There are some great local societies in East Lothian 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).
16 January to 2 February 2026, Visions of Haddington – An exhibition at the John Gray Centre Museum combining images by Thomas Small, illustrator of A walk through history, HHS walking tour of Haddington, and artworks from the East Lothian Council collection. Curated by John Gray Centre and Haddington’s History Society
10 February 2026, 7pm Walking Pilgrim Routes by Tom Brownlee – Cockenzie and port Seton Local History Society
10 February 2026, 7pm Promoting Dunbar: From Brochures to Websites – 1895 to 2025 by Dr James Herring – Dunbar History Society
11 February 2026, 7pm East Lothian’s Islands – their History and Wildlife – Aberlady Conservation and History Society
19 February 2026, 7.30pm The Last Picture Show – East Lothian’s Lost Cinemas by Tom Brownlee – Coastal Communities Museum, North Berwick
19 February 2026, 7.30pm Haddington Voices: European Ethnological Research Centre by Mark Mulhern Senior Research Fellow, University of Edinburgh – Haddington’s History Society
21 February 2026, 2:30pm Farm servants of South East Scotland between 1750 and 1914 by David McLean – East Lothian Antiquarian and Field Naturalists’ Society
4 March 2026, 7.30 Medieval Plants by Libby Morris – Saltoun Local History Group
10 March 2025, 7pm James Hutton: Forgotten Titan of the Enlightenment by Ray Perman – Dunbar History Society
10 March 2026, 7pmThe Italians who settled in East Lothian in the early 20th century – Friend or Foe? by Mary Contini – Cockenzie and port Seton Local History Society
11 March 2026, 7pm, Coal Mining – the History Ellie Swinbank (Senior Curator, NMS) – Tranent Local History Society
11 March 2026, 7.30pm The Foreign Soldiers in World War Two by David Haire – Gullane and Dirleton History Society
19 March 2026, 7.30 The Battle of Pinkie 1547 by Victoria Oleksy – Coastal Communities Museum, North Berwick
19 March 2026, 730pm Duncan Napier: Founder of Napier’s the Herbalists by Eric Melvin, Historian & Author – Haddington’s History Society
21 March, 2026, 2:30pm The incredible scientific pioneering life of Lord Kelvin by Professor Martin-Torres – East Lothian Antiquarian and Field Naturalists’ Society
8 April 2026, 7pm, Early Medieval East Lothian: Aberlady in Legend by Tim Clarkson, Mediaval Historian – Aberlady Conservation and History Society
8 April 2026, 7pm The Lord Wardens of the Anglo-Scottish Marches Wendi Davidson (Author) – Tranent Local History Society
16 April 2026, 7.30pm Irish Migratory Potato Workers in East Lothian in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries by Heather Holmes, Historian – Haddington’s History Society
20 April 2026, 3.30 to 6.30pm Family & Local History Fair in the Star Room, John Gray Centre, Haddington
11 May 2026 at 6.30pm An Evening with Professor Sir Tom Devine, Haddington Corn Exchange
13 May 2026, 7pm The Bankpark Brickworks in Tranent by Ian Suddaby (Industrial Archaeologist) – Tranent Local History Society
Venues
ACHS – Aberlady Conservation and History Society
C&PS – Cockenzie and port Seton Local History Society
CCM – Coastal Communities Museum, North Berwick
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