Sightseeing Entry

Tuesday 16 June 2026, 14:30-15:30 in the Clagett Auditorium

Doreen Rosman returns for a final talk in her series about the history of Canterbury, focusing on one person's experience to evoke what it would have been like to live through this period of tumultuous change.

As a teenager, a girl born c 1900 would have seen horses commandeered off city streets for the front, been offered jobs previously restricted to men, and mourned the deaths of lads she had known at school.

After the war, she would have witnessed major slum clearance, the building of council estates, delivery vans replacing bicycles, and the opening of huge state of the art cinemas.

The 1940s brought renewed rationing, blackouts, war weapons fund-raising, and constant sleep deprivation. The worst of 35 bombing raids flattened the east end of the city - amid whose ruins, as a middle-aged woman, she might have attended a Festival of Britain exhibition.

Doreen Rosman taught history at the University of Kent. Her publications include, Canterbury: A History since 1500, the story of a city and its people.

£10 Friends of Canterbury Cathedral; £15 non-members. Includes tea and coffee on arrival.

This event is organised by and in support of The Friends of Canterbury Cathedral (Registered Charity No 1210093).

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For more information about this and future events, help booking, or becoming a member, please call The Friends’ Office at 01227 865292 or email [email protected]