Channel 4 will be showing a programme in this series (with Professor Alice Roberts) on Saturday 22 June at 8pm. And it will feature Stirling (and some faces which may be familiar to some readers!). It is an hour programme and will cover a range of issues, though the focus  is on the Stewarts prior to 1603. it gets a whole hour and I gather that it covers quite a range of aspects of local life.
https://www.channel4.com/tv-guide/2019/06/22

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We have a few events coming up at the Battle of Bannockburn over the next few months. We will be celebrating the 705th anniversary of the Battle of Bannockburn on the 15th and 16th June with a battle camp re-enactment. There will be family friendly activities including hobby-horse jousting and storytelling as well as timed re-enactment performances of the events of the Battle of Bannockburn.
 
We also have an Archaeology Lecture Series coming up which will start on the 4th June with Maya Hoole who will be talking about the Ava Beaker Burial Project.  You may have heard about this project in the news: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-36923891

You can find more about the lectures by clicking here.

And for the other events by clicking here.

Amongst the most important royal rituals to take place at Stirling Castle was the baptism of Mary, Queen of Scots infant son, the future James VI, on 17 Dec 1566.
Our speaker for the meeting on Thursday 25 April will be Peter Pearson. As usual the meeting begins at 7.30pm in the Smith Art Gallery and Museum. We ask visitors to pay £2.50 towards costs. You can download the flier for the meeting here.

The talk will be preceded by a short AGM to tie up the year's activities.

Bannockburn House is one of the most important historic mansions in the Stirling area. For many years it has been in a somewhat parlous state. Now, however, a group are working to save it and find viable uses.
At our meeting on 28 March at 7.30 pm , in the Smith Art Gallery and Museum, Alan Clater will talk about Bannockburn House - past, present and future.
All are welcome. We ask visitors for a donation of £2.50 to cover costs. The meetings usually finish by 9pm and are illustrated.
Find further details on the flyer.

Between 1878 and 1939 the Stirling Natural History and Archaeology Society published 61 volumes of Transactions. Though hard copies have always been available it has been difficult to locate papers on specific topics due to the form of the contents and indexes.
The original contents pages of each volume have now been scanned as has the Index to the papers in Volumes 1-57, published in 1936. These two files can now be consulted (free) on the website of the Forth Naturalist and Historian (http://www.fnh.stir.ac.uk/journal/back_issues/index.php)

Robert Ritchie’s talk at our 28th Feb 2019 meeting has the title "Peter Mac Dougal : Kenspeckle, Stirling schoolmaster, traveller and author.”
 
Robert writes: Peter MacDougal, 1761-1851, was Master of the Writing and Mathematical School in Stirling for 55 years. Patie, as he was familiarly known, was a kenspeckle figure, idiosyncratic, pugnacious, strict disciplinarian, renowned for his "conviviality", but also a devout man who held Gaelic services in his school-room for 25 years. He was the author of various textbooks and teachers guides – on Geography, Arithmetic, and Book-keeping – and acquired a reputation more than local for his teaching of writing and commercial subjects (and navigation). His pupils attained positions in business, military and marine employment in Britain and around the world. Many of them have left us their recollections of him.

The meeting is at 19.30 in the Smith Art Gallery and Museum. All welcome. Members Free, Visitors £2 50.

For the flyer, see attachment here.

Regratably, due to illness,  it has been necessary to change the subject for January's meeting. However, we are delighted that Donald Peddie has stepped in at short notice and agreed to speak on The Callander and Oban Railway, covering its construction and operation.

The event will still take place in the Smith Museum and Art Gallery, starting at 7.30pm. Visitors very welcome (£2.50 charge) and we usually end by about 9pm.

Members and enthusiasts will know that Mr Peddie is a tremendously knowledgeable and accomplished speaker, so there will still be plenty of interest for specialists!

Meetings about railways always seem to draw a good crowd. And visitors will be particularly welcome to January's meeting when : Jim MacIntosh of the Caledonian Railway  Association  will speak on                                                                          
“The Development of the Early Scottish Railways”
All the details on the flyer which you can download here.
We aim to start promptly. There will be a space for questions and discussion. We aim to finish by about 9pm. We do as visitors to contribute £2.50 towards costs.

The re-introduction of Red Kites to the area over the last few years has brought back a once widespread species = they are now even to be seen over the urban fringes!

Our enquirer writes:

I’m trying to do a bit of research into the history of red kites in the local area for an ornithology book I’m writing and wondered if any of your group might know of any historical records of the birds in the area. 
I’m keen to find any primary sources from the pre 1880 period (when the last pairs were killed off). In particular I’m looking for old estate records which might have accounts of people killing them, but also anything about people’s experiences with the birds.   I have some info already but any extras would be hugely appreciated!

So, if anyone knows of any sources, you can contact  us  via enquire@stirling-lhs.org and we will pass on the information.