Talks given

I’ve been talking to Yorkshire recently – has it been listening?

I’ve never given exactly the same talk twice in my life – that’s partly because every talk is somewhat tailored to the audience (as best as one can – sometimes one doesn’t know that much about the audience) and they are usually of slightly different lengths. And also, because I make it up as I go along!

But mostly I am talking about grouse shooting, and why we should ban it, so the elements are fairly similar.

The last three talks I have given are these:

Ilkley Literature Festival, 10 October – literature festival eh? Who’d have thought it?!  The Ilkley Playhouse was sold out to an audience of c150 folk. I had to assume that the audience would not be full of readers of my blog but there were a few familiar faces in the audience.  I wondered whether there might be some grouse shooters too, but none of them admitted it, if they were there.  I was introduced by a very nice Professor who said nice things about my book (and had clearly read it!).  We sold about 20 copies of Inglorious after the talk.

Leeds University Geography department, 14 October – finding the University was a nightmare – some of the nightmare was self-inflicted – but a nightmare all the same. But once arrived it was a delight. The seminar room was packed, with a few folk sitting at my feet.  I did a few minutes about the state of nature conservation in the UK because I guessed (who knows whether I was right?) that there might be some people thinking about getting into that area as a career.  It was appropriate to be there as the EMBER (Effects of Moorland Burning on Hydroecology of Rivers) study came from this place, and some of the authors were in the audience. There were some good questions, of course, and the students were mostly there for the free lunch, which they ate whilst I was still chatting to people upstairs. I sold a couple of books – students never buy books!

Hebden Bridge Trades Club, 14 October – later that day, I was in Hebden Bridge and booked into the Crown Hotel in Crown Street.  My talk was in the nearby Trades Club. I had to accept this offer to talk as Hebden Bridge features in Inglorious (p188-192) because of the floods that occurred there in 2012 and I had interviewed the owner of the Crown Inn for Inglorious about the impacts of the floods on her business. Local people have a ‘Ban the Burn’ campaign because they believe that the burning of the heather moorland above the town, including Walshaw Moor, contributed or caused the floods. It’s always good talking in a bar, especially as I was bought a couple of pints. It was a very friendly crowd although the three blokes sitting together to my left at the front could well have been gamekeepers from Walshaw Moor. One bought a copy of Inglorious and was taking notes. The other two looked really miserable and didn’t laugh at any of my jokes. But it was a really good evening and we sold, about a dozen books.

I really liked the experience of giving these talks. Each was different. Each was memorable (for me, if not the audience). Each  helped spread the word about the problems of driven grouse shooting. Each was given to a sympathetic audience.

And, because I know there are those who want to make out that I am making a fortune out of this campaigning lifestyle (yes really, there are): my travel expenses were paid for all three talks, I got a free lunch at one (students’ leftovers), I was bought two pints of beer, I was put up in a hotel for a night and I didn’t get a fee for any of them. But we did sell some books – two I sold and therefore kept the proceeds, and the other 30+ were sold by booksellers so I will see the royalties for them next April.

I’m available for talks – contact me here – and I am particularly keen on talking to audiences who might all rush off and sign our e-petition to ban driven grouse shooting before it closes on 21 January!

[registration_form]