AFLHS Spring 2025 Newsletter

Spring and Summer 2025 Programme of Talks

The spring season of talks by local speakers has been well attended and the society now has more than 80 paid-up members including residents of Settle, Clapham, Giggleswick and Bentham as well as the local Parishes of Austwick and Lawkland. The two most recent evening meetings attracted over 60 members and guests.

Recent interesting talks have covered various field and local history-related topics including Limekilns, Yorkshire Navvies, Ospreys, Archaeology of Saudi Arabia, Butterflies and Bats. By the time you read this, the two remaining society evening talks this spring season will be:

• On Wednesday 21st May: An illustrated talk by Bob Swallow on the Settle-Carlisle Railway.

• On Wednesday 18th June: An illustrated talk by Sam Lewsey from the Yorkshire Peat Partnership on the Swarth Moor Restoration project

All are welcome and the cost for non-members is £3 per person (cash only please) at the door. Refreshments will be available. Talks start at 7.30 pm in Austwick Village (large) Hall.

This summer the society has organised two field visits: The first is to Foulshaw Moss Nature Reserve managed by Cumbria Wildlife Trust and located near Levens in Cumbria, to see the nesting Ospreys, accompanied by Alastair McKee from the RSPB/ Cumbria Wildlife Trust. This visit will be on Wednesday evening 25th June 2025, and starting at the reserve car park at 7 pm. No dogs please!

The second visit is a guided tour of the Hoffman Kiln on Wednesday 9th July, led by David Johnson, starting at 6.30 pm from the car park ner the Kiln in Langcliffe. Again, no dogs please. More details to follow to AFLHS members shortly and please note numbers are limited to 20 in each case on a first come first served basis. Both visits are free to members. If you are not currently a member and would like know more about our talks and summer visits or to be included on our records for future meeting notices, please contact our membership secretary Tony Horsewill on tonyhorsewill@me.com.

Autumn 2025 and Spring 2026 Programme of Talks

Evening talks during autumn 2025 and spring 2026 will as usual be in Austwick village (large) hall on the third Wednesday of each month from September 2025. The evening meetings programme is now virtually finalised for 2025/26 and will comprise talks on: RSPB bird investigations/ prosecutions, Edward Elgar’s links to Giggleswick, The Clapham Wader Monitoring programme and 2025 results, Drovers, Wild Ingleborough, Craven Place Names, Geology Giants, Common Land, the work of the Craven Animal Wildlife Rescue Centre, and Palaeontology (Sharks in the Dales). Watch this space for more details in the next Newsletter!