Founders Ball - 225th Birthday
2022-11-26 19:00 - 2022-11-27 01:00 (Europe/London) | The Athenaeum Liverpool, Church Alley, Liverpool, L1 3DD, United Kingdom

Film Night: Spellbound by Alfred Hitchcock
2022-11-30 18:30 - 22:00
Join us in the Wine Servery for another dose of the good stuff – classic cinema!
This month we’ll be enjoying Alfred Hitchcock’s Spellbound (1945), after a light supper in the dining room.
Book here or directly through the Concierge.

The Library & Archives Group
2022-12-01 17:30 - 20:30
Proprietor, David Roscoe, will be using some of the Athenaeum’s own archives to speak about a fascinating period in the Athenaeum’s own history:
‘The Relocation Committee’ and the Athenaeum’s move from its original premises in Church Street to its present building in Church Alley.
The move became necessary due to the City Council’s road-widening scheme for Church Street. This resulted in plans to demolish the original building.
By the time of the end of the First World War the Athenaeum faced serious challenges with membership numbers down and annual financial deficits. Compulsory purchase of the Club’s building amounted to a real threat to the Athenaeum’s very existence.
The talk will examine the story of the negotiations with the City Council and how the Club survived. Who came out well from the eventual deal? The new building was able to open in 1928. David has used 30 years of the Athenaeum’s minute books, as well as the minutes of the ‘Relocation Committee’.
Thursday 1st December at 5.30 pm in the Library Reading Room, with supper afterwards at 6.30pm for those members who book for this.

MENU
Main Course
Confit Duck a’la Orange
French beans
Hasselback Potatoes
Risotto Forestier (V)
Wild Mushrooms, hazelnuts
Parsnip Crisps
-ooOoo-
Dessert
Christmas Pudding Cheesecake
Brandy custard
-oo0oo-
Tea or Coffee

Democracy in Crisis - Lunch with Phil Whitfield
2022-12-02 12:30 - 14:00
Is Democracy in Crisis?
Thirteen of the 35 countries that chose democracy after the Second World War have backslid into autocracy, according to the United Nations.
America reels, goaded by Donald Trump. Even Britain wobbles; Tories in disarray, according to Proprietor Phil Whitfield, who follows his engaging talk In War The First Casualty Is War with another eyewitness brochure presentation.
Whitfield returned to his native Liverpool after half a century reporting terror for the BBC and The New York Times, living in the Arab world for the past two decades.
Is the turmoil at home and abroad signalling a shock in store?
An opportunity to discuss followed by optional lunch. Tickets are £20.
Book now through the website or directly with the Concierge.

Literature Group
2022-12-06 14:00 - 16:00
The Literature Group meets on the first Tuesday of the month in the Library Reading Room at 2:00pm, all members and guests are welcome, and there is no need to book.
This month, Proprietor Dr Paul Burns will be speaking about local poet Arthur Hugh Clough (1819-1861), inspired by the fact that both Clough and his uncle used to hold what is now Dr Burns’ Athenaeum share. Clough was a major Victorian poet who has recently fallen out of fashion and is not studied or read as much as he once was. Dr Burns will be talking about his life and influences as well as discussing a few of his poems.

Athenaeum Festive Afternoon Tea
2022-12-09 12:00 - 18:00
It’s our signature Afternoon Tea with a Christmas twist – don’t miss out on this opportunity to enjoy our luxurious selection of savouries & pastries, themed especially for Yuletide.
Enjoy a festive afternoon tea and a glass of fizz in your Club, time slots between 12:00pm and 3:00pm.
Tickets are £39.99 per head. Book here to directly through the Concierge.

Athenaeum Christmas Lunch
2022-12-09 12:30 - 16:00
Join us and your Fellow Proprietors for an afternoon of festive fun and food. The Athenaeum kitchen will be preparing a wonderful three-course Christmas meal for those who book, featuring: truffled mushroom & thyme soup, roast crown of turkey and – of course – Christmas pudding.
Gather in the Newsroom from 12:30pm for a glass of fizz ahead of a hearty Christmas lunch with all the trimmings at 1:00pm.
Tickets: £28.

Athenaeum Christmas Dinner
2022-12-09 19:00 - 22:00
We are offering Christmas Lunch & Dinner on Friday 9th and Saturday 10th December. Gather in the Newsroom from 7:00pm for a glass of fizz ahead of a hearty Christmas dinner with all the trimmings at 7:30pm.
Tickets: £28 per person.

Athenaeum Carol Concert
2022-12-15 18:00 - 23:00

New Members Welcome Evening
2022-12-16 18:30 - 22:00
Don’t miss your chance to sign our historic share register, if you haven’t done so already. New Members Welcome Evenings are a great place for fresh applicants to meet our existing Proprietors and enjoy a dinner afterwards, so if you haven’t already done so, register your interest with the Concierge.

