Talbot House - Every man's club

31/08/2026

A great new blog by Toc H expert Steve Smith. It is incredible to read how Tubby in 1939 could travel across the globe, ferried round by the Royal Navy (and P&O Ferries), from one Toc H Club to another. The network was vast, his reputation preceding. A legacy started at the Old House here in Poperinge, spread across the world.

Thanks Steve!

Tubby’s 1939 trip through India and the Middle East By Steve Smith In 2025 I acquired a photo album from eBay containing a number of pictures taken in the Middle East and Asia. There is no clue to …

31/08/2026

🎬 𝐅𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐅𝐢𝐞𝐥𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐅𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐭
From Field to Front vertelt het bijzondere verhaal van Dave Gallaher, kapitein van de legendarische "Originals" All Blacks uit 1905. Gallaher was niet alleen een leider op het rugbyveld, maar ook aan het front. In 1917 kwam hij om tijdens de Eerste Wereldoorlog.

📍 Talbot House
📅 3 oktober 2026
🕗 19:45
🎟️ €10 (inclusief gratis drankje)

👉 Tickets: https://talbot-house1.odoo.com/event/from-field-to-front-56/register
🎬 Trailer: https://vimeo.com/1186797969

30/08/2026

Team Talbot House is welcoming two new faces as we say goodbye to two friends.

Will you share your memories below?

Five years ago, Ilana left our service as a student and almost immediately rejoined as our receptionist. Through her hard work and creative thinking, she gradually ran the whole operation side of things at Talbot House. Her lovely friendship and constant smile made welcomed over 150 000 visitors in her time with us. As she is moving to Australia, we wish her very well. Someone warn them down under what is coming....

Her replacement Sophie starts tomorrow. She leaves a career in one of the best hotels of the country. Welcome to the team and good luck 😀.

Also saying goodbye, for a while, is Marlies. Having joined us two years ago as our educational officer, she quickly became involved in all sorts of projects. When taking visitors on a storytour of the House, she'd transform a tired and weary group into a captivated audience. Her professional approach added a lot knowledge to the team. Thanks for all the fun times. Marlies returns to teaching but will remain involved occasionally, thank you.

As we devide her responsibilities amongst the team, we are also being joined by Friedl. She will work partime on Communication and promotion and started in July. Her energy and dedication are inspiring.

This is the team that will carry Talbot House into the future. Wish them well.

Our team building with the old and new at Bar Bernard finished with a farewell by our local volunteers who came to wish them well. Truly heart warming and very Talbot House like.

We ll miss you Ladies. Thank you for your friendship and love for Talbot House. Stay in touch!

PS Isabelle is not on the photo but of course remains our longest serving member of staff with 15 years. 😀

29/08/2026

𝐃𝐮𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐰𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐜𝐤-𝐮𝐩 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐯𝐞𝐭 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐤! 😸
Luckily, it was all good news: she's in great shape and has the perfect weight for a cat of her age!
Our Duchess is doing just fine. 🐈

26/08/2026

Auld Lang Syne Brenda...

The Scottish Ladies have near celebrity status in Pops. The energy Brenda and her dear friend Alexis bring to Talbot House year after year are legendary. Have you met them? Share us your memory!

They were 'discovered' by Gerald, another legend at the House, not even ten years ago. It took them two days to travel down to Talbot House, on flexi buses, trains and on foot. They would arrive with the biggest smile imaginable with a trunk full of goodies for the House, shortbread for the staff and sweets for Duchess. To be fair, us locals needed a hand to translate Brenda at times, but it made her jokes even more hilarious. At our Christmas Dinners, they did an amazing job at entertaining people and telling them all about Hogmanay. They are the kind of people, when the fire alarm would go off, wouldn't run outside but upstairs to save the House.

Sadly today we got word that Brenda is no longer with us. The news came as a shock. It was like yesterday when we all met up at St Pancras with over a 100 wardens. When the Scottish Ladies arrived, half the station looked up to hear them singing. Our team, the wardens and their dear local friend Doris, can hardly believe the news.

On Friday, we will gather round the Toc H Lamp to say our farewells. She will be fondly remembered by us all and the hundreds of people she welcomed at the House. Our thoughts and prayers are with her good friend Alexis and family. Thank you for all the good you did Brenda. Auld Lang Syne friend.

Thank you to the over 20 wardens who answered the call to take over their shift coming December. Your commitment is inspiring and Brenda would be proud of you all. We will respond to all your offers of help soon.

26/08/2026

𝐓𝐚𝐥𝐛𝐨𝐭 𝐇𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐳𝐨𝐞𝐤𝐭 𝐣𝐨𝐛𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧! 💼
Ben jij enthousiast, georganiseerd en spreek je vlot Engels? Dan zijn we op zoek naar jou! 🙌

Als jobstudent werk je in het weekend ongeveer 3 dagen per maand aan de receptie van Talbot House.
👉 Interesse? Stuur snel een mailtje met je CV naar [email protected] en kom terecht in een hecht team!

25/08/2026

Great Rugby Tour at Talbot House today with World Cup Champion Lewis Moody and friends. Lovely people with a great heart and passion for history.

Lots of Talbotousians played, including fellow England Internationals Lt. Francis Tarr and Chaplain Rupert Inglis who both came through Talbot House during the war. Impressive they knew so much about both. Thank you for remembering them.

25/08/2026

𝐌𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐧 om 𝟏𝟎.𝟑𝟎 uur trekt soldaat Arthur nog één keer op pad voor zijn laatste 𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐬 verhalentocht!
Laat je meenemen door zijn verhaal en ontdek Talbot House door de ogen van een soldaat. 👀
Zal jij erbij zijn? 👋

24/08/2026

𝐆𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐖𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐬 𝐇𝐨𝐦𝐞: 𝐏&𝐎 𝐔𝐩𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐞
In June, it became clear that P&O Ferries had terminated our partnership which included the free crossings for our volunteer wardens. After negotiations with other companies, including DFDS who offered a fixed low rate, we started a crowdfund to raise the necessary funds. Also thank you to corporate member Anglia Tours for paying the crossing of two of our wardens in August.
https://gofund.me/3eb7da4c7

Thanks to your support, P&O are now reconsidering the partnership and for roughly two months this autumn, our wardens will again enjoy free travel with them. In the meantime, we will continue our talks. Thank you for all who supported us so far.

We will keep crowdfunding in the meantime, as we did have to pay four months of last minute expensive summer travel and are uncertain with the situation from December onwards will be. Thank you to all who support us.

Don't worry, we'll get the wardens here one way or another! In the meantime, Bruce & Julia have taken over as Chris and Shielagh are on their way home.

23/08/2026