Many a fight over a barrel of horse manure: Voices from St Albans 1898 – 1918

Sarah Keeling is taking the stage at St Albans Museum + Gallery on Thursday 4 February 2027, from 19:00 to 20:00. She's a curator at St Albans Museums, and the talk she's leading, Many a fight over a barrel of horse manure: Voices from St Albans 1898 – 1918, opens up life in the city at the turn of the twentieth century. The whole thing is built around oral history recordings, so you'll hear the stories in the words of the people who actually lived here.

Those recordings cover a fair bit of ground. There are the city's old trades, like hat making and seed selling, and then the bigger, stranger moments, like Zeppelins appearing over St Peter's Street. And then there's the one that gave the talk its title: the occasional fight over a barrel of horse manure. It's a good mix of the everyday and the odd, and because it's oral history, you get the voices and the phrasing of the people themselves rather than a summary written long after the fact.

If you're planning to go, there's one practical thing to keep in mind. The museum notes that acoustics in its historic buildings can be challenging, and they recommend the online option if you want crisp, clear audio. It's a fair warning, especially for a talk that relies on listening to old recordings.

Tickets are £10 to attend in person at the museum, which is in the Town Hall on St Peter's Street, and £6 for the Zoom option. If you go for the online version, the link is sent out at 17:30 on the day of the talk, so you'll have it in your inbox well before things get underway at 19:00.