News
News In Brief - December
This autumn we introduced some new lecturers and subjects and these have proved fruitful all round. Next term there will be more new courses and also some new subject lecturers including Lewis Evans, Rupert Jenkinson and Michael Picardie. These are trying times for all however CEF has had an influx of new students and we say welcome to those people. Please note that course prices are being held for this term. We hope that you like the range of courses on offer but please keep those suggestions rolling in. If we have not got your email address, please forward it to us.
The New Year will be preparation time for some of our Latin students who are working towards Level 1 Latin with WJEC examining board; I am delighted to say that about 20 students are going forward. Later in the spring we shall launch our first e-courses Introduction to Classical Studies and Introduction to Byzantine History.
CEF send festive greetings to you all and best wishes for the New Year. On a personal note, my partner and I are most grateful for all your good wishes, cards and gifts for our recent wedding.
Liz Mayor (Senior Lecturer and Head of CEF)
News In Brief - August
Happy Birthday Classical Education Forum!
Well here we are moving into our third year and hasn't the time flown by! We are very grateful for your continued support and hope that you will enjoy browsing through the prospectus. I have listened to what people have been saying about courses they would like to see and hopefully we have got something for everyone here. All courses take place at the excellent Thornhill Centre but do please ring CEF if there is a problem with classes. The major work at Thornhill Sainsbury's has now ended and so congestion and parking should be not an issue but please do note that if you park in Sainsbury's car park there is a three hour maximum limit. On September 3rd CEF will have a stall at Sainsbury's from 10am - 3.30pm so do come and have a chat. CEF is most grateful to Sainsbury's management team for their kind support.
There are some new lecturers this year and you can view their profiles on our website but welcome to Beverley, Stella, Michael, and Rupert. There are many new courses this term and next term as well as some old favourites. We now have an administrator and so welcome to Julia Evans who will hopefully keep me on the straight and narrow! As ever thanks must go to Juliet Sidney for the website and prospectus.
I do urge you to book early as some courses have been run with large numbers in the past but there is a maximum number therefore first come first served. Thank you again for your continued support and do keep in touch as I always welcome feedback. Lastly may I remind you that we have a link with Amazon and you can buy books through our website, by clicking on the Amazon logo on the home page; CEF earns a very small commission which is a great help to CEF. Please also view our website for Liz's choice of books and details about the courses.
Liz Mayor (Senior Lecturer and Head of CEF)
News In Brief - May
Read Alwyn Jones' aricle on his recent trip - thanks Alwyn!
On 12th March 2011 a sizeable group of students from different courses in the Classical Education Forum visited the National Gallery with Mererid Velios, Art History Lecturer at the Forum, with a view to looking at a selected number of Renaissance and Baroque paintings in order to gain some understanding of the perspectives and techniques adopted by the particular artists. More
Checkout or Events and Trips pages regularly to see forthcoming events
News in Brief - April
We are introducing something new at the Classical Education Forum, a choice of books that relate to our courses and also launches our association with Amazon Books. In this testing economic climate we continually strive to diversify to build security for the Forum. If you buy books from Amazon would you consider buying them through our website: there are no additional costs but the Forum benefits from a small commission. Many thanks for considering this and if you use the service please let me know your thoughts.
Click here to review our choice of books
Welcome to our Summer Prospectus
This is CEF's second summer and we are coming to the end of our second year which has been quite an adventure.
The move to Thornhill has been extremely successful and I greatly appreciate the excellent service they provide. The summer programme has some new courses and also subjects. CEF welcomes Catrin Matthews who will be running Archaeology classes this summer term so if you are looking for something different then this could be it.
Many students are now happy to move to e-contact but I will still produce a hard copy of the prospectus. The hard copy may well be an annual prospectus and I would appreciate your views on this so do contact me.
Welcome to Catrin Matthews our new lecturer.
Catrin graduated in Archaeology at Cardiff University in 2003 before moving abroad to teach English Language to students in Taiwan. After teaching for a year, she returned to Cardiff University to complete an MA in The European Neolithic. Since this time she has worked as a professional archaeologist on excavations across England and Wales and has started a PhD on the vernacular architecture of Monmouthshire. Catrin's research interests are in the multidisciplinary study of space, especially in relation to domestic structures and the domestic environment.
