Plymouth Proprietary Library

Wednesday 24th June 2026 at 2pm.

£5 for members. £8 for non-members.

Devon's Home Front Diaries 1937 to 1945 reveals for the first time the intimate reflections and views of scores of people living in the county who took part in the anthropological project, Mass Observation.

Dr Todd Gray MBE will bring together stories of Devon life during the Second World War, including those told by people who had been evacuated to the country.

To guarantee a seat, contact the library at least 24 hours before the event. Otherwise, simply turn up on the day.

Saturday 4th July 2026: 11am - 3pm.

The PPL will have a stall selling books and craft items. 

Wednesday 8th July 2026 at 2pm.

£5 for members. £8 for non-members.

From the initial surveying and Royal permission for the dockyard and its' location, this talk will give a description of each of three periods of development leading to the current status. 

A talk by Ray O'Donnell, a volunteer at the Devonport Naval Heritage Centre.

To guarantee a seat, contact the library at least 24 hours before the event. Otherwise, simply turn up on the day.

Wednesday 22nd July 2026 at 2pm.

£5 for members. £8 for non-members.

Simon Dell MBE returns to the PPL for a talk on Trywhitt's horse drawn tramway.

The Plymouth and Dartmoor Railway was constructed by Thomas Tyrwhitt in the 1820s. His horse drawn tramway ran from Princetown village down to Sutton Harbour in Plymouth. It was used to transport granite from his quarries and in return brought up various goods. This talk will look at the plans and the development for the tramway and with modern images there will be a virtual tour and stroll along its' whole 25 miles length.

To guarantee a seat, contact the library at least 24 hours before the event. Otherwise, simply turn up on the day.

Wednesday 26th August 2026 at 2pm.

£5 for members. £8 for non-members. 

Where No Shadow Awaits is the new novel by Professor Angela K. Smith (Emeritus Professor of Modern Literature at the University of Plymouth). It has a First World War focus and draws on research undertaken whilst a lecturer in English and Creative Writing at the University of Plymouth. This talk will explore how her research has influenced her fiction. 

To guarantee a seat, contact the library at least 24 hours before the event. Otherwise, simply turn up on the day.

Wednesday 9th September 2026 at 2pm.

£5 for members. £8 for non-members.

A talk by Hazel Jones. 

The first quarter of the 18th century witnessed the establishment of Bath as a unique resort of health and pleasure for people of title, fashion and expense. Every winter and early spring, they abandoned their country estates to take the waters, to parade around the newly built streets and crescents in their finery and to fill their time with the entertainments on offer. As the century progressed, the pleasures of Bath increased in step with the rise in tourist numbers. A new Pump Room was built, two assembly rooms opened, circulating libraries multiplied, as did shops and lodging houses.

By 1800, people were still flocking to Bath for shopping and other entertainments, but the aristocracy had moved on to more exclusive locations, like Brighton. Now, those of the 'middling ranks' of society and the landowning gentry were more in evidence in the city during the season, which ran from October through to May, although its height was reached between January and March.

How visitors to Bath in Jane Austen's time occupied themselves in the city will be explored in this illustrated talk.

To guarantee a seat, contact the library at least 24 hours before the event. Otherwise, simply turn up on the day.

Wednesday 23rd September 2026 at 2pm.

£5 for members. £8 for non-members.

This talk by Karl Parsons (Chair of the Royal Cinema Community Benefit Society) will look at the history of The Royal Cinema, touching on cinema as a twentieth building type, the history of the ABC chain and the cultural landscape of Plymouth in the mid twentieth century. It will give a flavour of the faded and time-worn glamour of this picture palace and introduce the campaign to Save The Royal- a community led drive to provide a sustainable long-term future for this much-loved building. 

To guarantee a seat, contact the library at least 24 hours before the event. Otherwise, simply turn up on the day.

Wednesday 14th October 2026 at 2pm.

£5 for members. £8 for non-members.

From the moment we meet him as a Belgian refugee in the village of Styles during World War I, Agatha Christie's unlikely detective captured her readers' imaginations and has since morphed into a global phenomenon, his name recognised worldwide.

