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Come join us in Battersea Park for an autumnal walk, catching up and enjoying fresh air.
Everyone is welcome - whether you have a dog or not
A great way to add activity steps, catch up with friends and create new memories!
Please contact event organizer Karen Kaldezar for any queries at barkinthepark@kcwc.org.uk
Asian Art in London continues to promote London as a centre of excellence for the arts of Asia. Each year, during October and November, a diverse and expansive programme of specialised exhibitions and auctions is hosted in and around Central London. These events are presented by respected dealers, galleries and auction houses specialising in Asian art, offering a wide range of works for sale. These works span the Indian and Islamic worlds, China, Japan, Korea, and South-East Asia, and include both ancient and contemporary works, as well as representative and abstract art.
We plan on attending the following talks on the day (each about 30 minutes in duration):
- Jacqueline Simcox Ltd: A Study Of The Exhibition Textiles
- Simon Pilling: My Passion For Urushi
- Anrad Gallery Ltd: The Living Tapestry (collection of traditional Indian art)
- Slaats Fine Art: Painting With Light (Chinese enamels)
We will then have lunch in a local café (TBC, your own tab), and end the day with a group walk around Mayfair & St James galleries.
For any queries, contact Roopa Girard at bookgroup@kcwc.org.uk
This workshop is an invitation to slow down, breathe deeply and reconnect with your true self.
Dao Tran-Boyd will lead us through a powerful mix of nervous system education, somatic movements and an immersive sound bath at her studio in Parsons Green.
You’ll learn how to activate the body’s natural ability to release stress, move stagnant energy and connect with inner calm.
Come as you are, leave feeling lighter, clearer and deeply restored.
For any queries contact Event Organiser Jacquie Clavey at wellbeing@kcwc.org.uk
At forty years old, she has an enviable life: a successful career, stunning looks, a beautiful house in the suburbs, two healthy children, and most importantly, an ideal husband, whose wealthy background allows her to transcend her own social class. After fifteen years together, she is still besotted with him. But she’s never quite sure that her passion is reciprocated.
Determined to keep their relationship perfect, she meticulously prepares for every encounter they have, always taking care to make her actions seem effortless. She watches him attentively, testing him to make sure that he still loves her just as much as he did when they first met.
Until one day she realizes she may have gone too far . . .
Note: this book is translated from French by Emma Ramadan
For any queries, contact event organizers Roopa Girard and Marika Carle at bookgroup@kcwc.org.uk
PROVENCE, 1920
Ettie moves through the remote farmhouse, silently creating the conditions that make her uncle's artistic genius possible.
Joseph, an aspiring journalist, has been invited to the house. He believes he'll make his name by interviewing the reclusive painter, the great Edouard Tartuffe.
But everyone has their secrets. And, under the cover of darkness, Ettie has spent years cultivating hers.
Over this sweltering summer, everyone's true colours will be revealed.
Because Ettie is ready to be seen. Even if it means setting her world on fire.
Join us to discuss this blockbuster novel. The location will be communicated to registered participants nearer to the date. For any queries, contact Claudia at eveningbookgroup@kcwc.org.uk
Cecil Beaton – ‘The King of Vogue’ – was an extraordinary force in the 20th-century British and American creative scenes. Renowned as a fashion illustrator, Oscar-winning costume designer, social caricaturist and writer, Beaton elevated fashion and portrait photography into an art form.
Cecil Beaton’s Fashionable World is the first exhibition dedicated solely to Beaton’s ground-breaking contributions to fashion and portrait photography. The exhibition will showcase Beaton at his most triumphant – from the Jazz Age and the Bright Young Things, to the high fashion brilliance of the fifties and the glittering, Oscar-winning success of My Fair Lady. Via London, Paris, New York and Hollywood, his era-defining photographs captured beauty, glamour, and star power in the interwar and early post-war eras.
For this lecture, we welcome back Anne Haworth; freelance lecturer and guide at the V&A and is an accredited lecturer for the Arts Society. She worked for the Royal Collection for 15 years, giving private tours of the State Rooms at Buckingham Palace as well as exhibition lectures. She has given many Know Before You Go exhibition talks for KCWC's Antiques and Design group, including for the V&A's ground-breaking retrospective exhibitions on Christian Dior and Gabrielle Chanel and also for 'Shoes: Pleasure and Pain', to name just a few. Remembering the glamour and elegance show-cased in the V&A past exhibitions on 'The Golden Age of Couture' (2007-8) and 'Horst: Photographer of Style' (2014-5), she is particularly excited about the upcoming exhibition 'Cecil Beaton's Fashionable World' at the National Portrait Gallery. Anne's lecture and powerpoint presentation will introduce the exhibition to KCWC members before their visit.
For any queries, please contact the Event Organisers at photography@kcwc.org.uk
Please join us for our annual visit to Chelsea Physic Garden’s Christmas Fair. For the Christmas Fair, the garden is transformed into a festive wonderland with over 100 stalls featuring independent businesses selling a range of gifts - from wreaths to clothing, accessories to homewares and specialty food and drink. You can indulge in festive treats, hot chocolate and mulled wine at the stalls and their cafe.
We will have a coffee/tea get together at their cafe after we’ve had time to peruse all the wonderful stalls.
