An Evening with Dan Snow

Dan Snow: An Evening with Dan Snow

Friday 2 February at Winchester College.

6.30-7.30pm

Tickets £15.00

Tickets can be booked via Eventbrite.

Hampshire History Trust, organisers of the Winchester Heritage Open Days, is pleased to present An Evening with Dan Snow on Friday 2 February at Winchester College. This event is a fundraiser to support the work of the Trust. 

Dan Snow, an award-winning historian has recently been announced as a patron of Hampshire History Trust. Dan, who has been captivating audiences over the past two decades with his talks and podcasts, will be sharing his wealth of memorable anecdotes from his career as a historian and broadcaster in this engaging and thought-provoking talk. 

Dan is well known for his many contributions to historical programmes and his work has been seen across various television series including Dan Snow on Lloyd George: My Great-Great-Grandfather, Pompeii: The Discovery with Dan Snow and Locomotion: Dan Snow’s History of Railways. 

Dan started his History Hit Podcasts (@historyhit) in 2015 and it has become the UK’s number one history podcast covering a range of exciting and interesting topics. Dan was awarded an MBE in 2019 for his extraordinary impact on history education. 

Nicky Gottlieb, Chair of Hampshire History Trust said ‘We are very excited to have Dan joining us to share his love of history in what is sure to be a very enjoyable evening.

‘As an organisation we receive no regular funding and as HODs events are all free to attend the opportunity to hold a fundraising event is very important to help fund our future projects and activities.’

This event is supported by Winchester College.

Winchester Heritage Open Days 2023 a Huge Success

Winchester Heritage Open Days festival, which took place this year between 8-17 September, has once again been a resounding success with nearly 140 free events attracting audiences from throughout Hampshire and beyond.

The year’s theme of ‘Creativity Unwrapped’ inspired event organisers, with drop-in events like the open City of Winchester Trust’s exhibition of paintings by local artists, or the St. Denys Church Scavenger Hunt supplementing the pre-booked one-off activities.

New events this year included visits to the Archaeological Investigation of the Central Winchester Regeneration, family fun in the Marvellous Middle Ages at Winchester College and Croissants & cartouches at The Winchester Bakery.

Further afield Buckler’s Hard Museum was open for free while St Barbe Museum + Art Gallery in Lymington put on an action packed programme during their Inspire Weekend which included live music, theatre, community art, talks, creative textiles, smashing pottery, snow queen storytelling and a stilt walker!

A highlight of the festival was a day of activities at The Great Hall in Winchester which included the debut performance by Winchester Poetry Festival’s artistic director Clare Pollard of her new translation of the 13th Century tale of Sir Orfeo - a poem full of kings, queens, fairies, music and Winchester landmarks. There were also a 'taster' event for the English Project's Captain Swing Riots Review, dance sessions by the Hampshire Regency Dancers, and a Classic and Sports Car display by the MG Owners Club.

Other events across the county included, open days and free entry at Jane Austen’s House in Chawton and Gilbert White’s House in Selborne, a literary tour of Winchester run by Dr Gary Farnell of the University of Winchester, calligraphy sessions run by Hyde900, and a Treasure Trail created by young artists of drawings and paintings of the buildings of Winchester High Street.

Heritage Open Days is about bringing communities together, exploring local heritage and sharing stories. Feedback from attendees highlighted the enjoyment of discovering new places or histories as well as praising the friendliness of staff at venues and the knowledgeable guides involved in tours.

‘An excellent morning out,’ said one attendee. ‘The venue was superb, and one I had never heard of or would ever have visited had it not been for HOD’.

A visitor from the USA commented: ‘It has been my privilege to attend over 15 events within the last 10 days. The diversity of novel experiences, the ability to learn from experts in their field, and the beauty seen on the guided walks has been a most enlightening experience for myself and my friends. On the walking tours, I heard over and over again comments like “I have lived in Winchester for over 20 years, and I never knew or noticed that”. This is my third year of attending the Heritage Open Days and I set my alarm clock for 4 AM US time to book the tickets when they first become available. The organizers and sponsors of these events do a wonderful job.’

Nicky Gottlieb, Festival Director said:

‘It was brilliant to once again run a full festival of events and activities which focussed on the history and heritage of Winchester and Hampshire. The ‘Creativity Unwrapped’ theme certainly inspired organisations and individuals, and the range of events presented was truly wonderful.’

