Chairman's Notes

NEWSLETTER

CHAIRMAN'S NOTES

Autumn 2002

As I write this I am in Exeter, listening to the Cathedral Bells; I have just walked in lovely sunshine across the Close to the Royal Clarence Hotel, built 1726. Next door stands the Coffee House bearing the Heraldic Shield of Elizabeth I,commemorating her visit after the defeat of the Spanish Armada. The whole area is full of history, good and bad, but very inspiring overall.

I am aware that you will not read this for at least another four weeks; journalists always say that nothing is quite as dead or dull as yesterday's news, so four weeks must be hopeless!! By then, the Indian Summer will have gone, normal weather will be back, clocks will have changed to GMT and Winter will be just round the corner. Normality returns, and why not? If we had sun continually it would be very boring and we would soon be living in a desert. But the late summer sun has been gorgeous hasn't it?

Just before going to Exeter I was saddened to hear that Dennis Birch, our first Chairman, had died. This Centre owes a great deal to him. It was he who prepared our Constitution in 1973 and did it so well that it has never needed serious amendment. During the early years it was Dennis who kept a steady hand on the controls and by his wise counsel ensured that the Centre grew and prospered despite many problems at the beginning. He passed on the Chairmanship to Wilf Povey and together they and other founder members produced the organisation we have come to know so well. Alas, of course, Wilf has gone too, but throughout my time as Chairman I have been very conscious that I was standing on the firm foundations left behind by these two great stalwarts. Dennis remained active to the end and he will be greatly missed around Lichfield where he was so very well known. How difficult it will be to replace such people.

If I have talked about history it is because we do need to look back sometimes to see whether the furrow we have ploughed is straight and true. It tells us that no organisation can be run by one individual, it must be a co-operative venture, which in our case means that we must have an active and thriving Committee. I have said several times that it is up to the membership to provide the Committee and I now say again that you must think about that and ask yourselves how you can help. Please don't hold back, time marches on and by next April there will be places on the Committee to fill and they must be filled by people who will actually help to organise our activities if the Centre is to survive. The Chairman and Officers cannot do everything, they need your help, not next year or the year after, but NOW. Some come on, be a giver not a taker and help to keep our furrow running straight, sure and true, as it has done over the past 29 years.

Gordon Burgess

NEW MEMBERS

We are pleased to welcome the following new members who have joined the Centre since the Summer 2002 issue of the Newsletter:-

Mr & Mrs R.K. Edwards / Lichfield
Mrs C. Newbould / Little Haywood
Mrs P.M. Shepherd / Stafford

HOLIDAY IN SCOTLAND

The enclosed details and booking form give slightly different dates from those previously announced. The holiday has been put back by a couple of days so that on the final day a visit to Balmoral Castle will round off an excellent week. Your visit will be on the first day in 2003 that Balmoral is open to the public.

A DATE FOR NEXT YEAR'S DIARY

Joe Wootton has made a provisional booking for a visit to Althorp House, Northampton on Wednesday, 9th July. The House, the home of the Spencer family and Diana, Princess of Wales, is only open for visits during July and August. Pre-booking for parties is essential and this has to be done many months in advance.

A NOTE FROM THE SECRETARY -'YOUR COMMITTEE NEEDS YOU'

'Here we go again', I hear you say, 'always asking people to join the Committee'. It is true that we are continually looking for new Committee members to help with running our Centre but this time it really IS serious. You will all know that three of our long-standing and very active members, Gordon and Sheila Burgess and Eric Haylock, are retiring from the Committee at the next AGM. That represents a quarter of our number and unless we can fill the gap left by their retirement we are unlikely to be able to provide you with the varied and interesting programme to which you are accustomed.

Please give the matter serious thought and then volunteer to join the Committee - we especially need some new lady members. It is a very businesslike although informal and happy group. All the current members are very involved in other activities so that is not acceptable as an excuse! We meet monthly in alternate member's homes to discuss general business and prepare the Programme, using ideas gleaned from Committee and Centre members and from other Centres and Associations. One or other member then takes on the organisation of a complete item, arranging speaker, venue, coach travel or whatever else is needed. This is nothing like as difficult as it seems and newcomers can be assured of all assistance from those who have done it before.

We invite potential members to attend a couple of Committee meetings before committing themselves. Please give me a call and volunteer before you are pressed.

