Visit to the Science Museum on Wednesday, 8^th February

The Science Museum was founded in 1857, 165 years ago and is one of London’s major tourist attractions, attracting 3.3 million visitors annually. It is the home of human ingenuity, with award-winning exhibitions, iconic objects, and stories of incredible scientific achievement., displayed in galleries, special events and special exhibitions.

This successful day was enjoyed by 40 of the Hayling Island u3a members. Phil, the Laguna coach driver drove with no hold-ups to arrive exactly at our appointed time at the Science Museum. We were disconcerted at first to find the group entrance boiling over with hundreds of excited school children, from tiny first years to cool, languid teenagers, and many of us retreated to the café where we could hear ourselves think, and be restored with coffee.

Many of the members used the day to also visit the adjacent Natural History Museum and Victoria and Albert Museum, and to visit nearby Harrods for some shopping. The Science Museum itself was a revelation, especially to those of us who had not visited since childhood. We were lucky to have a day of beautiful sunshine, once the frost had dispersed, and London looked at its best.

The journey home as much slower; it took us an hour to get clear of London. However, we arrived home exactly at the predicted time, after a very enjoyable day.

Future Visit

Our next planned visit is to Exbury Gardens and Steam Train on Thursday, 11^th May. Exbury is renowned for Spring colour, set apart from other gardens by its world famous collection of rhododendrons and azaleas. These stunning shrubs are at their height in April and May, lining the paths with their elegant flowers. There are also stunning displays of camellias and magnolias as well as thousands of Spring bulbs. A ride on the steam train is an essential part of the visit!

This will be the last visit I organise for the Hayling Island u3a. I have enjoyed this role, and loved seeing the members enjoying their day out. I wish Richard North and his wife Jan well as they take over after this visit.

Catherine Britton

There were only two visits in 2021 because of the Covid 19 lockdown measures. However, once these were relaxed, members signed up enthusiastically to take part.

3^rd September 2021 visit to the Bournemouth Air Show.

Everyone seems to have enjoyed this very much. Bournemouth sea front looked beautiful under warm and sunny weather, with blue sky and sea, and golden sands stretching in a great curve, a wonderful setting for the air display which took place in the sky between Bournemouth and Boscombe Piers.

Among the various aircraft in the flying display, we were fortunate to see historic aircraft with Spitfires, a Hurricane, a Lancaster Bomber, the Red Arrows, helicopter displays, wing walking, and a tremendous finale when a Typhoon roared round the display area with an unbelievable volume of sound, and presence.

At 5.30 the coach picked us up and took us to the Laguna Hotel, where we enjoyed drinks, and a good dinner. We finally arrived back on Hayling Island at about ten o clock, late because the M27 eastwards was closed.

The following day, we heard the news that one of the aircraft with a wing walker had crashed into the sea right by the Sandbanks chain ferry. Fortunately, the pilot and the wing walker were rescued unharmed, but the rest of the air display was cancelled. We felt lucky that our visit had been the day before.

1^st December 2021 visit to Winchester Cathedral and Christmas market

We had a full coach of 49 people for this trip, and were lucky with good weather. Winchester is one of the finest medieval Cathedrals in Europe, with a captivating history and magnificent architecture. Our visit coincided with the exhibition ‘Kings and Scribes’ which explores 1000 year of history and reveals some of the cathedral’s greatest treasures, including the 900-year-old Winchester Bible.

Many people visited the Christmas Market, held in the Cathedral’s precincts, where we kept warm with mulled wine; others enjoyed Winchester shops and places to eat. It was a good day.

27^th April 2022 visit to Kew Gardens

Kew Gardens is a botanic garden in southwest London that houses the "largest and most diverse botanical and mycological collections in the world". Founded in 1840, from the exotic garden at Kew Park, its living collections includes some of the 27,000 taxa curated by Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, while the herbarium, which is one of the largest in the world, has over 8.5 million preserved plant and fungal specimens. The library contains more than 750,000 volumes, and the illustrations collection contains more than 175,000 prints and drawings of plants. It is one of London's top tourist attractions and is a World Heritage Site.

50 members attended this successful visit, and enjoyed it despite of unexpectedly cool and overcast weather. Many people took the opportunity to visit the various glass houses and conservatories which were warm and sheltered. These included the famous Palm House with its exotic rain forest plants, the Princess of Wales Conservatory which covers 10 of the world’s climatic zones, included an astonishing cactus collection, and the Waterlily House with its amazing giant lily pads.

