Talks & Walks
Talks
Kathy Atherton has researched and written history in Holmwood and Dorking for many years as well as leading battlefield tours in France and Belgium. Responsible for permanent and temporary exhibitions at Dorking Museum & Heritage Centre, she also runs the Museum's guided walks team which offers guided walks in Dorking, on the Deepdene Trail and at Betchworth Castle. She recently campaigned for the installation of two blue plaques in Dorking and Holmwood to mark the area's contribution to the campaign for the vote for women and speaks regularly at events and on radio.
Kathy regularly speaks to youth and adult groups on the history of Dorking, Holmwood, on the campaign for the vote for women and on the First World War and related subjects including:
On Holmwood:
The History of Holmwood and its Villages
The History of South Holmwood
The History of North Holmwood
The History of St Mary Magdalene, South Holmwood
Secrets of the churchyard
Holmwood in the Great War
The History of Holmwood Common - uses and abuses over a millennium
On Dorking:
The History of Dorking and the surrounding hills
'The Big Society in Action' - the Dorking Museum Project
'Keeping it Going' - the impact of the First World War on Dorking and the villages of Mole Valley
Life in the Manor of Dorking before the 19th century
On local and national events:
'Suffragettes and Socialists' - the Pethick-Lawrences of the Dutch House and their circle in the villages around Dorking
'Militants, Suffragists and Antis' - Votes for Women in the villages of the Surrey Hills
'From the Prince Regent's divorce to the local Porn Star' - some Holmwood Scandals
'Keeping it Going' - the impact of the First World War on Dorking and the villages of Mole Valley
Literary Mole Valley - Local writers and Mole Valley in fiction: Jane Austen, EM Forster, Fanny Burney, John Evelyn, Daniel Defoe and Charles Dickens
The Money Behind the Militant Movement - the Pethick-Lawrences and the Pankhursts
What the suffragettes did next - local campaigners after the vote was won
The Girl Guides, youth movements and Votes for Women
Suffrage campaigners and the First World War
Remembering and Forgetting - the development of war memorials after the First World War
Mary Neal and the suffragettes who saved Morris dancing
The art of the suffrage movement
The Weaver, the Shoemaker and the Mother of a Nation: Dorking’s Mayflower Pilgrims