News in Brief - March
We are sorry to learn Clive Broadhurst is very poorly and we all wish Clive a speedy recovery. All of his classes will be discontinued for now but Liz will be in touch with his students shortly.
Our Day Trip to see the Egyptian Book of the Dead Exhibition at the British Museum went really well and was very much enjoyed by all. See feedback from some of the students below:
After a comfortable trip by coach from Cardiff to London we were taken on a perilous journey to the afterlife, as perceived by the ancient Egyptians. Obstacles had to be overcome and trials faced in this underworld before one could be assured of an afterlife. The Book of the Dead was prepared to help ad guide the traveller on his way, and put in the tomb with him. We saw several exquisite examples of these books, all beautifully illustrated on papyrus or linen. There were also examples of fine jewellery, statues, coffins and mummies. The trip, which included the entrance fee to the exhibition, cost just £27.50, a bargain if ever there was one! Rosina Davies
On Friday Feb. 18th., the Classical Forum had an organized trip to the British Museum to visit the exhibition of the Egyptian Book of the Dead, under the leadership of Elizabeth Mayor. This was a temporary exhibition which was due to finish shortly after our visit. Those who came were very fortunate to see an exhibition of such a high standard and importance, as the chance may not come again for a long time. It consisted of both the texts of the Book of the Dead, and artifacts from various tombs, and for those with a specialist knowledge or interest in Ancient Egypt, the exhibition could not fail to deepen their understanding of this period.
However, it was also an extremely moving exhibition for those of us who do not have a particularly deep knowledge of this period of history as the exhibits spoke for themselves and one left the British Museum with a profound sense of the reality of the people who created this society and their desperate need to ensure their survival into another world where they could rejoin their families. One saw the dangers they would face before they achieved their journey's end and the terrifying prospect of final judgment and the fate of those who failed it. The weighing of the souls on the scales and the crocodile shaped godhead waiting to devour the souls of those who failed the test remain vivid images. One began the tour of the exhibition seeing objects but one finished the tour seeing and empathizing with the Ancient Egyptian people themselves - the mark of a truly great exhibition. Margaret Ellis
News in Brief - February
All courses will now be held at the very popular Thornhill Centre unless otherwise stated.
Liz's interview was published in the Guardian education supplement on 1st February 2011. If you missed it you can read it here.
News in Brief - January
Please note that with immediate effect all evening classes will now be held at our Thornhill site. This descion was taken following feedback from students.
Congratulations to our Lecturer Darren Kelsey for receiving his PhD. Darren joined the team in September.
The date for "An evening with Jenny Willott" has changed and we will confirm in due course.
An article of Liz's is to be included in English Reading book in China.
Watch out for an interview with Liz coming soon in the Guardian's Education guide which is out each Tuesday.
New Year and New Beginnings
I do hope that you enjoy browsing through our new prospectus which includes some exciting changes. I am delighted to announce that the Classical Education Forum will be working closely with Peartree Languages: our subjects and programmes complement one another and CEF will be using Peartree premises for evening classes. I am grateful to Nicky Partridge and her team for providing such a convenient venue and trust the collaboration will prove to be happy and fruitful for us all. This brings me to the next subject which is a further change as CEF day time courses will now only be run from Thornhill Centre. I am most grateful to Ararat and particular thanks go to Nicola and Eileen for making us most welcome during the past year. Many of you are familiar with Thornhill and, as ever, the staff provide excellent support for our courses and the transition should be smooth for us all in the New Year.
Our new prospectus, which is the fifth one, introduces new subjects, courses and lecturers alongside the ongoing programme. Please make sure that you book in good time especially for the trips and Day Schools. As ever I am indebted to all of you for making CEF such a success and also to a very talented team who turn up week after week to deliver our courses. Also I am grateful to Wendy Hill for proof-reading and Juliet Sidney for building the new website and tirelessly keeping an eye on it. Please do let me know what you think of the changes, I am always delighted to hear from students: I can be contacted via
details on the contact page.