Saturday 29th February 2020
A talk by Sir David Durie, KCMG, Knight of St John, Governor and Commander-In-Chief of Gibraltar 2000-2003.

Saturday 29th February 2020
A talk by Sir David Durie, KCMG, Knight of St John, Governor and Commander-In-Chief of Gibraltar 2000-2003.
Saturday 25th January 2020
A talk given by Adam Frost, the landscape designer, RHS Ambassador & BBC Television Presenter.
As our promotional flyer read ‘Adam draws on memories, special places and people who have been influential to the way he designs. Adam cares that his garden designs are about creating personal spaces that people can feel comfortable in, places that actually feel ‘real’, as well as being beautiful’.
This could not have been more accurate in his engaging Talk about his ‘Life in Gardening’. He is an amazing communicator and not afraid to show honesty, emotion and passion!
This was a sell-out event – we had to close off online sales as we would not have had enough room in our Parish Hall!
Adam brought along two of his latest books and which many people bought!
Saturday 7th December 2019, St Anne’s Church, Kew
A talk given by Jonathan Rugman, the award-winning Channel 4 News foreign affairs correspondent, investigating the life and death of Jamal Khashoggi
‘When Jamal Khashoggi walked into the Saudi Consulate in Turkey on 2nd October 2018, he was expecting to pick up the documentation that would enable him to marry his fiancé, Hatice Cengiz. Little did he realise he was walking into a trap.’ Based on confidential sources dramatic new evidence and in-depth research, the BAFTA award-winning foreign correspondent, Jonathan Rugman, revealed what happened that day in extracts from his recently published book.
Jonathan really brought this episode in the Middle East to life for all of us listening that day but avoided any of the upsetting or distressing details. A very charismatic speaker leading us into the wider worldwide political connections which held us all spellbound.
This was another sell out event in association with the Kew Bookshop. Copies of Jonathan’s book were available for sale which Jonathan generously signed adding a personal dedication.
“There seems a magic in the very name of Christmas” – Charles Dickens
Talk & book signing by George Goodwin, MA FRHistS FRSA. The traditions of Christmas seem to have a timeless quality when we first experience them as children, but, as George Goodwin shows, though many are very ancient, others are surprisingly modern. In his highly-illustrated and witty presentation, George takes in the origins of the carol service, the role of St Francis of Assisi, the puritan fear of the mince pie and much more.
Tickets £20 available online to include coffee, a light lunch and a glass of wine.
Monday 20 May 2019
An Exclusive Talk given by Emma Treleaven, V&A Museum
Dr David Bellingham of Sotheby’s Institute of Art gave a fascinating and informative talk on the life and work of the famous artist with a particular focus on his time in London.
A talk by Tate curator, Matthew Gale
To be followed by a light lunch (included in ticket price). Coffee served from 10:30
Advance tickets for this event are now sold out – there is limited standing room if you wish to pay on the door.
Tickets for this event are £20 and may be purchased online:
Tickets are sold out.Note that the discount code is for the personal use of eligible Friends only and cannot be used to obtain further discounts when purchasing more than one ticket.
Gemma Roundell, a member of the Friends Executive Committee organised this exclusive event that was attended by 60 guests on the night, including many new potential St Anne’s friends that we are delighted about. Roland Goslett of the “Roland Goslett Gallery” in Kew very kindly donated his venue to The Friends. Andrew Ferguson, the local renowned woodcut artist, exhibited a large collection of his works of Kew and Richmond, including for the first time his recently-executed print of St. Anne’s Church. We were honoured that Andrew was able to accept this commission for our very special evening. Both the original and first print sold on the night as well as many more prints.
We ran a very successful raffle that featured some exclusive Jenny Packham jewellery (pictured below and a designer worn by the Duchess of Cambridge) that helped us raise over £2,300 on the night. Also a great contributor to this large amount of money raised was the generous offering from Roland of 10% of all sales on the night that went to the Friends fund. Thank you Roland.
There was a fun quiz on the night won by Jill Saxton, well done!
There are gift cards of Andrew Ferguson’s print of St Anne’s now available to buy in church. If you would like to purchase one of the prints of St Anne’s by Andrew Ferguson please contact the Roland Goslett Gallery (0208 940 4009).
Jenny Packham Jewellery and Andrew Ferguson’s Woodcut of St Anne’s
St Anne’s Church, Kew Green
Susan gave us all a wonderful talk on Saturday 16 February. Her presentation skills and creative slides were superb and so displayed the fabulous passion Susan has for the subject. Taking us all back to how all these wonderful books started with these imaginative and inspirational authors was so interesting, evoking so many memories of our childhood learning and reciting the nursery rhymes.
It would be lovely if we could invite Susan back to take us through ‘part two’ expressed by many in the audience perhaps next Autumn or Spring 2020.
St Anne’s Church, Kew Green
With many of us not really understanding just what is and how it will affect our lives in the future we were all really interested to hear more about it!
Our speaker, Emma de Angelis, started by giving us a fascinating peek into this very topical subject opening her talk with a video clip of the 1968 Movie Stanley Kubrick’s ‘2001: Space Odyssey’ to the android David in Ridley Scott’s ‘Prometheus’ or the ones in ‘Westworld’. This really got us into ‘zone’ so to speak as did many other video clips and throughout her talk Emma gave us many other fascinating insights into areas where AI is being developed. Her research at The Royal United Services Institute is extensive and her passion was evident.
We all concluded at the end that having a reading list of the books that Emma mentioned, and some key points of her talk would help tremendously.
We will post those online as soon as received.
After the Talk everyone then enjoyed the light lunch of M&S sandwiches and fruit with a glass of wine or soft drink