Winter Newsletter 2026

Arts Society Newsletter

January 2026

Dear Members
Happy New Year!
I hope you all had a good Christmas and New Year. They both seem a long time ago now! For most people, it’s an incredibly busy and exhausting time of year but hopefully fun as well. It is always sad to see another year go by but there are lots of very enjoyable things ahead to look forward to as far the Arts Society, Gloucestershire is concerned.
We are very pleased to welcome quite a few new members this year. Please introduce yourselves to members of the committee. We will all look forward to getting to know you. Could all members please remember to book any guests in with Jacky Daly, our membership secretary, before the lecture. Her details are on your calendar.
We have another year of fascinating lectures and two ‘Days of Special Interest’. Please take note that the date of the first DOSI has been printed incorrectly in the programme. It is to be held on February 26thandnotMarch 26th. Also, there is a change of lecturer in February. The subject is still Spanish Art but with a different title – Hispanophilia: the discovery of Spanish Art in Britain.
The other change of date to be aware of is that we are meeting a week earlier in March, on March 5th– the first Thursday of the month. This is to avoid race week in Cheltenham during the second week. The roads will be busy then and we anticipate a conflict of interests for some people.
There are two outings planned this year– one to the American Museum, near Bath on April 30thand more locally, to Brockworth Court near Gloucester in June. Brockworth Court is a hidden gem, not well known but well worth a visit. This will probably be an afternoon visit with tea. We’ll give you the exact details nearer the time.
The trip to Valencia last September was very successful. I think there were more floods here in England than Valencia during their visit! Jill Nielson is planning an English trip to Kent next time, in September. As you will know, there are many historic houses, castles and places of interest in Kent which will make this a very worthwhile visit, I’m sure.
I want to say how much we appreciate the extra help members give, particularly with packing up chairs at the end of our lectures. We also have to collect the bollards in the road after the lecture - there is a trolley now! These are both ‘heavy lifting’ jobs, so we understand that it is not suitable work for some people. If you would like to be more involved in other ways though, however small, please do get in touch. As a committee, we are happy to listen to suggestions of ways to improve. Our committee members sometimes need help with their many jobs, so if you have anything you can easily help with, let us know.

Best wishes for an enjoyable and rewarding 2026.

Nickie Clarke (Chairman)