The society president, David Hindle, introduces speaker and well respected historian, Stephen Sartin, to the large audience in attendance

The Preston Historical Society started the new season of talks on Monday evening of 1 September with the renowned local historian and much loved, Stephen Sartin. Mr Sartin has always been a favourite speaker with the members of the society and Monday’s talk was no exception in the slightest.

David Hindle gives thanks to Stephen Sartin for a most interesting and informative talk

With a most evocative title of  ‘Preston as it was, or was it?’, it was quite a puzzle to imagine what it would be about. All was revealed when Mr Sartin explained how artists of the past had, in many cases, given a distorted appearance of certain views of the Preston town landscapes. One example was that a well established artist of nineteenth century Preston, Edwin Beattie, had painted many of his street views with an altered reality using artistic license to create a more ‘olde worlde’ feel to his paintings. This departure from a faithful reproduction of an original scene means that the subtle differences between the paintings and the actual scene as it was may differ at times; thus a dichotomy arises for historians using the paintings for research where photography may be non-existent.

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The audience of members and guests show their appreciation to Stephen Sartin for a wonderful evening of entertainment

This meeting, being the first in the season of talks, was an absolute success and a fantastic start to the season. With an audience count of over 240 members and guests, the Preston Historical Society current venue of St. John (The Minster) exemplified the society’s growth, going from strength to strength with each passing year.

During a short chat with a former president of the society, Andrew Mather, he made a comment which I thought was rather apt and fitting to Stephen Sartin’s talk; he said, “What a humdinger of a night with our Stephen! To change the title of his talk slightly: Stephen as he was, or was he?” “He certainly was!”  …No one could argue with that.

If you are interested in joining the Preston Historical Society and would like to know more then you can browse the Preston Historical Society website to discover further details.
Would you be willing to give assistance at meetings? The Preston Historical Society are always on the lookout for people who are keen to be a little more involved in the running of the meetings. If you are interested in knowing more then please send an email to Karen Doyle (secretary) info@prestonhistoricalsociety.org.uk

Have you ever been to a Preston Historical Society meeting and talk? Let us know in the comments below.