The Athenaeum Liverpool

Literature Group: The Real Rhett Butler
2023-03-07 14:00 - 15:00 (Europe/London) | The Athenaeum Liverpool, Church Alley, Liverpool, L1 3DD, United Kingdom
Tuesday 7th March – Library Reading Room
Following last month’s discussion of Gone with the Wind, Linda Iley will share with us the results of her research into the real-life model for Margaret Mitchell’s anti-hero, the cynical but charming Civil War profiteer and scoundrel Rhett Butler.
Attendance is free of charge.

The Alexandrians of Merseyside Annual Dinner
2023-03-10 19:00 - 22:30 | The Athenaeum Liverpool, Church Alley, Liverpool, L1 3DD, United Kingdom
Our friends at the Alexandrians of Merseyside have once again kindly extended the invitation to their annual dinner to or members. This year Mrs Hilary Green, local author, will be giving a talk titled ‘Women Agents who worked with the Special Operations Executive during World War II’. Hilary will also have some of her books available for purchase on the night. Bookings are to be made through Mrs Jan Atkinson of The Alexandrians—Alexandrians.liverpool@gmail.com . Tickets includes three course dinner, limited table wine, port and coffee. This dinner is Black Tie.
£50.00 per person.

At The Heart of the City Centre: Liverpool BID Company - Lunch with the Liverpool Exchange Rotary
2023-03-16 12:30 - 15:30 | The Athenaeum Liverpool, Church Alley, Liverpool, L1 3DD, United Kingdom
Liverpool City Centre is the economic hub of the whole City Region. The Liverpool Business Improvement District (BID) is a powerful, independent voice representing the interests of a varied community of business organisations. They are committed to working together to ensure that the City Centre continues to progress while providing the best possible trading and working environment for its occupiers. Katie Bentley, Director of Strategic Partnerships and Communications at the BID, will outline how office, retail, leisure and accommodation businesses across the City Centre and wider area benefit from a range of additional services over and above those funded through the rates and council services and will introduce the BID Company’s exciting 2023 plans to attract new investment, support the visitor economy and maintain the public realm.
Athenaeum members and their guests are welcome to attend. We assemble from 12:30 in the 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 account, by cash or a cheque to ‘The Athenaeum’. Bookings can be made through Patricia Torpey of the Liverpool Exchange Rotary, or through the Concierge desk.

Friday Evening Dining, St Patrick’s Day Dinner
2023-03-17 18:30 - 20:00 | The Athenaeum Liverpool, Church Alley, Liverpool, L1 3DD, United Kingdom
The dining room is open on Friday evening’s unless otherwise advertised. Book a table between 6:30pm and 8:00pm and start the weekend right with a delectable three course meal at your Club. Join us for a special Irish theme Dining evening to celebrate St Patrick’s Day. Advance booking required, a la carte menu available. £24.00 per person for three courses.

A Tour of Ten—Distilleries of Scotland, Whisky Tasting with Proprietor Ian P. Knowles
2023-03-18 18:00 - 21:00 | The Athenaeum Liverpool, Church Alley, Liverpool, L1 3DD, United Kingdom
Join Proprietor and whisky connoisseur Ian Knowles as he takes you on a journey to 10 different Scotland distilleries. You will traverse the whisky cluster classification and taste a whisky from 10 separate locations, all chose for their unique nose and palate. Each whisky will be paired with a spoon full or small parcel of food that has been lovingly crafted with note comparing advise from Ian. Each one chosen to complement each whisky to heighten the experience of this, most loved Gaelic ‘Aqua Vitae’.
This will be the first and hopefully one of many events in the club and once we get a feel for the types of whisky experience that people want to have. Our journey can be composed to suit all travelers…
£45.00 per person

Athenaeum Film Nights Presents Irish Night:
2023-03-22 18:30 - 22:00 | The Athenaeum Liverpool, Church Alley, Liverpool, L1 3DD, United Kingdom
The next classic film showing is our customary Irish Night. Attendees will vote on the night on which Irish related film will be shown. All screenings will be preceded by a one-course supper and have an intermission with snacks served during the film.
£15.00 per person.