‘We are extremely grateful to our funders and sponsors and would especially like to thank Winchester College, Winchester BID, the Hampshire Chronicle, and Belgarum Estate Agents for their continued support.’

‘Of course the festival wouldn’t be possible without the team of volunteers who gave so much of their time and energy to making the Heritage Open Days festival such a success.’

The festival was launched this year with a talk at Winchester College by historian Alice Loxton. This fundraising event also saw the launch of the Friends of Hampshire History Trust.

Winchester Heritage Open Days is organised by Hampshire History Trust ,a local charity dedicated to connecting local people to the history of the area. The next event planned by the Trust is a coffee morning at Rick Stein’s restaurant on 9 November between 9:00-11:00a.m.

Dan Snow becomes Patron of Hampshire History Trust

The Hampshire History Trust, organisers of the Winchester Heritage Open Days is pleased to announce that award-winning historian, broadcaster and television presenter Dan Snow has become a patron of the organisation alongside John Pilkington.

Dan said: ‘We are so blessed in Hampshire with a richness of history extending over thousands of years, I am proud to play a part in the Hampshire History Trust to ensure that we understand how that history has shaped us and conserve it for future generations.’

Dan, known as The History Guy, has been a keen supporter of Winchester Heritage Open Days for a number of years, and his appointment forms part of the Trust’s continued drive to raise funds and expand its projects further across Hampshire.

Dan Snow makes programmes around the world on a range of historical topics, from the abandoned Viking churches of Greenland to war damaged sites of Timbuktu. He regularly works with the live events team at the BBC presenting national commemorative events, such as the 75th anniversary of VE-Day and VJ-Day in 2020. He is the host of one of the world’s biggest history podcast, Dan Snow’s History Hit.

Nicky Gottlieb, Festival Director said, ‘Dan has been an enthusiastic supporter of Heritage Open Days and the work of the Hampshire History Trust for some time we are pleased to welcome him as a Patron.

‘We have just come to the end of another fantastic Heritage Open Days Festival and it is wonderful to have the support of our patrons as we plan for future projects highlighting the rich history of Hampshire.’

History in Uproar! An evening with Alice Loxton

Hampshire History Trust, organisers of the Winchester Heritage Open Days, is pleased to present an evening with Alice Loxton as she delves into the delights of UPROAR!: Satire, Scandal and Printmakers in Georgian London. The event, on the eve of this year’s Heritage Open Days festival is a fundraiser to support the work of the Trust.

Alice will talk about how the artists of Georgian London profoundly altered British humour, setting the stage for everything from Gilbert and Sullivan to Private Eye and Spitting Image, and ask us to reappraise everything we thought we knew about genteel Georgian London and see it for what it really was – a time of uproar.

UPROAR! is set against a backdrop of royal madness, political intrigue, the birth of modern celebrity, French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars, and follows the satirists as they lampoon those in power, from George III and Napoleon to the Prince Regent and Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire.

Alice Loxton is a 27-year-old historian, writer and presenter. She is passionate about bringing history to mainstream audiences and has worked with History Hit, NBC, Channel 4, Call of Duty, LadBible, Minecraft, Xbox, BBC Bitesize, The National Trust and many other charities and organisations. She shares her love of history via her social media channels, where she has over a million followers (@history_alice).

Nicky Gottlieb, Chair of Hampshire History Trust said ‘We are very pleased to be able to welcome Alice to give this talk on the eve of Heritage Open Days. It will be a very entertaining evening.

‘As an organisation we receive no regular funding and as HODs events are all free to attend the opportunity to hold a fundraising event is very important to help fund our future projects and activities.’

This event is supported by Winchester College.

2022 Festival Update

We are very saddened at the recent news of the death of Her Majesty The Queen, and Hampshire History Trust is aware of the impact this may have on Winchester Heritage Open Days which occurs across 10 days from 9th-18th September 2022.

We will be following the national Heritage Open Days in proceeding with the festival:

"After careful consideration, including the festival having already begun and the community led nature of Heritage Open Days, we have taken the decision for the national festival to go ahead".

We will support event organisers who wish to cancel or postpone their events, and will advertise any changes to the programme. There is a dedicated page for this, and individual listings will also be updated.

If you do not wish to attend an event you are booked onto, it is completely fine to cancel your ticket.

We will be pausing our social media promotion of events for the time-being, and will focus on communicating changes to the programme. Some events may be cancelled or postponed, please check the online programme regularly for any changes. We are updating it as soon as we hear from Event Organisers. Be sure to manually refresh the page.