A range of talks from bobbins to iron ore geology and from brickmaking to the life of an auctioneer will feature in the winter programme of the North Lonsdale Society.

The Ulverston-based group is also busy planning a series of visits for next summer.

The aim of the society is to encourage an interest in local history and to help promote the beauty, character and traditions of the district.

It 7.30pm meetings are held on the second Tuesday from September through to May in the Blackburn Room at the Methodist Church in Neville Street, Ulverston.

Annual membership is £7 and visitors pay £2 to attend talks, including refreshments.

The programme starts on September 12 when Graeme Livingstone takes the theme of Invasion from Furness and Beyond and on October 10 Millom’s Stephe Cove has the topic of Have You Ever Noticed.

The November 14 talk sees the visit of Dr Suzanne Tiplady for a look at one of South Cumbria’s early industrial sites – The bobbin Mills at Force.

The pre-Christmas meeting on December 12 promises mince pies and cake, plus an entertaining talk by Howard Whittaker on Memories of an Auctioneer.

Members of the U3A Furness project on brickmaking in the district from 1840 to the present day will present their findings in From Clay to Shale on January 9.

Askam brickworks was established in 1900 to help provide the millions of bricks needed for the late Victorian and later growth of Askam, Millom, Dalton and Barrow.

In Barrow, the North Lancashire Patent Brick and Tile Works – also known as Woodhouse, Sons and Andrews - was in business until 1969 on a site between Asda and the soccer ground.

On July 27 on 1867 it newspapers reported that the chimney was completed on a new Barrow brickworks for Mr A. J. Woodhouse.

A report on October 5 that year said Mr Woodhouse had a Platt Brothers' brick-making machine, capable of turning out 20,000 bricks a day.

They were fired in a 24-compartment Hoffmann kiln, which made efficient use of heat and fuel.

His main customer was the Barrow Hematite Iron and Steel Company.

The Mail nostalgia writer Bill Myers will be looking at the many ways of Having Fun in South Cumbria on February 13.

There will be pictures of street parades and carnival queens through the decades, the visit of Stan Laurel to Ulverston in 1947 and having fun at the fairground.

On March 13, Dave Kelly looks at the geology conditions which made the Millom area on the of richest sources of iron ore in a talk called Hodbarrow, Several Million Years of History.

Isabel Sneesby is the speaker on April 10 with a look at the history behind The Harringtons, Lords of Gleaston Castle.

May 8 sees a short annual meeting, followed by a talk from Janet Smith called The Families of Holker Hall.

There are plans for visits next year to Holker Hall on June 12; St Mary’s Parish Church, Ulverston on July 10 and to Levens Hall on August 14.

For further information you can contact Mr and Mrs D. Miller on 01229 869229 or Mr J. Rice on 01229 585854.