HALH Symposium
Each autumn HALH organises a Symposium on Hertfordshire history, with a number of speakers, usually with a linking theme. Local history societies from around the county have stalls where they sell their publications and display their latest research. The day is the highlight of the local history calendar in Hertfordshire, and is a great opportunity to hear local history experts, talk to fellow enthusiasts, and buy the latest publications. Coffee and tea are provided and lunch can usually be purchased in advance.
Symposium 2025 booking now
This year we will be partners with the British Association for Local History and Bedfordshire Local History Association for a regional conference Crossing Counties: Transport History in Herts, Beds and Bucks to be held on Saturday 11 October at Barton-le-Clay Village Hall, Bedfordshire. This will replace our own HALH Symposium in 2025.
Speakers and topics are as follows:
Further details and booking information can be found on the BALH website https://www.balh.org.uk/beds25
The HALH Symposium 2024 'Post-war Hertfordshire' took place Saturday 12 October at the Katherine Warington School, Harpenden.
The programme included the following talks:
‘Hertfordshire Local History in the 1950s and ‘60s’, Heather Falvey (President of HALH)
New Towns in Hertfordshire’, Chris Bennett & Alina Congreve
‘The Austerity Years: Life in Watford, 1945-1950’, Helen George
‘Local History and its Public Image in the 1940s’, Philip Sheail
‘Bedsteads, Go-karts & Lawnmowers: Student life and learning in Hatfield, 1952-1992’, Julie Moore
‘Innovation and Investigation – Hertfordshire and the Jet Age’, Rudi Newman
Full programme here
***************************************************************************************************************************************
Recent symposiums:
2023 Rebels, Traitors and Eccentrics
2022 Wining and Dining in Hertfordshire
2021 Hertfordshire's Historic Waterways
2020 The Country House at War (online)
2019 Landscape & Archaeology
2018 From Roman City to New Towns
Click here for a list of our past symposiums since 1980
Below: HALH Symposium November 2019
Each autumn HALH organises a Symposium on Hertfordshire history, with a number of speakers, usually with a linking theme. Local history societies from around the county have stalls where they sell their publications and display their latest research. The day is the highlight of the local history calendar in Hertfordshire, and is a great opportunity to hear local history experts, talk to fellow enthusiasts, and buy the latest publications. Coffee and tea are provided and lunch can usually be purchased in advance.
Symposium 2025 booking now
This year we will be partners with the British Association for Local History and Bedfordshire Local History Association for a regional conference Crossing Counties: Transport History in Herts, Beds and Bucks to be held on Saturday 11 October at Barton-le-Clay Village Hall, Bedfordshire. This will replace our own HALH Symposium in 2025.
Speakers and topics are as follows:
- Julian Hunt - English Coaching Inns
- Dr Rudi Newman - On a ‘Wing’ and a Prayer: The British Imperial Airship Scheme 1924-30
- Fabian Hiscock - Iron and Gravel: Canal Transport in Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire
- Lucy Lawrence - The Archaeology of HS2 in Buckinghamshire
- John Cartledge - One hundred years of buses in Borehamwood and Elstree
Further details and booking information can be found on the BALH website https://www.balh.org.uk/beds25
The HALH Symposium 2024 'Post-war Hertfordshire' took place Saturday 12 October at the Katherine Warington School, Harpenden.
The programme included the following talks:
‘Hertfordshire Local History in the 1950s and ‘60s’, Heather Falvey (President of HALH)
New Towns in Hertfordshire’, Chris Bennett & Alina Congreve
‘The Austerity Years: Life in Watford, 1945-1950’, Helen George
‘Local History and its Public Image in the 1940s’, Philip Sheail
‘Bedsteads, Go-karts & Lawnmowers: Student life and learning in Hatfield, 1952-1992’, Julie Moore
‘Innovation and Investigation – Hertfordshire and the Jet Age’, Rudi Newman
Full programme here
***************************************************************************************************************************************
Recent symposiums:
2023 Rebels, Traitors and Eccentrics
2022 Wining and Dining in Hertfordshire
2021 Hertfordshire's Historic Waterways
2020 The Country House at War (online)
2019 Landscape & Archaeology
2018 From Roman City to New Towns
Click here for a list of our past symposiums since 1980
Below: HALH Symposium November 2019