Worth looking at the schedule of cafe scientifique talks in your area
http://www.cafescientifique.org/
as astronomy topics often turn up, but this one in Hampshire

Free entry , usually more time spent on questions and answers from the
audience than the lead-off talk itself, the cafe ethic
http://www.astro.soton.ac.uk/~tjm/scicaf/programme.html

Tuesday October 27, 2009

Dr. Peter Curran, Mullard Space Sciences Laboratory, University College
London, Gamma-ray bursts

Gamma-Ray Bursts: A history of an enigma For one brief but intense moment, a
Gamma-ray burst is the brightest object in the entire Universe, giving off
more energy in just a fraction of a second to a few seconds, than our own
Sun will over its entire lifetime. These bursts are so bright, energetic and
extreme that they can be seen from the other side of the universe, many
billions of light years away. They have been proposed as cosmic light houses
and as the cause of the dinosaur extinctions. I will explore the history and
science of these exotic sources, from the depths of the cold war to the
mobile phone age.

Location

Once a month (usually the third Thursday in the month).  Meetings start at
7pm in the Soul Cellar, 78 West Marlands, Southampton, SO14 7FW.


--
General electronic repairs, mainly music equipment these days ,
but anything considered other than TVs and PCs
http://www.divdev.fsnet.co.uk/repairs.htm

Diverse Devices, Southampton, England