In his richly-illustrated talk, "A Palace by a River", Mike Ogden explained the history of the Palace of Westminster, how it became the seat of Royal power after the Norman Conquest and then the home of the first parliaments in the 13th century.  Following a disastrous fire in 1834, Charles Barry was commissioned to design and re-build using Anston stone, quarried near Rotherham.  Mike's talk ended with a tour of these splendid Victorian buildings and some humorous exchanges between politicians.

Richard Bell gave a talk about the Sand House, a Victorian marvel. This was built in the 19th century in Doncaster. It was a large house with several bedrooms, a ballroom and stable block, which was all cut out of solid sandstone. Also cut out of sandstone was a long passage or gallery with larger than life size carvings which included an elephant with a mahout.