Upcoming Talk Events

The screening sensation known as The Big Bike Film Night returns to Peebles, celebrating cycling with its 2025 programme of short bike films devised to delight the two-wheel devotee.

Linda Haldane shares fascinating stories from her in-depth research into the people, events, and milestones that shaped Manor Kirk over its 150-year history—an engaging glimpse into the life of this much-loved local church.

The Peebles Hoard is one of the most remarkable hoards ever found in Scotland. Dating to the Late Bronze Age (c.1000-800 BCE), it contains several hundred elements from a complex set of bronze, leather and wooden objects, as well as a sword in a scabbard. Many of these objects have never been found before in Scotland. 

‘Touching the Void’ mountaineer, Simon Yates, is a veteran of over eighty expeditions to high/remote mountains around the globe and shows no signs of slowing down. This is his story of the last decade, of new adventures and climbs in the far north and south, along with summits in South America, Central Asia and the Himalaya.

Brett Tippie is a multi-talented professional extreme sports athlete – a pioneer of Freeride Mountain Biking who kicked off his career while simultaneously competing on the World Cup circuit for Giant Slalom & Snowboard Cross for the Canadian National Team!

Local author A.K. Nairn dives into the myths and realities of the Border Reivers, separating truth from tall tales in this engaging, interactive talk inspired by the history behind his bestselling murder mystery series.

Bestselling Tartan Noir author Ed James returns to the Borders to discuss Fear of Any Kind, his latest DI Rob Marshall thriller set in Hawick. Drawing inspiration from John Buchan and the landscapes of the Borders, Ed explores themes of memory, justice, and place—with gripping plots rooted in the region’s past and present.

Archaeologist Peter Yeoman uncovers the forgotten royal lodgings of Edinburgh Castle—where Mary, Queen of Scots gave birth to James VI—revealing how a long-lost palace became the symbolic birthplace of Great Britain.

The story of Traquair's last and most eccentric earl drawn from research in the archives and tracing his life from a childhood in Spain, his education in Cumbria to his life at Traquair where he focussed his energies on improving the estate as well as organising wasp hunts, sharpening razors, promoting the new railway and visiting the Great Exhibition in 1851,19 times!

Join legendary climber Leo Houlding for his next new show, Exposed, a gripping live experience with stunning visuals, film, and storytelling from the world’s wildest places.

Every day is different as a country vet, from vasectomising a ferret, to a caesarean on a cow, lame horses to ferral cats. Some days are fun, some nights are awful, but I still love being a modern-day James Herriot.

Veronica Schreuder is an archivist in the Outreach and Learning team at National Records of Scotland. She researches and writes for the Scotland’s People website, develops exhibitions and welcomes groups of all ages to General Register House, Edinburgh, where they can discover more about the collections held in the archives.

Damian Hall is an ultrarunner, coach, author, climate activist and tea addict. In his first theatre tour, Damian – aka UltraDamo – will deliver stories of breaking long-distance running records and representing Great Britain, to running marathons dressed as a​ toilet and near-fatal mishaps. How to keep running long and strong and how our best years could still be ahead of us.

Adriana will take you on a journey through one of the most hostile environments in the world, where no life can survive, and share stories of near death experiences, highs and lows of her mountaineering journey and everything in between.