Past Events held by the DLS Society

The Society arranges a wide variety of events and below you can see a gallery of photos of some of the events we have held.

Below are some of the events organised by, or attended by, members of the Society. For further details of recent events, please visit our news pages or ask for a copy of our most recent Bulletin

2023 has been busy. We had Zoom talks and activities over the winter months, including a short story book group. In March, we visited The Royal College of Music for recitals from the Junior Department and presented our Music Award. In June, we heard the Dorothy L Sayers Annual Lecture, given by novelist, Amanda Craig, at the Essex Book Festival. In August, we held our Annual Convention in London, with stimulating talks, Wimsey Walks, readings and discussions. If you would like to read more about these events, please use the link at the top of the page to ask for a copy of our Members’ Bulletin. Don’t forget to look at our Awards, News, and Events pages for further information. We are looking forward to further events in 2023, such as our AGM, with a talk b y Katherine Wehr and a series of Winter Zoom events, including a play reading.

So far, 2022 has been busy with Zoom talks over the winter, a reading of the DLS play, Busman’s Honeymoon, a talk by Caroline Crampton of the Shedunnit podcast and some welcome ‘in-person’ events. Members attended the John Donne Sermon at Lincoln’s Inn Chapel, followed by lunch in March. In June, we had the Annual DLS Lecture at the Essex Book Festival, given by crime writer, Elly Griffiths. Also in June we attended a performance of the DLS play Busman’s Honeymoon at the Mill at Sonning.

In 2021, we held our first Convention since 2019, at Somerville College Oxford.

During the Winter of 2020 and 2021, we were able to get together via Zoom for talks, play readings and discussions. Talks by Professor BJ Rahn, Professor Suzanne Bray and Dr Mo Moulton were enjoyed by members across the world. We were also able to meet in person at Somerville College, Oxford for our annual Convention and again in London at St Anne’s Soho, for our AGM.

In 2020, we held our Winter Lunch in Bloomsbury, close to where DLS had lived. Our other in-person events for that year had to be cancelled due to the lockdowns during the pandemic when meeting up would have been unsafe.

In 2019, a range of events have been held for members and their guests:

February: Winter Lunch in Shepherd Market followed by a visit to Sim Fine Art Exhibition of Paintings and drawings by Beresford Egan.

March: The Dorothy L Sayers Annual Lecture, given by author, Ann Cleeves as part of the Essex Book Festival

March: Members attended and participated in various events at the Golden Age of Crime Weekend at Southend, as part of the Essex Book festival

May: A visit to Lord’s Cricket Ground and tour of the facilities and museum

June: A Dorothy L Sayers Birthday Lunch was held at Balliol College, Oxford, with readings and poetry, as well as a series of readings by our Actors’ Award winner, Ben Welford

June: The Bodies from the Library conference at the British Library

August: The Annual Convention, held at the University of East Anglia