Eric Tanner

ANOTHER NOTE FROM THE SECRETARY

CHANGE OF PUBLICATION DATES

It is the Committee's current practice to issue programmes in the month before the month in which the first item appears. For example, the Summer Programme starting in June comes out in May. Although this usually gives about six weeks' notice of the first programme item it is possible for this interval to be only three weeks and your Committee is aware that members may already have booked something which clashes with the Centre's dates.

So beginning with the Spring Programme, 2003 we are going to send out programmes two months in advance. The Spring Programme starting in February will be issued in December, the Summer Programme starting in June will come out in April and the Autumn Programme starting in October will appear in August. (There is no Winter in Staffordshire!). Newsletters will alternate with Programmes as at present but will be published in February, June and October.

Also, we will publish dates of proposed Holidays as soon as we know them even though full details may not be available. Apart from getting more notice of events early in any programme, members should find no other difference but we hope you will find the change helpful.

Eric Tanner

ABUSY DAY ON THE WELSH BORDER

There were three delightful aspects to the day's outing on August 13th, which actually took eleven hours but seemed much less. The weather was as we like to dream an English summer should be - hot with alternating clouds and sunshine.

Waiting for the coach to take us to Offa's Dyke

The Journey.

It is not often in Britain that we can enjoy a round journey of some six hours with not motorway even sighted. The route chosen after leaving Stafford was via Telford to Knighton and Presteigne, returning via Ludlow. It was almost entirely through rural England at its best, with traffic islands, hanging baskets and gardens ablaze with summer colour. Two features on the way, which some members remembered from previous visits, were Shipton Hall and the wavy yew hedge at Brampton Bryan. A welcome break for coffee was made at the Gaskell Arms in Much Wenlock.

Offa's Dyke.

At Knighton we met up with lan Batty, the Archaeological Management Officer for the Dyke who, earlier this year, had given us an excellent lecture which Eric Tanner wrote up in the Spring Newsletter. This whetted 48 appetites sufficiently for us to accept lan's invitation to visit the Centre. He took us to two of the most dramatic sections of the Dyke itself, one overgrown with large trees, the other on more open ground. King Offa, the

powerful eighth century king of Mercia, who then controlled much of southern England, built the dyke probably not as a line of defence against the British (as the Welsh were then called) but as a definition of territory.

Mr Batty telling us all about Offa's Dyke

The Offa' s Dyke Centre is an impressive purpose built modem building with lecture theatre and demonstration hall where interesting aspects of the Dyke are displayed. The staff had cooked and prepared an excellent buffet lunch.

The Judge's Lodging, Presteigne, Powys.
To complete the day Eric had chosen a very different item of interest. The Judge's Lodging in Presteigne was originally built in 1826 as administrative centre for the new defunct County of Radnorshire with accommodation for visiting judges, a court /
Table laid for his Honour the visiting judge
Listening to a wonderfully presented commentary in the Judge’s Lodgings
/ room and prisoner cells. In1997 it was completely restored at a cost of £450,000 to its appearance in c.1870 and equipped with many of the original furnishings. It won the well-deserved title of 'Britain's Local Museum of the Year' in 1999 and as such is most impressive. The lower servant's quarters are lit by the original (1860) gas flame burners (the incandescent mantle was invented later) while upstairs there are burning oil lamps. Both of these produce an all-pervading authentic smell. It was interesting to see, in the bathroom, a full sized fitted bath with no taps. Hot water was carried by servants from the basement kitchen boiler in special cans
Each visitor is provided with a portable tape machine, which takes one through the whole building with the voices one might have expected from the occupants of the time. All was very successfully done and together with tea, provided a rewarding two hours visit. Thanks to Eric and Margaret for the faultless organisation of a long but memorable day.
His Honour must have a good night’s sleep before sentencing

F.L. Mitchell

OUR TRIP TO THE NATIONAL SPACE CENTRE, LEICESTER

On Wednesday 12th June, a group of members boarded the coach at Stafford Station, then picked up others at Walton, Rugeley and Lichfield, where our organiser for the day, Gordon Burgess joined us. We had a good run through lovely countryside, arriving promptly at Ilam at the Centre. It was a Millennium project funded by Lottery money, and is the UK's largest attraction dedicated to space science and astronomy. It is very educational, while being interesting at the same time! It was not surprising that there were several coach loads of children, but fortunately they were all well behaved, perhaps because they found it so interesting!

