There are some great local societies around the county offering talks and other events, from swimwear to coal mines. Well try to keep you up to date here and hopefully there will be something her that will spark your interest (just click the title of the talk to check times and venues).
5 November, 7:30pm Castles and Houses of East Lothian by George Scott – ACHS
5 November 2025 7pm , Swimwear through the years (with examples) by Annie Scanlon (Costume Society of Scotland) – TLHS
7 November 2025, 2:15pm Gravestones of the Lothians by John Kerry, Secretary of Temple Old Kirk Friends – FJGC
11 November 2025, 7.30pm Saltoun’s War Memorials by Rhona Wilson – SLHG
11 November 2025, 7pm The Playhouse Cinema by Leslie Hooper – DHS
11 November 2025, 7pm Hand Built History – A WW1 Aircraft by Tim Rayner – C&PS
12 November 2025, 7.30pm Arthur Balfour of Whittinghame: East Lothian’s Prime Minister by David Crawley – GDHS
20 November 2025, 7.30pm Victorian Female Detectives by Sara Lodge, Historian & Author – HHS
22 November 2025, 2:30pm New looks at old pasts: the impact of LiDAR on our understanding of the landscape in the Border counties. – ELAF
9 December 2025, 7pm Eco-Museum of Scottish Mining Landscapes Scotland’s first industrial eco-museum by Catherine Mills/Aileen McFarlan – C&PS
4 December 2025, 7.30pm A Life in Letters: Annie Anson, Countess of Wemyss (1823-96) by Ailsa Fortune – CCM
9 December 2025, 7pm Eco-Museum of Scottish Mining Landscapes Scotland’s first industrial eco-museum by Catherine Mills/Aileen McFarlan – C&PS
9 December 2025, 7pm The Italians Who Settled in East Lothian in the Early Twentieth Century: Friend or Foe? by Mary Contini – DHS
10 December, 2025, 7pm Aberlady’s Customs, past and Present by Ian Malcolm, Founder Member of ACHS – ACHS
11 December 2025, 7.30pm 1722 The Waggonway Project, reconstructing Scotland’s first railway by Ed Bethune – GDHS
13 December 2025, 2:30pm The travels of the 2nd Sir Hew Dalrymple and his wife by Sir Hew Dalrymple – ELAF
13 January 2026, 7pm The Postie Calls: 1800 – 1945 by David Haire – C&PS
31 January 2026, 2:30pm Peebles Hoard – ELAF
14 January 2026, 7.30pm The History of Haddington by Hanita Ritchie – GDHS
15 January 2026, 7.30pm Esmé Stuart d’Aubigny, 1st Duke of Lennox (c 1542-1583): The Journey of a French Noble in Scotland by Elisabeth Rébeillé-Borgella, Historian – HHS
22 January 2026, 7.30pm Edinburgh and The Act of Union 1707 by Eric Melvin – CCM
5 February 2026, 7.30pm The Grants of Kilgraston and their connections with East Lothian by Richard Blake – GDHS
8 Feb 2026, 7.30pm Research at te Mediaval Hospital at Sutra by Dr Brian Moffat – SLHG
10 February 2026, 7pm Walking Pilgrim Routes by Tom Brownlee – C&PS
10 February 2026, 7pm Promoting Dunbar: From Brochures to Websites – 1895 to 2025 by Dr James Herring – DHS
19 February 2026, 7.30pm The Last Picture Show – East Lothian’s Lost Cinemas by Tom Brownlee – CCM
19 February 2026, 7.30pm Haddington Voices: European Ethnological Research Centre by Mark Mulhern Senior Research Fellow, University of Edinburgh – HHS
21 February 2026, 2:30pm Farm servants of South East Scotland between 1750 and 1914 by David McLean – ELAF
4 March 2026, 7.30 Medieval Plants by Libby Morris – SLHG
10 March 2025, 7pm James Hutton: Forgotten Titan of the Enlightenment by Ray Perman – DHS
10 March 2026, 7pm The Italians who settled in East Lothian in the early 20th century – Friend or Foe? by Mary Contini – C&PS
11 March 2026, 7pm, Coal Mining – the History Ellie Swinbank (Senior Curator, NMS) – TLHS
11 March 2026, 7.30pm The Foreign Soldiers in World War Two by David Haire – GDHS
19 March 2026, 7.30 The Battle of Pinkie 1547 by Victoria Oleksy – CCM
19 March 2026, 730pm Duncan Napier: Founder of Napier’s the Herbalists by Eric Melvin, Historian & Author – HHS
21 March, 2026, 2:30pm The incredible scientific pioneering life of Lord Kelvin by Professor Martin-Torres – ELAF
8 April 2026, 7pm, Early Medieval East Lothian: Aberlady in Legend by Tim Clarkson, Mediaval Historian – ACHS
8 April 2026, 7pm The Lord Wardens of the Anglo-Scottish Marches Wendi Davidson (Author) – TLHS
16 April 2026, 7.30pm Irish Migratory Potato Workers in East Lothian in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries by Heather Holmes, Historian – HHS
13 May 2026, 7pm The Bankpark Brickworks in Tranent by Ian Suddaby (Industrial Archaeologist) – TLHS
Venues
ACHS – Aberlady Conservation and History Society
C&PS – Cockenzie and port Seton Local History Society
CCM – Coastal Communities Museum
ELAF – East Lothian Antiquarian and Field Naturalists’ Society
FJGC – Friends of the John Gray Centre
GDHS – Gullane and Dirleton History Society
HHS – Haddington’s History Society