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
Saturday 31 January 11am-3pm The Three Closes of Haddington by Haddington Central Tenants Association in the John Gray Centre
31 January 2026, 2:30pm Unearthing and conserving the Peebles Hoard by Matthew Knight and Bethan Bryan – ELAF
4 Feb 2026, 7.30pm Research at the Medieval Hospital at Sutra by Dr Brian Moffat – SLHG
5 February 2026, 7.30pm The Grants of Kilgraston and their connections with East Lothian by Richard Blake – GDHS
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