Adrian O'dell is the son of a Polish Air Force officer and a nurse from Lancashire and was educated at the City of Norwich School. After an international career in the oil industry, he ‘retired’ to Norfolk and has devoted himself to the study of Norfolk and Norwich’s history and heritage. He is a freelance city tour guide and was also a trustee of the Norfolk & Norwich Heritage Trust (Dragon Hall) before it was passed on to the National Centre for Writing. He has completed post-graduate studies in Landscape History at UEA. He is Chair of the Norfolk Polish Heritage Group which researches and archives stories of Polish immigration into Norfolk since World War II and has dual British/Polish nationality. Adrian has taken an active interest in the present plight of Poland’s neighbour Ukraine and at the end of his talk there will be an opportunity to donate to a fund helping Ukrainian refugees in Norwich.

Frances and Michael have researched and written a number of local history books. They operate as Norwich Heritage Projects and full details of their work can be found on their website www.norwich-heritage.co.uk. 

Dr Alison Dow was formerly a GP in Mile Cross, Norwich. She was born and brought up in Northern Rhodesia—now Zambia, the country where David Livingstone died and is still revered because of his strong anti-slavery stance. Alison is not the first in her family to undertake research on Africa-related topics—among her relatives she counts some eminent academics specialising in colonial and African history. She is particularly happy to play her part by researching the life of this local historical figure whose role in history has been much overlooked.

Victor Morgan came to UEA as an undergraduate in 1965. He has been around at UEA and in Norfolk almost ever since! At one time Director of the Centre of East Anglian Studies. He also been Harkness Fellow In the US for two years during which time he was a participant at the Davis Center for Advanced Historical Studies, Princeton University; teaching at The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore; visiting fellow, Clare Hall Cambridge; Leverhulme Research Fellow at The National Portrait Gallery, London; and an AHRC Research Fellow. 

Victor has always been interested in how best to teach history and how to teach more generally. This is reflected in the seven years he spent ‘post-retirement’ working half-time for UEA’s Centre for Staff and Educational Development. From the outset of his career he has been involved in various forms of extra-mural teaching throughout the region. In part this is because his own research interests have focused on East Anglia. Currently he lectures on behalf of NORAH, a charity that supports the work of the Norfolk Record Office. For much of this he was given an award by UEA for his contribution to its community engagement.

Frances & Michael Holmes have researched and written a number of local history books, including ‘The Old Courts and Yards of Norwich’, ‘Norwich 1945 – 1960’ and ‘The Story of the Norwich Boot and Shoe Trade’. They operate as Norwich Heritage Projects and full details of their work can be found on their website www.norwich-heritage.co.uk

Julie Jakeway was educated at Carew School, Ealing. An MA in local history from Leicester University stimulated her interest in Victorian asylums, her dissertation being on the subject of Norfolk Asylum. Her subsequent research into the personal histories of many of the patients led to the publication of her book, Manifestations of Madness.

Since completing a post-retirement BA and MA at the UEA, Ian Smith has pursued his special interest in Georgian Norwich.