Xmas Informal
2022-12-20 18:30 - 23:30

Xmas Social
2022-12-21 18:30 - 2022-12-22 00:00
Christmas Quiz, music and buffet!

Tickets: £20

Film Night: The Holly and the Ivy by George More O'Ferrall
2022-12-22 18:30 - 22:00
Proprietor Dr Ian Cubbin invites you all to a night of cinematic celebration, as we travel through the golden era of the silver screen. Each month we’ll be showing one of the all-time great flicks in our Wine Servery, and everyone from cinephiles to casual movie goers are invited to enjoy what will be a fantastic night of food, fun and film.
This month we’ll be raising the Christmas Spirit and seeing out the Athenaeum’s year with some festive cheer, as we bring you George More O’Ferrall’s The Holly and the Ivy (1952).
All screenings will be preceded by a one-course supper and have an intermission.
Book now through the Member’s Area of the website or via the Concierge. Tickets are £15.

Literature Group
2023-01-03 14:00 - 15:00
The Literature Group meets on the first Tuesday of the month in the Library Reading Room at 2:00pm, all members and guests are welcome, and there is no need to book.

History of Art Group
2023-01-09 11:30 - 12:30
The History of Art Group meets on the 2nd Monday in the month at 11:30am in the Wine Servery. All Members and guests are welcome and there is no need to book, simply turn up and enjoy!

Dinner & Discussion
2023-01-10 18:00 - 21:00
Join the President and Chair for a discussion over dinner, as they update you on the strategic progress that is being made, whilst giving an opportunity for feedback and conversation.

Trafalgar: The Fog of War
2023-01-13 08:00 - 17:00
One of the most knowledgeable maritime novelists, Liverpool-born and bred Paul Bryers is presenting his latest novel Trafalgar: The Fog of War, before the conversation continues over lunch.
Tickets: £20pp.

Ladies Lunch - Bee Happy
2023-01-16 12:30 - 16:00
The next ladies lunch will take place in mid-January, join us for a glass of fizz in the Reading Room ahead of lunch an insightful talk titled ‘Bee Happy’… Stay tuned for more details!

The Talk of Liverpool: Paddy Shennan shares stories from 4 decades at the Liverpool Echo
2023-01-18 19:00 - 21:00
Paddy Shennan covered the biggest subjects and talked to the people who dominated Merseyside life between the 1980s and the present day. In an exclusive evening for Athenaeum Proprietors and their guests, Paddy shares his experiences of meeting the great and good (and not so great nor good!) of our city region.
Paddy will be in conversation with Proprietor Ian Skillicorn, who is the director of the Smithdown Litfest and host of The Exchange debates at the Club, followed by audience questions. Ticket proceeds from the evening will go to a children’s hospital in Yemen which has been devastated by war and poverty.
Tickets to the talk are available for £10.00 per person, with the option of dinner after the talk available by pre-booking. Copies of Paddy’s book The Talk of Liverpool, will be available for sale and signing during the event.

More Than One Way to Skin a Wombat: Dinner with The President, Dr Robert Huxley
2023-01-19 18:30 - 19:30
When scientists get old many take an interest in the history of their subject and write about the giants on whose shoulders their work rests. More details will follow later but expect the President to introduce the audience to the brave, ingenious and sometimes quirky characters who faced dangers and disasters in their attempts to collect and describe the fauna and flora of the South Seas.

Burns Night
2023-01-25 19:00 - 23:00
Our Annual nod to the Scottish Bard, ‘Rabbie Burns’! Join us for bagpipes, haggis, neeps, and tatties as we enjoy four courses and ever-enjoyable speeches at the popular Burns Night gathering. £48 per person, or £60.00 with paired wine flight.

Library & Archives Group
2023-01-26 11:30 - 12:30
The Library & Archives Group will meet at 11:30am in the Library Reading Room on Thursday 26th January.
Big Maps of The Athenaeum collection. Talk will be followed by lunch.
Tickets: £15, although attending the meeting without eating lunch afterwards is free.

Liverpool Salon Presents - Dreams of Order
2023-01-26 18:30 - 20:00
Dreams of Order
The Athenaeum club, Reading Room, Thursday 26th January 2023, 6.30-8.00 pm
Join the Liverpool Salon for the second in a series of conversations that take utopia and dystopia as themes for exploring the possibilities of building other, and better, societies, while reflecting on the shortcomings of our own.
Writing in 1939, E.H. Carr laid the blame for the “abrupt descent from the visionary hopes of the first post-war decade to the grim despair of the second” on the utopian illusions that a liberal world order of prosperity and progress would usher in a new era of international cooperation and world peace.
Has history repeated itself in the post-Cold War period, which pronounced the ‘end of history’ and the dawn of a new post-political world in 1989? Blindly believing that an infinitely expanding market could be the foundation of an interconnected world order, have liberal utopians once more been sleepwalking into a dystopian future?
Confirmed speakers:
Philip Cunliffe, senior lecturer in international conflict, author, The New Twenty Years’ Crisis 1999-2019: A critique of international relations; co-host, @Bungacast podcast
Cheryl Hudson, lecturer in US political history, University of Liverpool. Former director of the academic programme at the Rothermere American Institute, University of Oxford.