The Annual Dinner of The Athenaeum
2023-03-24 18:30 - 22:30 | The Athenaeum Liverpool, Church Alley, Liverpool, L1 3DD, United Kingdom
Members and guests are invited to attend the premier event in the Club calendar, the Annual Dinner. Join the President, Dr Robert Huxley, for a champagne reception in the Newsroom from 6:30pm before dinner at 7:30pm. We are delighted to welcome Professor Michael Parkinson CBE as principal speaker. A supplementary wine flight with paired wines is available for £15.00.
This event is black-tie.
£50.00 per person, £15.00 wine flight available

Liverpool Exchange: Mass Media, Fake News
2023-03-30 19:00 - 20:30 | The Athenaeum Liverpool, Church Alley, Liverpool, L1 3DD, United Kingdom
Mass Media, Fake News and the Origins of Terrorism
Terrorism is not new ‒ it has existed for as long as journalists have sensationalised bombings and political assassinations. Drawing on his latest book, The Rise of Devils: Fear and the Origins of Modern Terrorism, Dr James Crossland explains where our understandings of what constitutes a terrorist comes from and why the role played by the media in shaping these understandings is as important today as it was over a century ago, when the first wave of terrorist attacks sent a wave of fear across Europe (including Liverpool) and the United States.
Copies of Dr Crossland’s book will be available for sale and signing during the event.
Dr James Crossland is a Reader in International History, whose present research interests lie in the history of terrorism, societal fear, intelligence and propaganda. He is Co-Director of Liverpool John Moores University’s Centre for Modern and Contemporary History and Postgraduate Coordinator for the School of Humanities and Social Science.

New Members Welcome Evening & Newsroom Buffet:
2023-03-31 18:00 - 21:00 | The Athenaeum Liverpool, Church Alley, Liverpool, L1 3DD, United Kingdom
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 ahead of the signing at 7:00pm. A buffet of Indian Curry will follow in the Newsroom from 7:30pm. Open to all members, a great opportunity to meet more of your fellow members.
£15.00 per person.

’More Than One Way To Skin A Wombat’, Dinner with The President, Dr Rob Huxley
2023-04-05 18:30 - 22:00 | The Athenaeum Liverpool, Church Alley, Liverpool, L1 3DD, United Kingdom
On Wednesday 5th April The President will be hosting a dining evening talking about some interests of his own.
When scientists get old many take an interest in the history of their subject and write about the giants on on whose shoulders their work rests. Expect an introduction 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!
Guests will be gathering in the Newsroom from 6:30pm for a drinks reception ahead of the talk at 7:00pm. Dinner will follow the talk and q&a at approximately 8:00pm.
£30.00 per person

Dinner & Discussion with the Chair & President
2023-04-11 18:00 - 22:00 | The Athenaeum Liverpool, Church Alley, Liverpool, L1 3DD, United Kingdom
Open to all Proprietors, this event is an opportunity to dine with the President (Dr Robert Huxley) and Chair (Mrs Carol Madeley), who will update, answer questions and get feedback from the Proprietorship as the Institution progresses through its strategic work. Three course dinner included with table wine.
£20.00 per person

Joint Meeting: Literature Group and Library & Archives Group
2023-04-13 17:30 - 20:30 | The Athenaeum Liverpool, Church Alley, Liverpool, L1 3DD, United Kingdom
In April and June we will be having joint meetings of the Literature group and the Library & Archive Group. Both are centered on interesting books from our library and both will take place at 5.30.pm with a two course, reasonably priced, meal afterwards. You will be able to book the meal through the members’ website. You can, of course, come to the talk and not the meal.
The first of these sessions is about T S Eliot’s The Waste Land and the unusual and probably valuable edition we hold in the library. Recently a visiting student examined this book and made an important discovery….Find out more on Thursday 13th April at 5.30.
Supper bookable following the talk, £15.00 per person

Friday Evening Dining, A Taste of Spring
2023-04-14 18:30 - 20:00 | The Athenaeum Liverpool, Church Alley, Liverpool, L1 3DD, United Kingdom
As we move into the next season, it seems only appropriate that the next in the ‘Taste of’ series follows suit with the brigade treating us to a banquet of all the tastes of ‘Spring’. Table bookings taken from 6:30pm until 8:00pm
£24.00 per person

The Presidential Quiz
2023-04-20 18:30 - 20:00 | The Athenaeum Liverpool, Church Alley, Liverpool, L1 3DD, United Kingdom
Bring your brains and quiz comrades to a special quiz night hosted by the President! Enjoy a light buffet in the Newsroom before working the grey matter! With grand prizes and good company, this is a light hearted evening for all to enjoy.
£10.00 per person

