Lectures & Gatherings

Greetings from the Wessex Society of Newfoundland and Labrador and welcome to another season of interesting and entertaining lectures. Our lectures are held on the second Wednesday of each month from October to April. During our last season we returned to in-person lectures, for some but not all of our presentations, and we hope to do this again this year. All lectures will be offered virtually, connected by Zoom on the date of the lecture, and also subsequently posted on our Wessex website.

Our in-person lectures will be held at the CNA Paul L. Pope Centre for Television and Film, which is located on Strawberry Marsh Road, St. John’s. The Centre, which is now a state-of-the-art facility, has provided us with a meeting room with capability to livestream our lectures. Plenty of parking space is available. We will continue to offer our lectures online as we have had new members join us from various parts of the province, as well as other Canadian provinces, who watch our lectures regularly.

We are looking forward to seeing those of you who live in the St. John’s area in person, and we hope our members in other areas will continue to join us online.

Our schedule of speakers for the 2026-2027 season follows:

14 October 2026 at 7:30 pm
Speaker: David Paddon
Topic: A presentation about his parents (Dr. and Mrs. Anthony Paddon), their life and times in Labrador. Dr. Paddon served as the Lieutenant-Governor of Newfoundland from 1981 to 1986.
How to Attend: Click here.
Audience members can begin connecting online at 7:15 pm

18 November 2026 at 7:30 pm
NOTE DATE CHANGE. Because the second Wednesday falls on November 11, our lecture will be offered the following week, November 18.
Speakers: Margaret Morris and Gary Green, authors of the book “Gun Shield Graffiti in the Battle of the Atlantic: Stories and Artwork from Allied and Merchant Navies in WWII”.
Topic: Gun Shield Graffiti.

09 December 2026 at 7:30 pm
Speaker: Alex Hickey, Retired Teacher and Author.
Topic: A presentation based on his recent novel “Whispering Secrets”.

13 January 2027 at 7:30 pm
Speakers: Heather Barrett, Retired Journalist, and Author, and Xaiver Campbell, Co-Author
Topic: A presentation based on her book “Black Harbour: Slavery and the Forgotten Histories of Black People in Newfoundland and Labrador”.

10 February 2027 at 7:30 pm
Speaker: Dr. Gerald Pocius, University Research Professor, MUN
Topic: “Beyond the Portrait – Benjamin Lester.”

10 March 2027 at 7:30 pm
Speaker: Greg Morgan.
Topic: “A Victorian Schoolmaster at Random: The Life of George Vardy (1818-1882) of the Southwest Arm”.

14 April 2027 at 7:30 pm
Speaker: Duff Sutherland, Ph.D., retired History faculty, Selkirk College, BC.
Topic: “The 1959 IWA Strike as a reflection of social change in Newfoundland in the 1950’s”.

Archived recordings of previous lectures can be found here.