The Limpsfield Decorative and Fine Arts Society
(LDFAS) is concerned with the cultivation, appreciation and study of the decorative and fine arts and with the provision of assistance towards the preservation of our artistic heritage. It is a member society of the National Association of Decorative and Fine Arts Societies (NADFAS) and is affiliated to NADFAS East Surrey Area.

Lectures are presented monthly on a wide range
of topics by recognised experts in the decorative and fine arts.

Visits are arranged to places of historic, artistic and cultural interest. In many instances guides meet the group for an introductory lecture or guided tour.

Study Days are arranged from time to time, devoted to an in-depth examination of a specific topic or aspect of fine arts. The day usually comprises three lectures and lunch.

Tours of typically 3-5 days in either this country or Europe are also arranged from time to time.

Where we meet. St Peter’s Hall, Limpsfield, normally on the last Wednesday of the month, from September to June.

Membership. The Society is divided into two categories of membership – Afternoon and Evening.
Afternoon meetings commence at 2.30 p.m. followed by tea and biscuits.
Evening meetings commence at 8.00 p.m. with coffee served from 7.15 p.m.
The annual subscription is £26.
Applications for Membership are welcomed. If you are interested in joining or would like more information, please contact either
Michael Holman, Chairman, 01883 712583 michael.holman@which.net
or Wendy Collett, Membership Secretary, 01825 763597 wendy.collett@tiscali.co.uk

Programme
Art, architecture, archaeology, ceramics, furniture, furnishings, garden design, glass,
Historic Houses, museums, music, National Collections, silver, and tapestry.

2007

2008

Peter Ainsworth, MP for East Surrey presented the prizes in the Tandridge Primary Schools Art Competition, Limpsfield Decorative and Fine Arts Society. 18 of the 26 state primary schools in the Tandridge District submitted entries which were judged by Adrienne Parker, a local professional artist and James Carrett, Head of Fine Art at Oxted County School.
Click here to see the winning pictures.

2008

24th January Visit
Dulwich Picture Gallery & Dulwich College Chapel

30th January Lecture (read).
William Burgess: Genius Designer of Victorian Gothic.
Matthew Williams will talk about William Burgess, the plump, bustling, short sighted bachelor who had a passion for Gothic architecture and a taste for rich effects in murals, sculpture, mosaic and stained glass.  This made him an extremely expensive architect whom few people could afford.

6th February Study Day
A Journey Thro' China, leading up to the Olympics (Anne Haworth)

Rib Room, The Grasshopper Inn, Westerham

19th February Visit
The Dome. Tutankhamun & The Golden Age of the Pharaohs.

27th February Lecture (read)
Fitness for Purpose: Art and Design of the London Underground (Mr Geoffrey Toms)

This lecture will be a fascinating subject as Geoffrey Toms talks us through the golden age of transport between the two wars and the more recent Jubilee Line with its modern station in traditional by Sir Norman Foster.  The heart of the lecture will be the evolution of station design and the colourful poster campaigns by the artists of the day, not only to lure suburban dwellers to use the underground but also to prove the safety of the system.  The result was that the underground, before the war, became a remarkable public art gallery.

5th March Visit am
Lincoln's Inn

* = Not the usual meeting day of the last Wednesday of the month.

20th March Visit
Aylesford Priory & Boughton Monchelsea Place

26th March Lecture (read)
The Genius of Mozart with Music (Mrs Elizabeth Gordon). This will be a lecture mingled with the music of Mozart and will illustrate the incredible achievements of the composer in his very short life.

11th April "Extra" pm Marlborough House.
Christopher Wren was commissioned to build this house for the first Duke of Marlborough but it is to the latter's Duchess, Sarah, the building owes its existence.

24th - 28th April Tour
24 April. Visit Liverpool & Manchester
24th April. Basildon Park, Berkshire

30th April Lecture
History of Kew Palace, Gardens and Greenhouses.

Mr Edward Saunders will prepare us for our visit on 21st May telling us about the developments including the delightful little residence known as Kew Palace.  He will inform us on how, under the directorship of Sir Joseph Hooker and his son Sir William Hooker, Kew was established as one of the foremost botanic garden centres in the world.  It was under them the first significant greenhouses were built namely the Palm House and the Temperate House.

3rd May Concert
NADFAS 40th Anniversary Yehudi Menuhin School Concert.

21st May
Kew Palace and Gardens

30th May Lecture
The Pinnacle of Chinese Ceramic Art: The People, Places and Production of stunningly beautiful Porcelain made between 1662 and 1795 (Mr Gerald Davison)

This lecture will focus not only on the development of Chinese ceramics in all its various forms and remarkable glazes and decorations but also on the people and where they lived during the Quiny Dynasty.

12th June Visit
Restoration House & Rochester Cathedral.

25th June Lecture
The South East Brick by Brick (Lt Col Dick Bottom)

This lecture will look at a material that we take for granted and discuss the history, use and development of the brick from Roman times through the flowering of the English brickwork in the Tudor period and its growing sophistication in the 18th and 19th centuries.  This talk is a celebration of the versatility and delight of good brickwork.

11th July Annual Dinner
Cobham Hall.