Martin Bloomfield - Our World of Illusion
We appear to live in a world, but is it real? Are we real? Martin Bloomfield will ask: Is the whole theatre of existence an illusion? His talk will embrace:
- The relationship between dreaming and 'being awake'
- The nature of seeing.
- How the mind identifies objects.
- How we appear bound by an illusory world.
- What the remedy is for release.
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A practice to illustrate this.
Martin Bloomfield - Poet & Philosopher
Martin was brought up in North London. He married and had three children and has seven grandchildren. He was a keen sportsman, was commissioned in the Army and served in West Africa. Martin developed products for a multinational paper company and later ran a building/joinery company. He plays the cello in an orchestra and a quartet, writes sonnets, and reveres Shakespeare. He has been tutoring in the School for over 50 years.
Jane Mason - Old Father Thames and the sacredness of rivers
Rivers are naturally sacred spaces where earth, sky and water meet. The River Thames was venerated as a deity for millennia, then abused and polluted, but is now full of life again. Jane Mason will tell its story as one of hope, human ingenuity and our reawakening respect for rivers as living beings.
Jane Mason - Teacher & Classicist
Jane Mason studied Classics at Oxford and in her career as a teacher has also explored mythology, history, ecology and philosophy. She crosses the Thames on her daily commute and has grown up near its fascinating tributary, the Wandle, exploring its full length.
Dr David Horan - Plato’s Last Word
Plato’s Last Word: Plato’s parting message to humanity - It is out of reverence for the great and noble virtue, justice, that Socrates leaps to her defence, and in the process, delivers The Republic and The Laws, two masterful philosophical treatises that have as much relevance today. What guides ‘law making’ in our modern-day world? What guides our own personal choices? Is it pleasure and pain? Perhaps opinion? Perhaps wealth or honour? Plato will always point us back to first principles, true and universal qualities which, if honoured, will be sure to keep us safe and lead to happiness for all.
Dr David Horan - Recent Translator of the Complete Dialogues of Plato
Dr David Horan has recently completed a new translation of the Complete Dialogues of Plato. He is the Leader of the School of Philosophy and Economic Science in Ireland and has organised a Day With Plato event for over 30 years, introducing thousands to the works of Plato.
He has produced film versions of three of Plato’s dialogues and live dramatisations of numerous others. He has lectured and has run Plato Study Weeks in Ireland, England, Italy, Greece, New Zealand, the Netherlands, South Africa, USA and Australia.
David is a member of the Plato Centre at Trinity College Dublin and has published articles on Plato’s Parmenides and related topics.
Adrian Green, Gillian Thompson, Helena Ruinard, and Ann Garry - An Evening with Mozart
Adrian Green, Tenor, Gillian Thompson, Piano, Helena Ruinard, Violin, and Ann Garry, French Horn, will perform an all-Mozart programme including the Kantate for tenor, Violin sonata in B flat, K454 and movements from the Horn Concerto no. 4 in E flat.
There will be an interval with refreshments.
Adrian Green
Adrian Green is a graduate of Royal Holloway, University of London. He is the Managing Director of Convivium Records and Convivium Singers, and a tenor Lay Clerk at Portsmouth Cathedral. Adrian has sung professionally in choirs, and as a soloist, on recordings released by Hyperion, Signum, NAXOS, Convivium Records, and other Labels.
Adrian’s experience as a soloist and musician have enabled him to work and sing in many countries around the world. He is in demand as a soloist and has recently performed works by Monteverdi, Handel, Purcell, Mozart, Haydn, Vaughan Williams, and Carl Orff. Adrian has a particular interest in ‘English Song’ and produced a commercial recording of works by Britten, Butterworth, Coates, Elgar, Finzi, Grainger, Gurney, Head, Ireland, Quilter, Somervell, Vaughan Williams, Warlock, and others, with pianist Noel Skinner.
Adrian has run Portsmouth Cathedral’s chorister outreach and partnership programme since September 2008, which engages with thousands of primary school children a year.
Gillian Thompson
studied piano with David Ward at the Royal College of Music on the graduate course, then took her post-graduate teaching qualifications at Homerton College, Cambridge. She studied singing with Dr Margaret Lobo and was a soloist with Discantus and Linden Baroque, directed by Catherine Mackintosh. She was Head of Music at Kew College for 15 years, directing the annual musical productions from the keyboard. She performed frequently at Art in Action, in Oxford, both as a soprano soloist and duettist, as an accompanist and as a solo pianist. She now teaches piano and singing privately.
Helena Ruinard
read Music at Selwyn College, Cambridge, followed by instrumental studies at the Royal College of Music, where she was supported by an award from the Countess of Munster Musical Trust. She has developed a career as an orchestral violinist, performing regularly with some of the UK’s finest ensembles, including the orchestra of Opera North, City of London Sinfonia and Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and touring to major venues around the country. Alongside this she has become a dedicated teacher, currently working for In Harmony Opera North, and contributes to publications in the world of music education and classical music.
Ann Garry
has been playing the French horn since the age of 10. Her first big break was to play at the Aldeburgh Festival when she was 14 years old when she took part in the ‘Wheel of the World’ written by Benjamin Britten and conducted by Gordon Crosse. She taught at St James Independent School from 1987 to 1994.
Ann is currently playing with the Finchley Symphony Orchestra in North London. She performed the Strauss horn concerto and Benjamin Britten’s Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings whilst at University. She played at the Queen Elizabeth Hall with a contemporary wind quintet, at the Edinburgh Festival with a chamber group in 2015 and in Dresden with the same group in 2018. Her repertoire as a soloist includes arrangements of the Mozart Concertos and a range of items written specifically for horn and piano.
Stephen Silver - The Role of the School in Society
Stephen Silver will discuss the role of the School from a historical perspective, in its current position, and will offer thoughts on its future.
Stephen Silver - Principal of the School
Stephen has been a student of philosophy for over fifty years, having started attending classes in New York in 1974. He retired from a career in IT and Project Management. Having been Principal of the School since his election in 2019, Stephen chairs the Trustees and takes a lead on all matters of finance and administration. He has tutored extensively in the UK and abroad. Stephen looks after the Berkshire Branch of the School, runs Gita study weekends, and was instrumental in moving all groups online in response to the Covid pandemic.
Anne Fennell - Mothers at Home Matter
This talk will explore the developmental needs of young children, the politics of parenting, the ideas that govern us, and the economics which limit our freedom to choose the way we care.
Anne Fennell - Chair, Mothers at Home Matter
Anne Fennell is a wife and mother at home of six sons. When her first son was born she gasped. Seeing this new being took her breath away. She felt a huge surge of love. The experience of connection is unique, powerful and transformative; yet the average mother no longer has the freedom to care for her baby herself full time.
Anne is Chair of the national organisation Mothers at Home Matter and President of the International European Federation of Parents and Carers at Home. Both organisations advocate for a deeper understanding of children’s developmental needs, work to raise the status and esteem of mothers who care full-time at home, and campaign for fairer family taxation and economic policies that give families real choices.
Mothers at Home Matter was set up over 30 years ago in the face of pressure for mothers to return to work before they or their children were ready. That pressure has increased over time.