Two Step sign-up process:
1) Sign-up a free ticket here on the KCWC website so we can track who is coming;
2) Please buy your actual ticket (£8) directly from Chelsea Physic Garden: https://www.chelseaphysicgarden.co.uk/visit/whats-on/christmas-fair/
For any queries, contact Event Organiser Evelyn Jin Hipperson at GloriousGardens@kcwc.org.uk
If you saw the film or play 'Amadeus' you may think Antonio Salieri was a bitter court composer who was jealous of Mozart's talent. But did you know that in reality he was a wonderful composer who also taught Beethoven? Join us to find out just how good he was when we go to see his two-act comic opera 'Falstaff' based on Shakespeare's 'Merry Wives of Windsor'. There will be a fantastic cast of young singers and an outstanding period-instrument orchestra presenting this afternoon opera performance supported by Continuo Foundation. Homemade focaccia, amaretti biscuits and drinks will be available before the show and in the interval.
For any queries, contact Event Organiser Maria Puleio at music1@kcwc.org.uk
Our traditional Christmas gathering returns this year at the exclusive National Liberal Club, overlooking the Thames in Westminster.
Our celebration opens with a sparkling welcome drink before we gather for a festive three-course meal** accompanied by a glass of wine or a refreshing alternative, all set within one of London's most elegant venues.
To make it truly special, we will be treated to a live performance by performers from Opera Class by Rebekka Mago, whose beautiful voices will add even more magic to our Christmas gathering.
✨ Save the date and join us for this very special occasion – one of the true highlights of the KCWC calendar! ✨
This festive luncheon is a wonderful chance to share the KCWC spirit with those closest to you. Bring along your husbands, partners, family and friends to celebrate inclusively, while offering guests a taste of what KCWC is all about and helping us grow our vibrant community. Beyond fine food, wine and music, it's about reconnecting, sharing laughter and embracing the joy of the season together.
Guest tickets are limited to just 15 and are sure to sell quickly, so don't miss the chance to secure a place for your loved ones at this festive gathering.
**Menu
We are delighted to offer both vegetarian and non-vegetarian options:
Starter: Smoked Salmon or Pear & Walnut Arancini (V)
Main: Traditional Roast Turkey or Roasted Sweet Potato Steak (VE)
Dessert: Christmas Pudding or Yoghurt Parfait (VE)(GIF)
For any queries, please contact Event Organisers Patricia Marulanda and Maria Puleio at events@kcwc.org.uk
Arundhati Roy’s first work of memoir, this is a soaring account, both intimate and inspiring, of how the author became the person and the writer she is, shaped by circumstance, but above all by her relationship to her extraordinary, singular mother Mary, who she describes as ‘my shelter and my storm’.
Distraught and even a “little ashamed” at the intensity of her response to the death of the mother she ran from at age eighteen, Arundhati began to write Mother Mary Comes to Me. The result is this astonishing, disconcerting, surprisingly funny chronicle—unique and simultaneously universal, of the author’s life, from childhood to the present, from Kerala to Delhi.
With the scale, sweep, and depth of her novels and the passion, political clarity, and warmth of her essays, Mother Mary Comes to Me is an ode to freedom, a tribute to thorny love and savage grace—a memoir like no other.
For any queries, contact Claudia at eveningbookgroup@kcwc.org.uk
Two of Britain's greatest painters, J.M.W. Turner and John Constable were also the greatest of rivals. Born within a year of each other - Turner in 1775, Constable in 1776 - they used landscape art as a way to reflect the changing world around them.
Raised in the gritty heart of Georgian London, Turner quickly became a rising star of the art world despite his humble beginnings. Meanwhile Constable, the son of a wealthy Suffolk merchant, was equally determined to forge his own path as an artist but faced a more arduous rise to acclaim.
Though from different worlds they shared a profound connection to nature, and both set their sights on transforming landscape painting, investing it with layers of meaning and emotion.
Marking 250 years since their births, the landmark exhibition at Tate Britain from 27/11/25 to 12/04/26 explores Turner and Constable's intertwined lives and legacies.
In two lectures David Bellingham will examine the careers of the two greatest British landscape painters.
Please Note: The lecture is from 10:00am - 12:15pm with a break for coffee/tea. Come at 9:30am and have a chat!
For any queries, contact Event Organiser Susan Alloun at arthistory1@kcwc.org.uk
Join us for a celebration of love, friendship and chocolate flavours!
For our Valentine Culinary Exchange, we ask you to prepare a sweet dish inspired by the magic of chocolate. Think brownies, chocolate mousse, chocolate chilli, truffles or anything cocoa inspired.
Bring your favourite chocolate creation to share amongst friends. Prepare your dish in the comfort of your home and bring it ready to serve at a member's house on the day of the event. Note: We can not guarantee that they will not be allergens in the food served or cross-contamination. Contact us with any concerns.
For any queries, contact Event Organisers Maryse Goudreault or Claudia Marchetti at foodies@kcwc.org.uk
When Jim overhears that he is about to be sold to a man in New Orleans, separated from his wife and daughter forever, he runs away until he can formulate a plan. Meanwhile, Huck has faked his own death to escape his violent father. As all readers of American literature know, thus begins the dangerous and transcendent journey by raft down the Mississippi River toward the elusive and unreliable promise of the Free States and beyond.
Brimming with nuanced humor and lacerating observations that have made Everett a literary icon, this brilliant and tender novel radically illuminates Jim's agency, intelligence, and compassion as never before. James is destined to be a major publishing event and a cornerstone of twenty-first-century American literature.
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