/ From the outside we could see a tall plastic construction, looking a bit like bubble wrap, housing two rockets - a taste of what was to come! We went into the theatre for a 20 minute film called "Big", the whole of the domed ceiling was the screen and you really felt right "in" the universe as the narrator tried to explain the vastness of it all.
After that we could wander where we liked hillside the large complex and try to take in all the information available to us. Many people made straight for the "Booster" Restaurant where we could choose from hot meals or rolls.
Before eating, Rosemary and I walked up the 145 steps (would you believe the lift was out of order!) to view the rocket more closely, and visit the five "decks" or floors on the way down, all showing models of various satellites and space equipment.
The “Michelin Man” Space Centre

After lunch in the Booster Restaurant we walked round the rest of the exhibition, trying many hands on machines to press buttons, manoeuvre a moon buggy around two rocks - it took me three days in their time scale - watch mini films explaining so many things about communications, the planets, the environment and many other things. We also had the chance of presenting a weather forecast by reading an autocue in a little booth, while our friends outside could watch us on the TV screen, and see how stupid we looked, vaguely indicating on a non -

/ existent weather map where the winds were blowing, which areas would experience sun, rain etc. - I think I will not audition for that job!!
Of particular interest was a section about a day in the life of an astronaut on board a space ship, the limited sleeping accommodation and interesting washing and toilet arrangements quite a problem in a weightless environment! There could be no privacy at all so astronauts must be very even tempered sociable people, apart from all the skills they would need! The range of food on board a space craft was extremely limited not to say boring - a far cry from all the delicious meals available from the Ramblers Retreat at Dimmingsdale - but I digress! (see photo in last issue!)
Some folks walked 100 yards to the Abbey Pumping Station. There were 4 steam-driven beam engines which are run occasionally, but unfortunately, not the day of our visit! The fly wheels were approx. 18' in diameter and weighed 20 tons each! In addition there were a few other smaller steam engines.
More rocketry – this time Russian

There was also an interesting museum showing how sanitation and sewerage treatment has changed through the years.

Just time for a quick cup of tea before the coach left at four and delivered us safely back to our drop off points, Stafford being the last at 6 o'clock. 'Yet another successful and interesting trip well organised by Gordon, thank you once again Gordon!

Anne Andersen

TRIP TO THE NATIONAL SPACE CENTRE - A MAN'S VIEW

We were collected from our selected point at 9.30 pm. Happy Days on the side of our Space Ship did slightly kill the illusion!

After collecting the last of our crew at Lichfield, we drove out to launch pad A5.

However it was obviously not going to get us to our selected planet so we changed to launch pad M69.

We arrived alive and on time thanks to good planning by our space commander and the very good pilot we had. Prepare yourselves for hard work, if this is representation of life on another planet, you have to push doors open to get into buildings! Once inside your first port of call is well worth the trip because in there you put your hands in a black hole and soap squirts into your hand followed by warm water and then hot air, to dry your hands and cuffs of your jacket! Next you queue (no change from planet Earth) to go into the Space Theatre. It'sgreat in here, the seats are reclined so that you are looking at the domed ceiling. It then goes all dark and you are suddenly looking at the stars, meteorites come crashing towards you but at no stage of the performance did you get any impression of being launched into space.

Inside the Abbey Pumping Station next to the Space Centre

Pity really because this would have made it a really great day out and what most people going there would hope for. After the show, time to meet another earthly need, food. The food was very similar, sausage, beans and chips or fish and chips. We could not get an alcoholic drink with our meal because the licensed restaurant was full of school children! Take plenty of money with you because coffee and chocolate are more expensive than Motorway service stations (can you believe that?), and served in cardboard cups! Refreshed we decided to go to the top of the launch tower, (this is what from the outside looks like an overlarge Michelin man without a head). Guess what - the lift had broken down, so nothing else to do but walk up and after climbing all those stairs you felt that you should have been on the moon!

Time for fresh air, five minutes walk away is a very nice small free museum with the largest beam engine I have ever seen. Apparently it was used to operate the sewage system for Leicester. Draw your own conclusions of what this tells you! Then the usual depression you feel when going round museums these days, you are looking at things that you or your parents have used or maybe you are still using. Still it was nice to have your feet back on the ground and at least the doors opened automatically on entry and exit.