(Almost) St George’s Day Lunch
2023-04-22 12:30 - 15:30 | The Athenaeum Liverpool, Church Alley, Liverpool, L1 3DD, United Kingdom
We celebrate St George’s Day a day early with a delicious banquet in the Dining Room. Join us in the Newsroom from 12:30pm for reception drinks before a 4 course lunch including a selection of English cheeses and biscuits. White and red dress encouraged!
£35.50 per person

Film Night - Girl Crazy
2023-04-26 18:30 - 22:00 | The Athenaeum Liverpool, Church Alley, Liverpool, L1 3DD, United Kingdom
Film Night – 26th April 2023 – 6:30pm in the Wine Servery
Featuring Judy Garland & Mickey Rooney, directors Busby Berkeley & Norman Taurog bring us a romance for the ages, topped with a healthy dose of musical accompaniment.
Featuring music composed by George Gershwin & David Raksin, Girl Crazy tells the story of Danny Churchill, a rogue playboy living in New York. When his antics get too much, his father sends him away to a desert college where he discovers his future & a falls in love.
Tickets: £15, including screening, supper & intermission treats.
Book through our website, or directly via the Concierge.

Event Schedule
Arrivals – 6:30pm
Supper – 7pm
Screening – 8pm

New Members Welcome Evening & Newsroom Buffet:
2023-04-28 18:00 - 21:00 | The Athenaeum Liverpool, Church Alley, Liverpool, L1 3DD, United Kingdom
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 ahead of the signing at 7:00pm. A buffet will follow in the Newsroom from 7:30pm. Open to all members, a great opportunity to meet more of your fellow members.
£15.00 per person.

Literature Group - Coronation Literary Quiz
2023-05-02 14:00 - 15:00
Athenaeum Literature Group – Coronation Literary Quiz
Tuesday 2nd May 2023 in the Library Reading Room – 2pm
For our May meeting we will be back to our normal time on the first Tuesday of the month. To celebrate the coronation we will be having a lighthearted literary trivia quiz on a royal theme. Rounds are likely to include Kingly (and Queenly) Quotations, Shakespeare’s Monarchs and Queens (and Kings) on Screen. Come armed with a pen and your trivia brain, and form teams of between two and four or play on your own. There will be a suitable prize for the winners and of course the usual catering will be available before and after the meeting.
Attendance is free of charge.

Coronation Lunch
2023-05-03 12:00 - 16:00 | The Athenaeum Liverpool, Church Alley, Liverpool, L1 3DD, United Kingdom
Join us for a (pre) coronation lunch to celebrate the crowning of the new King.
Tickets: £23

Athenaeum Coronation Dinner
2023-05-05 18:00 - 23:00 | The Athenaeum Liverpool, Church Alley, Liverpool, L1 3DD, United Kingdom
Join us the night before the coronation to celebrate with the Athenaeum. Tickets include a reception drink, canapes and dinner.
Tickets: £50

Eurovision at the Athenaeum - Afternoon Tea
2023-05-09 12:00 - 17:30 | The Athenaeum Liverpool, Church Alley, Liverpool, L1 3DD, United Kingdom
Tuesday 9th May – 12pm, 2pm & 4pm
Join us for a premium afternoon tea, including a glass of Prosecco, alongside the usual Athenaeum Afternoon Tea spread.
Lets celebrate Eurovision coming to our beloved City with cakes & drinks, which members can book for a discounted price of £27.50 per head. Numbers are strictly limited, so hurry to make your booking via the Concierge or through the member’s area of the website.

Public Tours of the Athenaeum
2023-05-10 10:30 - 18:00 | The Athenaeum Liverpool, Church Alley, Liverpool, L1 3DD, United Kingdom
Wednesday 10th May – from 10:30am
To celebrate Eurovision, our volunteer Tour Guides will be welcoming visitors to our historic club throughout the day. This event is for non-members but, if you are planning to be in the club, we would welcome your assistance in making our guests feel welcome.
If you know anyone who would like to come on one of the tours, they can be booked on Eventbrite.

