York Association of the National Trust

Talks 2024

YANT Talks Archives 2024

Talks Organiser:    talks@yant.org.uk

Saturday 19th October 2024 at 2.30pm

Glennis Whyte “The Determined Women of Minster Yard"

Marriott Room, York Explore, Museum Street, YO1 7DS


Revealing the lives of three single 18th century York women, all who were determined to forge their own path in science and the arts, no matter how hard that would be.

Saturday 20th April 2024 at 2.30pm

“I’m Anthony Day and I keep bees”

Marriott Room, York Explore, Museum Street, YO1 7DS


Anthony Day is hard to categorise. A wide-ranging career includes sales missions to Iraq and to Iran in the time of the Shah.

More recently he was General Secretary of the British Chamber of Commerce in Belgium and subsequently established a training

consultancy which prepared some 300,000 hotel staff to be ready for the euro in 18 countries and 14 languages. Contract work in Selby, Chester-le-Street, Scunthorpe and Grimsby also included a period as Deputy Director of Finance for the NHS (in the Outer Hebrides). 


He and his wife Mary settled in York 24 years ago and he published 477 episodes of a weekly podcast on sustainability (http://www.sustainablefutures.report) from 2007 to November 2023. They now have an allotment and Anthony has had bees since 2010 - although it was Mary’s idea.


In today’s talk Anthony will talk about bees and pollination, but not just about honey bees. Bumble bees and many other insects are important to the survival of a wide range of plants and flowers - and a constant supply of flowers and plants is equally important to bees. We’ll look at how bees make honey, what they use pollen for and why they stick everything together with propolis. 


The presentation will close with a 20-minute video tracking Anthony through the beekeeping year, before a Q&A session.



YANT 53rd AGM, Talk and Lunch

Saturday 23rd March 2024 at 10.30am. AGM starts at 11am

53rd Annual General Meeting, Delta by Marriott Hotel, Tadcaster Road, York YO24 1QQ

Following the close of the meeting, there will be a talk and lunch

Our guest speaker is Mary Murray

“When the Queen came to Lunch”


In this entertaining talk, Mary Murray will share with us some of the events and visitors involved in her work as Secretary to the Archbishop of York.


Do join us for the short formal AGM, followed by the talk and lunch.

The AGM Notice and Accounts were enclosed with the March Newsletter

and are also available, along with the Agenda, on the Newsletter/Docs Page  (Login required).


Complimentary tea, coffee, juice and biscuits will be available from 10.30am and we have arranged lunch in a separate part of the restaurant for the YANT group.


If you would like to join us for lunch, please complete the booking form which was sent with the December Newsletter and which is also available on the Newsletter/Docs page of the website (Login required). Lunch is served at 1pm and the event concludes at 2.30pm.


Everyone welcome, particularly for an excellent talk and to meet fellow members and guests over lunch.


The AGM, Talk and refreshments are free.

Review of Mary Murray's talk at the AGM in April -  “When the Queen came to Lunch”


Mary Murray was PA to the Archbishop of York – Dr David Hope had just retired, and Dr John Sentamu had yet to be appointed – and remembers the week well.


“Her Majesty was not going to stay, but wished to entertain personal guests each day to drinks and lunch before departing for the racecourse. Archbishop David Hope had retired, and we were in an interregnum at that time, so it was all to fit in perfectly. Accommodation was available for the royal household in the palace itself and Archbishop David Hope’s private suite of rooms was perfect for the Queen to use.”


Security had to be tight.


“The river had to be sealed off at both ends when the Queen was at the palace; all the buildings and grounds had to be searched each morning and parts were sealed off; they even pulled the drain covers up, except for one where a duck had made a nest and laid eggs. They decided not to disturb her, especially as she quacked threateningly and chased off any intruders who approached.”


The Queen arrived on the Monday of Royal Ascot at York. It was raining.


“But she was cheerful and chatty, putting us all at our ease. The Bishop of Hull was present to greet her, as a representative of the church and because he was the most senior bishop in the Diocese of York. As they had arrived early, I asked her if she would like a tour of the palace before the guests arrived, so she and the Duke of Edinburgh came round with me to look at the portraits in the Great Hall and the drawing room, to see the beautiful private chapel and to hear something of the history of the Archbishops of York.


Each day different members of the royal family arrived along with lunch guests. Drinks were offered in the drawing room and lunch was served in the Great Hall.


After lunch, chocolates were laid out in the entrance hall for guests to take as they departed for the races. At 1.15pm promptly each day, the wonderful horses and carriages came from Fulford Barracks (where they were based), through town to Bishopthorpe. They were such a sight as they came slowly up the main drive to the palace.”


Elizabeth Hjort

Saturday 17th February 2024 at 2.30pm

Sandra Gold-Wood will talk about the ”Canary Girls’ Memorial Project”

Marriott Room, York Explore, York Central Library, Museum Street, YO1 7DS


At the National Memorial Arboretum there is no memorial to the women who worked during both world wars in munitions factories at great costs to themselves. Hear about this campaign to remember these workers with their own memorial and the stories of these hard-working women.


Saturday 20th January 2024 at 2.30pm

“Beetles, Bears and Battles” Museum Gardens through Time with Catherine Brophy

Marriott Room, York Explore, York Central Library, Museum Street, YO1 7DS


Catherine Brophy will share ongoing research on the history of the gardens, which is part of the “York Trailblazers” community project taking place in York in 2024, including the planned “Tansy Beetle Sculpture Trail”.

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