Teatime Talks
Our monthly short talks on a wide range of map-related topics
Our free Teatime Talk Series covers a wide range of topics – projects, case studies, points of interest from historic mapping and archives to the latest ideas on data visualisation.
​Teatime Talks usually take place on the third Thursday of each month at 7pm, and last up to an hour. ​
​
​
Attending the talks is BCS members only but all previous talks are on our YouTube channel.
​
What's coming up
Surveying High Speed 2
Speaker: Jim Turner
​
Date: Thursday 20th November 2025 - 18:45
Venue: Virtual (Zoom), registration via Eventbrite
​​
High Speed 2 is Britain’s new high speed railway, 140 miles of track, four new, state-of-the art stations, two depots and 32 miles of tunnel. This talk will give an overview of surveying approaches and geospatial data on the High Speed 2 project, including coordinate system and datum, survey control, survey activities, and survey data including 3D web-based mapping.
​
Jim is Lead Survey Control Engineer at High Speed 2 Ltd, and is responsible for the topographic and engineering survey standards and requirements for the project. He has a PhD in Geodesy from Newcastle University, spent several years working in the offshore survey industry in locations from Vietnam to the Arctic, and has previously worked on projects defining datums and coordinate systems for both the UK Hydrographic Office and Network Rail (VORF and SnakeGrid, respectively).
Recent talks
Producing an orienteering map
Speaker: Dave Peel
​
Date: Thursday 16th October 2025
​
​​
This talk will describe what an orienteering map is and how it differs from the standard Ordnance Survey topographic map. David will describe the map-making process, including the array of data source used, how the base map is used in the field and how the finished map is produced using specific CAD software.
​
David is the owner of Peel Land Surveys and has been producing maps for over 40 years. Following university courses in Geography and Photogrammetry he worked at Harvey Map Services for seven years as a photogrammetrist. In 1996 he set up Peel Land Surveys, specialising in producing orienteering maps for orienteering clubs, events, schools and outdoor centres. David was British orienteering champion in 1993 and represented Great Britain at four World Orienteering Championships from 1989-2001.​
Mapping and Walking the Lost paths
Speaker: Jack Cornish
​Thursday 17 July 2025
​​​
Jack Cornish is the Director of England at the Ramblers, Britain’s walking charity, and previously the organisation's Head of Paths. He is the author of 'The Lost Paths' a personal journey and exploration of the deep history of English and Welsh paths. Jack first came to find beauty in our paths when he walked from Land’s End to John O’Groats and then subsequently joined the Ramblers to set up their Don’t Lose Your Way project, which seeks to put historical paths back on the map. In his talk, Jack will explore the history of how our millennia-old network of paths was created, has evolved, and been transformed. He will talk about how our paths have been mapped and the historical maps being used now to reclaim our lost paths.
The Perspective of a Geography teacher: How I use maps as tools for learning, application and creation within Geographical topics and concepts
Speaker: Tristan Willis
​Thursday 19 June 2025
​​
Tristan Willis is the Academic Head of Secondary and Prepa of Instituto Bilingue Victoria, Mexico. Originally from Kent in the UK but I have spent the majority of my teaching career in Norfolk, where the last six years prior to moving to Mexico, I was Head of Geography and where we became the first school for the British Cartographic Society to give their Restless Earth Workshop to younger pupils outside the GCSE age group. My original training was in Geography but since then I have taught a range of subjects to pupils aged 7 up to 18 years old.
I have a variety of passions these include Rugby and Cartography. I am currently teaching Business Studies, Maths, Geography and ICT. In addition to teaching, I am an assistant examiner for IGCSE Geography and Environmental Management with Cambridge International Education.​
Adventures in Maps
Speaker: Debbie Hall
​Thursday 15 May 2025
​​​​
Debbie Hall is Senior Library Assistant in the Bodleian Map Room; she has previously worked in the map collections of the British Library and the Royal Geographical Society.
Maps and journeys intersect in many ways, and Debbie Hall’s recent book Adventures in Maps tells the stories of twenty journeys, routes and adventures, illustrated by maps. Some maps describe the route that a traveller followed, some are the results of exploration, and others were made to show future travellers the way to go. This talk will cover a sample of these, which range from journeys of a few miles to great adventures across land, sea, air and space.​
Industrial History Hiding in Plain Sight
Speaker: Simon Ritchie
Thursday 17 April 2025
​
This is a history of the Ordnance Survey; the industrial history being the network of trig points and benchmarks.
​
Simon Ritchie is a semi-retired IT professional. For the last five years he has worked with accurate GPS systems. (Strictly they are Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS), the Global Positioning System GPS being now just one of many.) Simon's contribution to GNS systems includes running courses, publishing descriptions of how they work and writing software to make them more user friendly. He lives in Leatherhead and is working with his local secondary school on a project in which students of geography use accurate GNS systems to measure continental drift.
Use of Cartography in Promoting Environmental Education (EE) & Education on Sustainable Development (ESD) in Kenya
​Speaker: Catherine Njore
Thursday 20 March 2025
​Catherine Njore, from Nairobi Kenya, has a Higher Diploma in Cartography. She is a seasoned Cartographer with over 18 years experience specializing in children cartography and has recently designed a Cartography: Fun with Maps Program (CFMP); a program that assists children to learn how to draw, read and use maps effectively.
Putting Indigenous People "on the map" in Canada
Speaker: Chris Brackley
Thursday 20 February 2025
​
In this talk, Chris will share his evolving understanding of the sovereignty of Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples in Canada, and how this understanding is reflected in the maps he makes for Canadian Geographic Magazine and for other clients.
Chris is a freelance cartographer and part-owner of As the Crow Flies cARTography. He lives in Anishinaabe, Haudenosaunee and Wendake-Nionwentsïo Territory (also known as Ontario), in the Missinnihe (Credit River) Watershed in a small town near a big forest and a meandering river.