Previous Talks
Talks are held in Morningside Parish Church Hall at 7.15 p.m., with refreshments available from 6.45 p.m. Each season of talks runs from October until the following April.
The Charles Smith Lecture that opens each of our sessions commemorates the local author and founder of the Morningside Heritage Association.
Films shown are by kind permission of Edinburgh Films and Ian Rintoul.
Visitors are very welcome (a contribution of £3.00 is requested).
2023-24
03 October, The Charles Smith Lecture
The Braid Estate: Sweetness and Light in Edinburgh; Simon Green
07 November
The Shetland Bus; Kath Hay
05 December
Trailblazing Edinburgh Women of Science; Catherine Booth
09 January
The Edinburgh Villa; Ian Gow
06 February
The Edinburgh Science Festival; Simon Gage
05 March
Thomas Chalmers, “Chief Scottish Man?”; Dr Derek Browning
09 April
Whatever Happened to the Stuarts?; Mike Lewis (replacement title)
2022-2023
06 October, The Charles Smith Lecture
The Cold Hand of Charity: Tales from the Edinburgh Poorhouse; Alastair Macdonald (Author)
01 November
Charles Piazzi Smyth and the One O’clock Gun; Professor Andy Lawrence
06 December, Annual General Meeting
Chipping Away at Hugh; Kath Hay
10 January
Guess Who’s Coming for Dinner: Famous Visitors to Edinburgh in the Enlightenment; Sheila Zsatkowski (a.k.a. Sheila Devlin-Thorp)
07 February
Down Memory Lane: TV Programmes We Used to Watch; Roy Johnstone
07 March
Robert Louis Stevenson’s Road to Swanston and the Pentland Hills; Mike Lewis
04 April
The Trinity Collegiate Church and Hospital; Jill Harrison
2021-2022
05 October (Zoom), The Charles Smith Lecture
A History of the Kashmir Shawl and the Paisley Pattern; Odile Hughson
02 November (Zoom)
A History of the Edinburgh Festival: Mike Lewis
01 February
The Fresh Air of a Summer Morning: the story of long-time Grange resident, the Edinburgh herbalist Duncan Napier; Eric Melvin
01 March, Annual General Meeting
The People who gave us the Morningside Clock; Ellie Updale
05 April
A Short History of the Edinburgh and Glasgow Union Canal; Brian Shearey
24 May (MHA’s Ruby Anniversary)
Edinburgh’s Department Stores; Jane Tulloch
2020-2021
(Talks from October to December were cancelled because of the pandemic.)
12 January (Zoom)
The Porteous Riot; Eric Melvin
02 February (Zoom)
The Colinton Tunnel Project; Mike Scott
February-March
YouTube video: The Walter Scott Archives; Produced for MHA by James Hamilton
02 March (Zoom)
Stockbridge Past and Present; Mike Lewis
13 April (Zoom)
Images of Japan; Eric Melvin
14 September (Zoom)
Edinburgh and the Act of Union; Eric Melvin
2019-2020
01 October, The Charles Smith Lecture
Scotland: Her Story; Rosemary Goring
05 November
Scottish Lighthouses; Mike Bullock
03 December, Annual General Meeting
A Celebration of Morningside Monuments, the buildings and their architects; Simon Green
06 January (Afternoon lecture)
Some Morningside Ladies of Science; Catherine Booth
04 February
Our Unique City; Cliff Hague
03 March
Film Night: The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
07 April
(Talk postponed due to Covid-19)
Scotland’s Railways – 200 years of History in Maps; David Spaven
07 July (Zoom)
A Virtual Tour of the New Town; Eric Melvin
September (courtesy of John Chalmers, a MHA member)
Parliament Square, Edinburgh
A web-based exploration of the undated and unsigned painting The Parliament Close and Public Characters of Edinburgh including the artist(s), characters, buildings and statues. Developed and presented by MHA member by John Chalmers. The website is available here.
2018-2019
02 October, The Charles Smith Lecture
Dr Elsie Inglis: The Woman Who Wouldn’t Sit Still; Dr Lesley Orr
06 November
The Scottish Suffragettes; Ruth Boreham
04 December, Annual General Meeting
The Morningside Riots, 1935; Dr David Ritchie
08 January
The History of the Church Organ; Morley Whitehead (speaker and organist)
05 February
Appointment at Arezzo: A Friendship with Muriel Spark; Alan Taylor
04 March
Film Night: The Historic Village of Duddingston
02 April
The Early Photography of Erskine Beveridge: Travels with a Camera; Lesley Ferguson
2017-2018
10 October, The Charles Smith Lecture
Scotland and the Slave Trade; Professor Sir Geoffrey Palmer
07 November
Edinburgh – Athens of the North; Eric Melvin
05 December, Annual General Meeting
James Wilson of Woodville (Canaan); Dr John Chalmers
09 January
Tales of Westminster; Ian Murray MP (may be subject to change at short notice)
06 February
The History of the Usher Hall; Ruth Boreham
13 March
Film Night: The Belles of St Trinians
03 April
The Great Tapestry of Scotland; Dorje Wilkie
2016-2017
04 October, The Charles Smith Lecture
Eric Liddell, Olympian; Sue Caton
01 November
Reflections on Policing in Scotland; John McGowan
06 December, Annual General Meeting
A Unique Concentration: Women Living and Working in Morningside 1841-1891; Jill Powlett Brown
10 January
Peploe and Cadell; Guy Peploe
07 February
The Three Forth Bridges; Miles Oglethorpe
07 March
Film Night
11 April
The Mapping of Scotland; Christopher Fleet
2015-2016
06 October, The Charles Smith Lecture
Morningside, Mussolini and the God of Calvin: Theology and a certain Miss Jean Brodie in her Prime; The Reverend Dr Derek Browning
03 November
New Light on Early Morningside History; Douglas Baugh
01 December, Annual General Meeting
The Jordan Burn – a film made by Bill Smith
12 January
The Edinburgh of John Kay, Caricaturist, c1785-1817; Eric Melvin
02 February
Craiglockhart Hospital; The Reverend Professor David Fergusson
01 March
Film Night
05 April
The Monuments and War Memorials of Edinburgh; Paul McAuley