Afternoon tea and a talk

We're delighted to be partnering with Langan's Tea Rooms in Burton upon Trent to run an afternoon tea and a talk event in September. Elaine Pritchard takes up the story.

Sunday September 27th, 2026, is the date for our first-ever afternoon tea and a talk event at Langan's Tea Rooms on George Street, just off Station Street and Guild Street in Burton upon Trent. Up to 26 people will enjoy one of Langan's celebrated afternoon teas in a private dining room before hearing my talk on 'Rebel Women'.

The price will be £20 per person and online booking will open the week commencing August 17th through Langan's online events system. Look out for an update to this story and an announcement on our Facebook Page, Forgotten Burton Stories.

The stunning building that houses Langan's Tea Rooms was built in 1894 by the orders of Michael Arthur Bass, 1st Lord Burton and great grandson of William Bass who founded Bass Brewery on Burton High Street in 1777. It was originally called Burton House and was built to be the town's Liberal Club. Lord Burton had been Liberal MP for Stafford, East Staffordshire and finally Burton.

His father, Michael Thomas Bass (who was Liberal MP for Derby for 35 years) had built a Liberal Club and a multi-use community centre called St Paul's Institute at the other end of Station Street but after his death his son, Michael Arthur, gave those buildings to the town for use as a Town Hall. He had a new St Paul's Institute built in St Pauls Square and commissioned a new Liberal Club on George Street. But Michael Arthur Bass then left the Liberals because he disagreed with restrictions the Government wanted to place on alcohol and he joined the breakaway group the Liberal Unionists in the very year that Burton House opened. The Liberal Club continued without him until 1944 when the building became the George Street Club. In more recent years it had a spell as a restaurant but was acquired by the O’Connor Gateway Charitable Trust in 2011 and has run as a social enterprise ever since. As well as a popular tea room, it provides education, training and employment for people who have undergone rehabilitation at the BAC O’Connor Centre, in Staffordshire.

Despite all its changes of use, you can still see the original incredibly intricate carved ceilings of the original French Renaissance architectural style in the main dining room.

Rebel Women

The talk I'll be giving on Sunday September 27th is my latest Rebel Women talk. It starts with the suffragettes and suffragists of the late Victorian and Edwardian period and looks at industrial disputes organised by women to improve their poor pay and conditions - including the 'Flycatcher Girls' of Mosley Street in Burton. I also look at two very different women called Lily who were active during the First World War. Lily Rawlings became a woman in a man's world to secure justice for her brother, a conscientious objector, while Lily Thomas sent 27,500 food parcels to Burton men held prisoner in Germany. There is also a look at a pioneering female journalist from Rolleston-on-Dove, whose stepmother was a suffragette. My talks are always evolving as I learn more local stories. Since I debuted Rebel Women at Stapenhill Women's Institute I have added stories about two women who, unusually for the time, were licensees of Burton pubs in the Victorian era and a feisty show woman who capitalised on the early popularity of 'moving pictures'.

Tea and a talk

The freshly made traditional afternoon tea will include a pot of house tea (or coffee) and a plain or sultana scone with strawberry preserve and clotted cream, along with a choice of cakes from Langan's delicious homemade selection, and a choice of sandwiches served with a salad garnish.

Copies of my book Friendship, Love & Truth - the Vale Rawlings Story will be on sales priced at £15.99 with all proceeds going to YMCA Burton and SARAC. There will also be a raffle to boost funds for the two charities along with the sale of commemorative Vale Rawlings postcards.