Eurovision at the Athenaeum - Brunch
2023-05-11 12:00 - 18:00 | The Athenaeum Liverpool, Church Alley, Liverpool, L1 3DD, United Kingdom
Thursday 11th May – 12pm, 2pm & 4pm
Join us for brunch to celebrate the coming of Eurovision to our city. You will enjoy one of a selection of delicious brunch dishes from our menu plus a bottle of house wine or Prosecco for a discounted price of only £32.00 per person. Numbers are strictly limited so hurry to make your booking via the concierge or on the members’ area of the website.
Book on one of our three time slots (12pm, 2pm or 4pm) to grab your place now!

Eurovision at the Athenaeum - Dinner
2023-05-12 19:00 - 21:30 | The Athenaeum Liverpool, Church Alley, Liverpool, L1 3DD, United Kingdom
To celebrate Eurovision we are inviting visitors to join us for Friday night dinner. Members can enjoy the same experience (and welcome them to the Athenaeum at a generously discounted price of £40 per person. After a welcome drink in the Newsroom we will move to the Dining Room for a mouth-watering three course meal. Numbers are strictly limited so hurry to make your booking via the concierge or on the members’ area of the website. Please ensure that you inform us of any special dietary requirements when booking.

Dexterity Bingo
2023-05-18 19:00 - 22:00 | The Athenaeum Liverpool, Church Alley, Liverpool, L1 3DD, United Kingdom
You are invited to the second iteration of our Athenaeum Bingo Games night. Last time, we enjoyed a round of Quiz Bingo, which combined the nail-biting tension of a game of bingo with the fast paced action of a quick fire quiz. This time, the games are dexterity based, meaning you’ll need to be just as quick with your hands as you will with your mind. Tickets include entry into the game, plus access to a light buffet.
Tickets: £15.

Lunch with the Liverpool Rotary Exchange
2023-05-25 12:30 - 17:00 | The Athenaeum Liverpool, Church Alley, Liverpool, L1 3DD, United Kingdom
The Castle Fine Art Gallery – Lucy Edwards – Lunch with the Liverpool Exchange Rotary Club
Thursday 25th April 2023, 12:30pm
The Castle Fine Art Gallery, with its colourful, lively, eye-catching and ever-changing exhibits and window displays, occupies most of the ground floor of the Athenaeum building. Seemingly a local Liverpool institution, but did you know it is part of a nationwide group? What is the task of a commercial contemporary gallery today? How has the Gallery responded to the recent Eurovision challenge? And, how does it find, support and encourage the variety of artists whose work is displayed? All these and other questions will be discussed by Lucy Edwards, the Gallery’s newly-arrived manager, who has a wide range of experience as a curator, artist agent and project manager for galleries and art fairs.
Club members and their guests and members of the Athenaeum and their guests are welcome to attend on this occasion. We shall be assembling as usual from 12.30 in the Wine Servery, with lunch at 1pm and the talk commencing at 2pm. The cost for lunch is £18-50 per person, payable at the event by cash, or a cheque payable to ‘The Athenaeum (or, for Athenaeum members on their account). To book for this event please contact Mrs Pat Torpey: patricia.torpey1@gmail.com or phone (0151 924 6098) by Monday 22nd April.

The Presidential Outing: Dining With Distinction on the East Lancashire Railway
2023-05-31 10:00 - 18:30 | The Athenaeum Liverpool, Church Alley, Liverpool, L1 3DD, United Kingdom
Join us for a two-course lunch on this heritage railway steam hauled through the Irwell Valley from Bury Bolton Street Station to Rawtenstall. We will be seated and fed in the polished paneling, luxurious furnishings, and crisp linen of a Pullman Car. “…some of the best fine dining in Manchester, with food to rival the best restaurants in Lancashire”.
Guests should gather in the Newsroom for light refreshments for 10:00am before we will be collected at 10.30 am from close to the Club and driven to Bury to board our train at 12.45 returning to Bury at around 4.00pm . We will allow some time for people to visit the transport museum, have a drink in the renowned Trackside Bar on the station or visit Bury Market for its famous black puddings .We will leave for home around 5.30pm arriving back at the Club around 6.30pm For more information on the ELR see https://www.eastlancsrailway.org.uk/
There are limited spaces available for this outing, with bookings handled on a 1st come 1st served basis. Deadline for bookings is Monday 20th March, at which point your monthly account will be charged for payment. It is not possible to offer refunds for cancellations after this date. The dress code is casual.
£70.00 per person inclusive of meal and travel

