Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution

21/10/2026

Laughton Professor of Naval History in the Department of War Studies, King's College London and author of -Professor Andrew Lambert, explains how Trafalgar shaped the future of European (and indeed World) history in his talk at on Monday 26th October

Get your tickets here:

Trafalgar’s enormous impact on the Napoleonic Wars & beyond

20/10/2026

Dr Mark Harper is a consultant anaesthetist and medical scientist who is an expert on the physiological response of the body to cold water swimming. Tomorrow night he brings his clinical research knowledge to BRLSI.
In collaboration with and the University of Portsmouth Environments Lab, he has had the opportunity to test this in practice on the award nominated BBC One television programme .

Mark is also conducting clinical trials using sea swimming as a clinical intervention for anxiety and depression. He has helped to set up Chill which now provides outdoor swimming courses for hundreds of people around the UK and has been a director of Mental Health Swims He is the author of .

You can read more about Mark and book tickets for his talk via this link https://www.brlsi.org/whatson/chill-the-science-medicine-of-cold-water-swimming/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=chill-the-science-medicine-of-cold-water-swimming

20/10/2026

Drawing on literature, psychiatry, politics and his own experience in mental health care, award-winning author, broadcaster and former mental health nurse Nathan Filer explores psychosis without reducing it to illness or metaphor.
https://www.brlsi.org/whatson/nathan-filer-storytelling-that-honours-psychosis/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=nathan-filer-storytelling-that-honours-psychosis

16/10/2026

A Personal View: a free exhibition from Bath Artists Group

Four artists come together to share their personal view in different media. See the latest work from Modern Impressionist painter Lynne Roche, transcription collage maker Henrietta Smith, visual arts teacher Julian Hyzler and celebrated contemporary painter Alice Mumford RWA.

Tuesday 20 to Saturday 31 October
Open Monday to Saturday, 10am to 4pm
Free entry

More details: https://www.brlsi.org/whatson/a-personal-view/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=personal-view

15/10/2026

🗳️ Did we only dream democracy?

Has any society ever truly practiced democracy? Or has the gap between the ideal and the reality always been vast?

Join Peter MacFadyen, author of Flatpack Democracy, for a thought-provoking talk on what we do when collective decision-making goes awry, and how we might make decisions together in the face of the challenges ahead.

📅 Tuesday 20 October, 7:30pm to 9:00pm
📍 16 Queen Square, Bath, or watch online

Book now 👉 https://www.brlsi.org/whatson/did-we-only-dream-democracy/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=democracy-under-threat&utm_content=did-we-only-dream-democracy

15/10/2026

Who were the men who fought at Trafalgar?

Lt Col Ray Aldis, Historian to the Nelson Society, tells their story.

Mon 19 Oct, 7:30pm. Tickets £4 to £8.

https://www.brlsi.org/whatson/the-men-of-trafalgar/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=trafalgar

14/10/2026

🌍🌱Tomorrow night Eco Professor Kristín Vala Ragnarsdóttir, will discuss how we can build a regenerative economy that restores ecosystems, strengthens communities and puts human flourishing before GDP.

📅 Thursday 15 October
🕢 7:30pm – 9:00pm
📍 BRLSI

https://www.brlsi.org/whatson/eco-talks-at-brlsi-collapse-or-prosperity-crafting-a-regenerative-economy-for-wellbeing/

Kristín Vala Ragnarsdóttir outlines the foundations of a regenerative economy that restores ecosystems and strengthens communities.

14/10/2026

🎥 Mad About Trump-MAGA on the Couch

What happens when politics becomes a matter of psychic life and not just policy?

Sayrui Higashi and Daniel Jeffreys, (conveners of The Unsettled Mind Psychoanalysis) introduce Daniel’s upcoming talk at BRLSI in Bath.

Drawing on two personal interviews with Trump and his book America’s Back Porch, Daniel explores how unresolved loss, whether of status, identity or an imagined past, may shape the appeal of the MAGA movement.

📅 Saturday 24 October, 2:30pm – 4:00pm
📍 Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution (BRLSI)
🎟️ £4.00 – £10.00

👉 Book tickets: https://www.brlsi.org/whatson/mad-about-trump-maga-on-the-couch/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=mad-about-trump-talk&utm_content=video-intro-post -tickets__tickets-form

▶️ Watch the intro: https://youtu.be/bEmVOsWuPW4?si=HEds-sEx1VJWTadU

13/10/2026

🎵Join musician and choirmaster John Sandford, with over 50 years of listening to and analysing the genre, for The Past & Future of Prog Rock.

Saturday 17 October
7:30 pm to 9:00 pm
BRLSI, Bath
Tickets £4 -£8

Whether you’re a Yes devotee, a Floyd loyalist, or just prog-curious, come along for an evening of music, debate and nostalgia.

https://www.brlsi.org/whatson/pastfutureprogrock/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=prog-rock&utm_content=event-post