Venue: Open Door Church 

Dr Greg Morse is the author of John Betjeman: Reading the Victorians, a fairly lengthy thing that led to something much shorter and more interesting for Shire. It was here that he first explored the poet's love of railways, indulging his own love too, as a copper-capped Swindon boy born and bred.

Greg Morse first fell under the spell of John Betjeman's work in the 1990s, and shared an appreciation of his writing and poetry together with a passion for railways. Greg's book John Betjeman Reading the Victorians was first published in 2008 by Sussex Academic Press. Since then Greg has been the author of several railway books highlighting the developments of the British network over the decades. His most recent title is dedicated to Holiday Trains. In his talk, Greg will share the late Poet Laureate's writing on railways – from rural branch lines to the grandeur of St Pancras station and hotel.

There will also be a screening of John Betjeman Goes By Train, a British Transport Films ten-minute programme from 1962 about the King's Lynn to Hunstanton line in Norfolk, that closed in 1969. Greg lives in Swindon, a town synonymous with the old Great Western Railway works.

Greg works for the railway industry as a safety officer and has written numerous books and articles on rail history and rail safety development.