Local History Speakers
Anthony Annakin-Smith
Anthony is a popular speaker amongst all types of local clubs and societies. He is author of several books including ‘Wirral Walks: 100 miles of the best walks in the area’. He has a masters degree in landscape history and uses careful research to bring his subjects alive.
Available for pre-booking, or to ‘fill in’ at short notice, subject to availability.
- Guided walks also available -
Talks available
The Slave Ships of Neston & Parkgate
A look at the area’s many links to the slave trade, and extraordinary accounts of the voyages of many of the locally-connected ships involved in the ‘triangular trade’. A popular talk which has attracted wide interest.
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The Early Neston Collieries: Seven Reasons Why They Were Remarkable!
A look at what made the early collieries at Neston unique and extraordinary, including underground canals, the region’s first steam engines and tales of devastating sabotage!
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Parkgate – Port & Resort
The remarkable story of the popular ‘seaside village without any sea’ and the ships and people associated with it.
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The Health & Welfare of Neston’s Early Colliers
An insight into the everyday lives of the coal miners at Neston during the Industrial Revolution and their wives and children – accidents, health, marriage, housing, drinking and much more.
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Cheshire’s Forgotten Salt-makers – sea salt production on the Wirral
The previously untold story of salt-making on the Dee Estuary in Tudor times and the progressive local family who made it happen.
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The Making of the Wirral Landscape
What had made the Wirral landscape look like it does today? A simple guide to the story of the rocks, fieldscapes, roads and much more that make up our local scenery.
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Suffer Little Children – the Foundling Hospital at Chester
(available from early 2023)
The little-known and moving story of the eighteenth century hospital at Chester which took in London’s unwanted children.
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Statesmanship, Tragedy and Love: a Remarkable True Tale of Parkgate’s Nineteenth-Century Overseas Adventurers
The extraordinary story of three individuals whose lives intersected in the village: a tragic seafarer, an eminent politician and a courageous woman. It’s a tale which includes remarkable twists and illicit love.
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1000 Years of History in a Mid-Wirral Landscape
A look at how Willaston’s past is reflected in today’s landscape. Much of the story can be related to other parts of the Wirral.
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Back to our roots? Curved enclosures in the North-West landscape
A detective story for anyone interested in local history! How large-scale curved enclosures, to be found across Cheshire and Lancashire, may indicate the roots of our communities. Everyone can hunt for them!
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Voices from the Holocaust
A fascinating and moving opportunity to see and discuss original correspondence written by prisoners while they were living in the Nazi’s most notorious concentration camps including Auschwitz. A unique and extraordinary talk.
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Contact: 0151 336 8211 or 07986 745340
annakinsmith@btinternet.com