Adult learning

ASL's adult learning program carries out the School's mission to develop lifelong learners. We hope that parents, faculty, staff, alumni and friends of ASL will enjoy participating in the following educational opportunities:

MASTER CLASS: INTO THE FIRE

Back by popular demand! Join us for an hour a week to talk about UK, EU and US news—Trumps's victory, Brexit, and much more. Great guest speakers (originally lined up for the full course): Ros Barr will talk about the myriad angles to be considered for Brexit and the 'open market;' Tom Packer, who spoke to the Elections course two months ago about the American election and polls, will come give us an update on the state of polling now and Trump's first days in the White House. We may have a special newsroom field trip. Course cost is £200. Classes take place in St. Mark's Church, Hamilton Terrace, on Wednesdays, 18 January–22 March, 1–2 pm. Please note no classes on 15 and 22 February).

MASTER CLASS: THE MITFORD SISTERS
Six beautiful women, each one shocking and interesting: Nancy, the writer; Jessica, married to a Communist; devotee of Hitler Unity, who committed suicide; Diana, married to British fascist Oswald Mosley; Pamela, pursued fruitlessly by Sir John Betjeman; and Deborah, chatelaine of Chatsworth and married to the Duke of Devonshire. Lots of fun reading: Nancy’s "The Pursuit of Love;" Jessica’s autobiography, "Hons and Rebels;" "The Mitfords: Letters Between Six Sisters;" and Debo’s "Wait for Me! Memoirs of the Youngest Mitford Sister." Two most brilliant biographers of the Mitfords will come speak to us: Selina Hastings ("Nancy Mitford, a Biography"), and Laura Thompson ("Take Six Girls"). The proposed dates for our trip (priced separately) are 27-29 March, when we’ll visit the villages where the girls were raised, Asthall and Swinbrook (where four are buried), and, of course, Chatsworth, where we may be able to entreat the Duke to speak to us. Classes, in St. Mark’s Church, Hamilton Terrace, are on Thursdays, 12:30-2:15 pm (19 January–23 March, with no classes on 16 or 23 February).

MASTER CLASS: GASKELL AND ELIOT
Looking for a break from political upheaval and the pressures of modernity? Join us to discuss two slim, seductive novels by authors you may never even have heard of: Elizabeth Gaskell and George Eliot. Both women (George Eliot is the nom de plume of Mary Ann Evans), both English, both nineteenth century, and both incredibly popular in their time. Both novels are about village life in the heart of the country, in the middle of the century: "Cranford," by Gaskell; and "Silas Marner," by George Eliot (who lived, unmarried with her partner, scandalously, in St. John’s Wood). Our trip is a Master Classes’ unprecedented foray into Manchester, to see the beautifully restored grand house of ‘Mrs. Gaskell,’ and the national archive of letters between her and Charlotte Bronte, and a night in a nearby village, still recognizably nineteenth century. In these novels, the looming world of industry in nearby Manchester threatens the village life they so amusingly and movingly detail. (Trip: 31 March-2 April 2017, priced separately). Top drawer guest speakers will contribute to the intense experience of this course. The books are among the funniest of the century. Sign up for a Wednesday or a Thursday morning class, 10 am-12 noon, 18/19 March to 22/23 March 2017, St. Mark's Church. Please note: there are no classes 15/16 or 22/23 February.

Courses cost £400, unless otherwise stated; trips are priced separately. Please make checks payable to "ASL."

For more information, contact Alice Leader.

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