Last night Professor Ronald Hutton gave a lecture to our largest meeting yet (66 people). A brilliant lecture on a highly relevant topic to a modern audience.  The lecture combined fascinating critical analysis of primary sources such as parish registers with much wider patterns and theories about how famine and plague affected England in the Early Modern Period. Professor Hutton’s lecture showed how victims’ bodies were disposed of at the height of the plague outbreak when even the record keepers were dying.  He showed how the experiences of plague and famine could be very different within the same country never mind in town or countryside.  Members were given a ghost story about his visit to the famous plague village of Eyam, where 75% of its population died when it was isolated for a whole year.   Many of our preconceptions about the causes of plague and famine were challenged. Its long-term effects on the country in making it tougher and more resilient and its eventual end not because of science but because of mass action were thought-provoking.    After the lecture we had some excellent questions including whether the present government could have learnt anything from how early modern governments handled plague outbreaks.   There were also some lovely comments in the chat box.