline Stanford is the Landmark Trust’s in-house historian and has researched the tower and its history. Caroline writes, speaks and lectures extensively about Landmark’s buildings to a wide range of audiences, and oversees Landmark’s outreach programmes and archives. She writes the Landmark History Albums.