Monthly book club hosted by TUFF
21 October 2026, 7–9PM
House of Annetta, ground floor left hand room
£3 suggested donation (contribution to the running of the house)
Aftermath (4) marks 167 years since the Royal Charter Storm of October 1859, when a ship returning from the Australian gold rush was wrecked off the coast of Anglesey. More than 450 lives were lost, over half the storm's total. The disaster pushed Robert FitzRoy to develop storm warnings and, soon after, the first public weather forecasts. Through reading The Shipwreck by Charles Dickens, who visited the site soon after, we will discuss how lucrative global trade shaped the systems of insurance, and how the shipping forecast, which grew from observations sent in from stations around the coast, has protected those at sea ever since.
*Aftermath is a monthly book club held at House of Annetta exploring what happens after catastrophes - of industry, colony, extraction, eruption, storms and economic breakdowns. Every session will be held on the anniversary of a disaster or breakdown - through books, essays and shared discussion, the group will trace what lingers, shifts or emerges in the shadow of disaster. Readings will move across fiction, theory, history and spatial practice, opening conversations around ecology, labour, landscape, infrastructure and repair. The bibliography will evolve through conversation and invited guests, and will work towards producing a collective publication, book or exhibition that sits outside of institutional frameworks.
Join us to read, listen and/or discuss!
Please get in touch if you have any specific accessibility needs for either the session itself or accessing the venue. Unfortunately House of Annetta is not wheelchair accessible - see here for their guidance: https://cryptpad.fr/pad/#/2/pad/view/oXP0LSfuxq8-o+4iQ9lakB4oJrVKtjyUODLupCKBaUI/
Poster by Sam Rowe