A Bygone Days Talk on Bath between the wars hosted by Dr David Williamson is coming this March.

Organised by the volunteers of Radstock Museum’s Bygone Days Talks Team, the illustrated presentation will take place on Tuesday March 3 from 7.30pm to 8.30pm at Chilcompton Village Hall.

Dr Williamson was head of History at Highgate School in London. He has written several school text books about international relations during the first half of the twentieth century and now lives in Bath.

Between the wars Bath was an oasis for retired colonial civil servants, colonels, generals and admirals.

Thanks to its splendid Georgian architecture, concerts and drama it was also a centre for the highbrow tourist and its spa drew those afflicted with arthritis and gout. Yet there were other sides to Bath.

It was an industrial centre with a working population with its own traditions and interests, and it had notorious slums areas around Avon Street. It was too, a city inhabited by lonely spinsters in private hotels or bed sits. In the inter-war years Bath experienced the dual challenge of technological and social change.

Despite its conservative reputation, progress was made in slum clearance and its council wrestled with the problem of the motor car, often coming up with plans that appalled the conservationist.

Neither was it insulated from global events. The Russian Revolution was followed by some with fear and loathing, while others viewed it as a blueprint for paradise.

The rise of Hitler and the rearmament of Germany triggered a growing feeling of insecurity, which was reinforced rather than lessened by the air raid precautions that began to take shape from 1935 onwards.

Doors open from 7pm, and entry to the talk is £5. All funds raised go to Radstock Museum charity.