Archived Reports 2006
October 18th 2006 - Barry Hill,
Doulton: Drawing and Figurines.
Members are invited to bring pieces of Doulton for valuation
Of all the ceramic items produced by the Royal Doulton factory over the years, none have captured the public imagination more than the array of colourful, expressive and highly collectable figurines. Over a period of nearly one hundred years, characters from every walk of life, Duchesses to fishwives and Geishas to sportsmen, have been finely depicted, each figurine evoking a more dignified era, exotic location or bustling street scene. In producing irresistible and popular figurines, Royal Doulton has successfully continued the tradition for fine, whimsical English figures that has its roots in the Staffordshire potteries.
November 15th 2006 - Mrs Ann Beauchamp
Beijing to Shanghai
December 20th 2006 - Ladies Christmas Lunch
Royal Navy Presentation
One end of the room had been transformed into a lecture room with a large computer projection screen and colourful surround together with a rostrum each for the two presenters Commander Stuart McQuaker and Lt. Rachel Cunnell as shown above.
As expected, the Royal Navy team gave members, and their lady guests, a very slick and extremely fast moving multi-media presentation that packed a lot of visual action as well as verbal information into its 30 minutes duration.
They gave an outline of UK defence policy and showed us the Navy working in conjunction with the Army and the RAF often operating in combination with foreign Navies. We were told that Royal Navy training staff have been responsible for training the Navies from more than 20 other countries throughout the world.
The Navy operates across the globe. The sea covers 70.8% of the world’s surface. Operations range from counter-narcotics to anti-terrorism, from defence diplomacy to disaster relief and from peacekeeping through crisis management all the way up to high intensity conflict if necessary. Other duties include such things as fisheries protection, mine clearance and disaster relief. They have the capability to operate at sea, in the air and, through their Royal Marine Commandos, on land. The Royal Navy operates around 130 ships and submarines and 236 aircraft with around 40,000 regular uniformed personnel of whom approximately 7,000 are Royal Marines based at Portsmouth and Devonport.
We also looked at the future of the Navy over the next 15 years and were told of plans for 2 new much larger aircraft carriers, the first of which, HMS Queen Elizabeth, is due to enter service in 2012. Together with HMS Prince of Wales these 2 ships will eventually replace the 3 existing carriers. At 60,000 tons they will be the biggest ships that the Navy has ever had. They already have 2 new assault ships, HMS Bulwark and HMS Albion, which together with the helicopter carrier HMS Ocean will significantly enhance the Navy’s amphibious capability with the men that these vessels will carry into combat, 3 Commando Brigade Royal Marines. They also have 4 large landing ships and 6 Ro-Ro ferries. The next few years will see the introduction of the Type 45 frigates and the Astute Class submarines.
It was stated that of the £27 billion defence budget the Navy receives £9 billion. The government is aware that the Navy can carry out only 1 medium level operation, such as Iraq and 2 low level operations simultaneously. This is based on the assumption that they will be operating in combination with the other two services on a multi-national basis and that this will probably include the Americans. The US Navy is the only Navy worldwide that is large enough to be able to act alone.
Commander Stuart McQuaker [top centre and below]
and Lt. Rachel Cunnell [bottom left] at lunch).
Commander Stuart McQuaker..........more.
At the end of the presentation, many of we veterans, especially those old sea dogs amongst us, wished we were back in the RN.
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31st OCTOBER 2005
Seven outside events were organised this year and included visits to Barnes Wetlands Centre (more here...............) and the Royal Powder Mills at Waltham Abbey (organised by Kingston Probus, more below) and 3 pub lunches which continue to be popular with members. Our principal events were the Spring Weekend break to Yorkshire and the Autumn Break to Valkenburg on the Belgian/German border. (Valkenburg the town was named after Mark Valkenburg, is a tourist town in the south of the Netherlands with a steep hill in the centre of the town with a castle perched on top, this hill is well known among cycling fans. Maastricht is nearby and can be easily visited by a daytrip.) Congratulations to all involved but in particular to Alan Neale for all his hard work in organising everything, both trips were highly successful and thoroughly enjoyable.
Tuesday August 23 - 2005
Royal Gunpowder Mills, Waltham Abbey
With our numbers swelled by members from the Surbiton Club a coachful of Probus members and partners set off for an eventful journey to Waltham Abbey. After our meanderings through west London (reaching parts you never knew existed) we arrived at Waltham Abbey in splendid sunshine. The Abbey church is a real gem and revealed a wealth of interesting aspects – Thomas Tallis was organist here and King Harold (of the Battle of Hastings fame) is also reputed to be buried here. The stained glass and the wooden roof also commanded attention. With an abundance of “watering holes “available members were refreshed before the visit to the Gunpowder Mills. Gunpowder for the army and navy was manufactured here until the middle of the 20th century and it was fascinating to think that the Napoleonic , Crimean and Boer Wars may well have been won here rather than on the “playing fields of Eton “!
The site was extensive and we enjoyed the land train trip around the various parts of the site ably led by volunteer guides some of whom had worked at the factory in its earlier days. A more direct route home rounded off a very enjoyable day
A report from the Kingston Probus Club