Throughout the 33 novels and 51 short stories featuring this small, balding man of indeterminate age, Christie slowly reveals a remarkable and singular character that still captivates us today. But who was he really? Where did he come from? What did he look like and what kind of person was he? And how was he so good at solving murders?

Elaine Henderson takes a close look at M. Poirot and attempts to find some answers.

To guarantee a seat, contact the library at least 24 hours before the event. Otherwise, simply turn up on the day.

Wednesday 28th October 2026 at 2pm.

£5 for members. £8 for non-members.

"Robert Lenkiewicz (1941-2002) worked within 'Projects': large-scale exhibitions of paintings and research notes related to sociological issues. His themes - vagrancy, mental handicap, old age, suicide, death - sought to illuminate the lives of those he called "the invisible people". [The Lenkiewicz Foundation]. 

This talk, by painter Louise Courtnell, describes how she met this south-west artist in 1987, her painting lessons and how they affected her work since then. She is a painter today because of him - this self portrait of Louise from 2019 shows Robert's tonal approach to painting. 

To guarantee a seat, contact the library at least 24 hours before the event. Otherwise, simply turn up on the day.

Wednesday 11th November 2026 at 2pm.

FREE for members. £5 for non-members.

From a dream and a walk across Devon to an unexpected role in a Dartmoor village play, Laurence Shelley's journey to writing Visions of Wilderness is as remarkable as the novel itself. He shares how real-life experience of brain injury, homelessness, and recovery shaped his fiction, offering a moving exploration of resilience, creativity, and the power of storytelling. 

To guarantee a seat, contact the library at least 24 hours before the event. Otherwise, simply turn up on the day.

Wednesday 25th November 2026 at 2pm.

£5 for members. £8 for non-members.

Nancy Astor (1879-1964) was an American-born politician who became the first woman to sit as a Member of Parliament in the House of Commons, representing Plymouth Sutton from 1919 to 1945. This talk by Chrissie Le Marchant (South West England Blue Badge Tourist Guide) will explore her life with particular emphasis on her time in Plymouth. 

To guarantee a seat, contact the library at least 24 hours before the event. Otherwise, simply turn up on the day.

Wednesday 27th January 2027 at 2pm.

£5 for members. £8 for non-members.

This talk by Robert King will take a short look at how the ecology of the island developed, then takes a tour around the island where the various flora and fauna are found using a mixture of photos and short videos before finishing with a brief consideration of the future for the wildlife of the island.

To guarantee a seat, contact the library at least 24 hours before the event. Otherwise, simply turn up on the day.

Wednesday 24th February 2027 at 2pm.

£5 for members. £8 for non-members.

At the end of WWII, Government financial assistance helped Plymouth to attract new industry to the area in the form of Tecalemit, Bush and Berkertex but when that assistance was withdrawn in 1948, Plymouth was still heavily reliant on the dockyard for employment. However, the appointment of Stuart Lloyd Jones as Town Clerk of Plymouth in September 1953 saw a concerted campaign to secure new industry and jobs and over the following decade major new players including Clarks Shoes, Brown & Sharpe and Ranco Controls set up factories and provided much needed work for the people of Plymouth. 

This illustrated talk by Alan Bricknell covers some of the stories behind Clarks, Brown & Sharpe, Ranco Controls and Tecalemit in Post War Plymouth. 

To guarantee a seat, contact the library at least 24 hours before the event. Otherwise, simply turn up on the day.

Monday 8th March 2027 at 2pm.

£5 for members. £8 for non-members.

A talk by Elaine Henderson.

More details to come.

Wednesday 24th March 2027 at 2pm.

£5 for members. £8 for non-members.

William Honnywill kept a book of 'accompts and remembrances' in which he details shopping trips to London, meeting with friends for a game of bowls, and interspersed with details of his income and expenses from moneylending to the price of livestock and crops. Little details give an illustration of life in this quiet rural area of Devon, some six miles from Exeter.

The accompts (accounts) only survive in a series of newspaper articles published in late 1832 to early 1833; this is also about the search for the missing transcript of his book of accompts. A talk by Dr Lynda Pidgeon.

To guarantee a seat, contact the library at least 24 hours before the event. Otherwise, simply turn up on the day.