EVERYTHING from transport and calligraphy to monasteries and the defence of the Lake District will feature in the new programme of talks from Coniston Local History Group.

The series of 10 heritage or local history presentations all start on Mondays at 2.30pm in the reading room of the John Ruskin Institute, on Yewdale Road, Coniston. Admission costs £2.50 and all are welcome.

Today’s pictures from The Mail’s archive give a taste of village activities over the years.

The 2020 programme starts on January 20 when Colin Smith has the topic Ulverston Canal,Past and Present. This short and straight route from Ulverston to Morecambe Bay was completed in 1796 at a cost in excess of £9,000.

On February 17 retired Lake District National Park officer Andy Lowe has a talk called Exploring Lakeland Churches.

The presentation on March 16 is by Sarah Lace with the title Illuminated Lettering,Calligraphy and Heraldry in the South Lakes and on April 20 Sophia Martin takes a look at the history of Finsthwaite through some of  its people.

The Mail’s nostalgia writer Bill Myers is the speaker on May 18 with an illustrated presentation called Cumbrian Transport through the Decades.

On June 15 the topic is Prehistoric Furness by Dan Elsworth, of Ulverston-based Green Lane Archaeology, while on July 20 Graham Kilner has the topic Hardwicke Rawnsley –Defender of the Lakes.

Canon Rawnsley, who lived from 1851 to 1920 was one of the founders of the National Trust and was vicar of Wray from 1878 and then Crosthwaite, from 1883.

Jim Bownass will be the guest speaker for the Coniston Local History Group on September 21with a talk called Memories of Lost Cumbria and on October 19 Colin Pickthall will look at Cumbrian Monasteries and their Empires.

The series of talks comes to a close with the life and times of Cedric Robinson and his wife Olive.

Mr Robinson is the former Queen’s Guide to the Sands and has safely led many thousands of people across Morecambe Bay.