Film Night - Murder Most Foul
2023-01-26 18:30 - 21:30
The next in the classic film series will take place on Thursday 26th January. Join us for supper at 7:00pm ahead of the showing of ‘Murder Most Foul’ with George Pollock, in the Wine Servery. Treats, of course, will be served in the interval!
Tickets: £15pp (including supper).

Literature Group: Gone With the Wind
2023-02-07 14:00 - 15:00
Tuesday 7th February 2023 – Library Reading Room
Diana Lane will be discussing Gone with the Wind, a novel by Margaret Mitchell, was published in 1936 and subsequently made into a film in 1939. The book has been an American bestseller ever since and in 2014 a Harris poll found it to be the second favourite book of American readers, just behind the Bible. It has been absorbed into American popular culture, referred to and interpreted by scholars at American universities. The film has been considered to be one of the greatest movies ever made.
Set in Georgia during and after the Civil War, this work of historical fiction tells the story of Scarlett O’Hara, the daughter of a well-to-do plantation owner, who uses every means at her disposal to claw her way out of poverty following Sherman’s destructive “March to the Sea”. Its themes resonate in American politics to this day.
Attendance is free of charge.

Rotary Lunch: The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre
2023-02-09 12:30 - 15:30
Jayne Moran will be giving an illustrated presentation on the Clatterbridge Cancer Centre, Liverpool, which opened in June 2020 and is located next to the New Royal Liverpool Hospital. The Centre delivers a wide range of highly-specialist cancer care including pioneering chemotherapy, immunotherapy, gene therapy, haemato-oncology and radiotherapy. The Centre is linked to a charitable arm, the Clatterbridge Cancer Charity, which supplements NHS funding, enabling innovations in care, enhancing the care environment for patients and funding life-saving research. Jayne will talk on the progress made since the full opening of the Centre, the outlook for 2023 and how past donations have been used.
Athenaeum members and their guests are welcome to attend. We assemble from 12:30pm in the Wine Servery, with lunch at 1pm and the talk commencing at 2pm. The lunch comprises two courses plus coffee/tea. The cost for lunch is £15-50 per person, payable at the event on your Athenaeum account, by cash, or by cheque to ‘The Athenaeum’. To book for this event please contact Mrs Pat Torpey: patricia.torpey1@gmail.com or phone (0151 924 6098) by Monday 6th February.

Arts Group
2023-02-13 11:30 - 12:30
Join us and guest speaker Bernadette Hamilton for a talk on Vincent Van Gogh.
Attendance is free of charge.

Athenaeum Film Nights Presents Captain Blood (1935):
2023-02-22 18:30 - 22:00
The next classic film showing is Michael Curtiz’s ‘Captain Blood’ (1935). Based on Rafael Sabatini’s novel of the same name, the story follows an imprisoned doctor and his fellow prisoners who escape their cruel island captivity and become pirates in the West Indies. All screenings will be preceded by a one-course supper and have an intermission with snacks served during the film.
£15.00 per person.

New Members Welcome Evening & Newsroom Buffet:
2023-02-24 18:00 - 21:00
On the last Friday of the month we welcome new Proprietors as they sign the historic Share Register.
A drinks reception will take place in the Reading Room from 6:00pm ahead of the signing at 6:30pm. A curry buffet will follow in the Newsroom from 7:00pm.
Open to all members, a great opportunity to meet more of your fellow members.
£15.00 per person.

Presidential Dinner: 'Why Biodiversity Matters', Dinner with Dr Richard Lane OBE
2023-03-01 18:30 - 23:00
Biodiversity is all around us, sometimes closer than you think. We are in a ‘biodiversity crisis’ and losing biodiversity at a rate comparable to the past mass extinctions of the past. In this talk Dr Richard Lane OBE examines why we should take this crisis so seriously from biodiversity’s significant impact on our health and well-being, agriculture and food security to the stability and resilience of the ecosystems in which we live. Alongside self-interest, there is a wider issue of how we share the planet.
Dr Richard Lane OBE is a scientist whose career has had two themes – biodiversity research and the health of developing countries. He has had a lifetime interest in what was once just called ‘Nature’. He has travelled extensively in tropical countries, researching how insect borne diseases are transmitted and advising governments on disease control then funding global health research at the world’s largest medical research charity. He returned to the Natural History Museum in London as Director of Science, one of the leading institutes exploring the biodiversity of planet Earth. Most recently he has been developing science museums in Asia and the Middle East.
Join us in the Newsroom from 6:30pm for a reception drink ahead of Dr Lane’s presentation at 7:00pm. Three course dinner will follow at approximately 8:00pm
£30.00 per person.
