2024 Conference

Saturday 27th, and Sunday, 28th April 2024

The 8th Academic Archers conference

Quakers Friends Meeting House, Euston Road, London

Coming soon - audio of the talks and presentataions!

The scheudule

A number of new faces, the welcome return of some we’ve not seen in a while, its one of the best years yet.

Saturday, 27 April

9:00 - 9.30 am                  Registration                                                                                                                                              Time to find a seat, grab a cuppa and your goody bag and get settled in 9.30 - 9.40 am                  Welcome                                                                                                                                                   From Academic Archers HQ        

9.40 – 9.50 am                  Love and Loathe, Philippa Manasseh, with Cara Courage

Session 1 - Locating where we are: the psychogeography of Ambridge

9.50 am – 10.05 am        Beyond the Bypass: the functions of Ambridge’s alter-space, Leslie Carlin & Simon Coleman

10.05 am – 10.20 am      The Felpersham Canal: An Asset Beyond Ambridge, Paul Rodgers

 Session 2 - Pot Poruri

10.20 am – 10.35 am      Moral Quagmire, Ruth Heilbronn & Rosalind Janssen

10.35 am – 10.50 am      Happiness is the perfect kitchen, Philippa Jill Manasseh

10.50 am – 11.05 am      'If listening to the birds for five minutes makes you feel better, good for you': Wellbeing, gardens and environmental activity, Camilla Royle & Lily Whittle

11.05 am - 11.45 am       Tea break

 Session 3 - Locating how we are: how we experience The Archers

11.45 am – 12 pm            We the Fandom: applying fandom theory to the Academic Archers Dum Tee Dum Mash Up weekend 2023, Caroline Birks

12:00 - 12.05 pm              The Ambridge in My Mind's Eye, Carolyn Cooper

12.05 - 12.20 pm             Aristotle’s Poetics fuel Ambridge Drama, Sally Knights                                

Session 4 - Pot Poruri

12.20 - 12.35 pm              Funeral Directing in the UK through an Ambridge lens, Abi Pattenden 12.35 - 12.50 pm             It's a ferret Ferris wheel!: depictions of human-animal interactions and animal welfare in the Archers, The Tams - Tamzin Furtado & Tamsin Durston                                                      

12.50 pm – 2 pm              Lunch

2 pm – 3 pm                      VIP headliners: One Stiletto in the Grave Live podcast recording

 Sunny Ormonde (aka Lilian Bellamy) and her old friend and collaborator Jane James chat with a special visitor or two from Ambridge about what's been happening in the village in the last twelve months

Session 5 - The Ambridge Family

3 pm – 3.15 pm                The only gay in the village? Queer(y)ing family in rural Borsetshire,        Peter Matthews

3.15 pm - 3.30 pm           A tractor and family overturned - the death of John Archer on 25 February 1998 - and the ongoing implications of this untimely event                              Deborah Miller & Meg Burton

3.30 pm - 3.45 pm           Mia and Brad are doing four A levels: will widening participation in higher education finally hit Ambridge?, Janette Myers

3.45 pm – 4 pm                Looking after the Penny Hassets so the Pounds look after themselves Katherine Jennings & Vikki Barry Brown  

4 pm – 4.20 pm                Tea Break  

Pot Poruri

4.20 pm - 4.35 pm           Grey Gables – did it need to close during renovation?, Katharine Hoskyn

4.35 pm - 4.50 pm           Make Every Contact/Episode Count, Jane Lothian

 Session 6 - The Men of Ambridge

4.50 pm - 5.05 pm           He’s is father’s son' – in word or deed?, Katharine Hoskyn & Deborah Miller

5.05 pm - 5.20 pm           ‘A man had two sons’: A sort of sermon on Luke 15v11, Jonathan Hustler

5.20 pm - 5.35 pm           The Playboy, the Father, the Scholar and the Brute: Ambridge Masculinities in Historical Perspective, Jessica Meyer 

5.35 pm - 5.40 pm           Love and Loathe review

5.40 pm - 5.50 pm           The Academic Archers Awards Ceremony             

5.50 pm                              Coats and bags                6 pm      Doors close                       

Sunday, 28 April                                    

9.30 am                              Doors open        

10 am - 11.15 am             Live Listen            

Session 7 - The Ambridge Family #2

11.15 am - 11.30 am       The Glass Floor in Ambridge - How does privilege endure?, Claire Astbury

11.30 am - 11.45 am       Educating Emma?, Nicola Maxfield

11.45 am – 12 pm            I look down on him – From Lord Netherborn to David Archer to Tracey Horrobin, Class in Ambridge does it reflect the English experience?, Christine Narramore 

Session 8 - Neurodiversity in Ambridge

12 pm - 12.15 pm             Living in a neurodiverse household: why accurate representation in storylines makes a difference, Andrea Hart

12.15 - 12.30 pm              It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves, Helen Burrows & Louise Gillies  

Session 9 - Leaving on a song

12.30 pm - 12.45 pm       From Obscurity to Alternative Nation Anthem, The Story of Barwick Green Sally Cadle

12.45 pm – 1 pm              Tunes and transitions at the tearoom, Emily Baker & Freya Jarman

 1 pm                                    Coats and bags                 1.30 pm               Doors close