Literature & Archives Group - Ulysses
2023-06-06 17:30 - 19:00 | The Athenaeum Liverpool, Church Alley, Liverpool, L1 3DD, United Kingdom
Tuesday 6 June at 5.30 pm.
The Adventures of Ulysses: Liverpool, Sex and the World of James Joyce
In celebration of the centenary of our edition of James Joyce’s ground-breaking classic novel, we are delighted to welcome Joyce expert Professor Frank Shovlin of the University of Liverpool to talk about the novel itself, its connections to Liverpool and our limited edition Egotist Press copy of the novel, published in 1923.
Whether you have read the novel or not, however much or little you know about the author, this is an unmissable opportunity to hear more about this great writer and his work from an internationally renowned speaker.
You are invited to join us after the talk for a special buffet, with nods to the novel, in the Newsroom. Tickets are £16.50 and can be booked via the members’ website or at reception. The talk itself, in the Library Reading Room, is free.

New Members Welcome Evening & Buffet
2023-06-23 18:00 - 22:00 | The Athenaeum Liverpool, Church Alley, Liverpool, L1 3DD, United Kingdom

The Liverpool Salon: Taking Control
2023-06-24 12:30 - 14:00 | The Athenaeum Liverpool, Church Alley, Liverpool, L1 3DD, United Kingdom
The Liverpool Salon: Taking Control
Saturday 24 June 12.30- 13.45 pm
Peter Ramsay, Professor of Law, London School of Economics discusses his book Taking Control: Sovereignty and Democracy after Brexit.
Stay on after the event to continue the conversation over drinks or lunch in the Athenaeum’s elegant newsroom.
Taking Control
Three years after Brexit many are asking what benefits has it delivered.
The promises of national sovereignty and democracy still divide, with Brexiteers claiming gains, Rejoiners trumpeting losses, but very little seems to have changed politically. Few could deny that politics at Westminster currently look even more decrepit and incompetent than before the Brexit earthquake.
Peter Ramsay argues that both sides got Brexit wrong. The European Union is neither a supranational nanny state nor an internationalist project for peace and prosperity, but rather the way in which European elites have tried to evade accountability to voters as the political life of their own nations has decayed.
The nation-states of Europe were transformed into EU member-states as governments were forced to rule the void where representative politics used to be. Leaving the EU has fully exposed this chasm between rulers and ruled but done nothing to close it.
Nevertheless, the abiding legacy of Brexit has been to place what were previously abstract questions of the people, the state, sovereignty and representation back at the centre of political life. The need to address these questions and build wider democratic engagement has never seemed so urgent.
This book argues for a radical, forward-looking reconstitution of the British nation-state through strengthening representative democracy. But is the idea of taking control hopelessly utopian in today’s globalised world? And with the return of war in Europe, might the re-constitution of nation-states be dangerously dystopian?
Join the discussion at the Liverpool Salon, with Peter Ramsay, Professor of Law, London School of Economics and co-author of Taking Control: Sovereignty and Democracy after Brexit (Polity 2023).
“This is the most important book to come out of the struggles over Britain’s membership of the EU, and it makes all other works on the subject look trivial. The authors provide a profound analysis of the issues involved, and show how only thorough-going changes in Britain’s political and constitutional arrangements will be able to respond to the challenges of this near-revolutionary moment.” Richard Tuck, Professor of Government Theory, University of Harvard
“This book forcefully argues that Brexit was no more than the first step in a long process of rebuilding a democratic nation-state, indeed a democratic nation, out of the ruins of a politics without national sovereignty. Sovereign democracy requires effective institutions of civic representation that disempower a political elite content with ruling the void. This book is a breakthrough for democratic theory and a milestone for political debates on the future of democracy.” Wolfgang Streeck, Emeritus Director, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies, Cologne, Germany
“The condition of post-Brexit Britain is grim. This excellent book shows that this has little to do with having lost the putative benefits of EU membership. Far more important is the British state’s steady incapacitation and the decay of neoliberal political parties. The promise of “taking control” remains, but only if Britain undergoes a democratic and social transformation. ”Costas Lapavitsas, Professor of Economics, SOAS London
Copies of the book will be available at a discount on the day.
Tickets: £7.50