Frustratingly, the sun came out only in time for our journey home, and we arrived back on Hayling at 6.15pm.

22^nd June 2022 visit to Beaulieu and Buckler’s Hard

This enjoyable trip was taken on a hot day, but there were plenty of opportunities to keep cool. Among the amenities and attractions available were the famous Motor Museum, Palace House, once the gatehouse of the medieval Beaulieu Abbey, and the home of the Montagu family since 1538, and the Secret Army Exhibition. We enjoyed a journey on the high-level, mile long monorail which took us on a circuit of the attractions, and on the Veteran bus, a replica 1912 open-topped London bus.

After lunch, the coach took us to the village of Buckler’s Hard, a mile away. It was an important shipbuilding village with a perfect location to build the large timber vessels in use by the navy. The museum shows how the villagers lived and worked in the 18th century.

We finished with a tranquil 30-minute cruise along the Beaulieu River, accompanied by a commentary which revealed the history and wildlife along its picturesque banks.

Still to come in 2022

On 23^rd November we will be visiting Wisley Glow, the Christmas light show held at the Royal Horticultural Society Garden at Wisley in Surrey. We will have an hour to enjoy the garden in daylight, followed by a cream tea, subsidised by the Hayling Island u3a, and then when dark, follow the route round the garden to see it brilliantly illuminated for Christmas.

To follow

After the disappointments of the Covid pandemic and lock down, this has been a successful year for visits, and with every one full, were taken up enthusiastically by the members. Visits for 2023 are in the planning, and I expect them to be as much enjoyed as this year’s.

Catherine Britton
Visits Organiser

This is an article published in the Summer 2018 newsletter ….

The Globe visit on 25 April was very successful and included the opportunity to visit Tate Modern and the Millennium Bridge. The journey up was horrendous but the return journey was without incident.

The Longleat visit on 13 June was poorly attended and resulted in a loss, although those who went on the visit had a thoroughly enjoyable day.

Unfortunately, the visit to Swanage on 17 August has lost the opportunity to sail on the cutter “Moonfleet” as its base has been transferred to Portland. But there is still plenty to do on this visit.

A show of hands at a recent U3A monthly meeting indicated a poor response to a visit to the Christmas Market at Bristol on the 19 December. The venue has now been altered to Bournemouth where the Market is in the heart of the shopping area.

Plus points: a later start at 9am and an ideal way to visit Bournemouth by coach thus avoiding the nightmare parking situation of travelling by car !

We do need to keep the numbers up for each visit. Please let members of U3A who do not attend meetings or visit the website know what they are missing !

The easiest way to book a place on a visit is to go to our U3A web site. Look under the heading ‘Events’ then select ‘Visits” and follow the instructions shown under 'Your bookings' at the end of the description. Members can also book visits at the monthly meetings. We have a table set up for this purpose.

Patrick Hulls

This is an article published in the Spring 2018 edition of the Hayling Island U3A newsletter....

We arrange four visits a year to places on behalf of all Hayling Island U3A members. You do not have to join the Visits 'group' to go on one of our trips. A small committee meets to consider places to visit that should have general appeal.

The visits usually take place in April, June/July, August/September and December. Once dates have been finalised and costs calculated the visits are published on the web site and displayed at the U3A monthly meetings. Bookings for visits are limited. We take bookings on a first-come first-served basis, but (because of issues we've had in the past) we do not recognise a booking until we've received your payment. That means we cannot start taking bookings until we have calculated the cost to members. Cheques are not cashed until nearer the date of the visit when various payments have to be made.

Visits are available for 50 members although if we have sufficient notice and the visits are over-subscribed we can book a 59 seater coach. If visits are under subscribed we reserve the right to offer places to members of other local U3A Groups in order to avoid making a loss. Naturally Hayling U3A members have priority.

The easiest way to book a place on a visit is to go to our U3A web site. Look under the heading ‘Events’ then select ‘Visits” and follow the instructions shown under 'Your bookings' at the end of the description. If 'Your bookings' doesn't appear it means we are still calculating the cost of the trip so can't yet take bookings. Members can also book visits at the monthly meetings. We'll have a table set up to take bookings for visits. Dates for the visits have been provided for all 2018 visits to enable members to plan ahead and avoid conflicting dates with other activities they may be planning. With this in mind members are asked to restrict their bookings to the next visit only rather than booking for several bookings in advance.

You can now make payment by bank transfer using the internet. You need to login to the members' area to see the bank account details. Click here to do that now.

Cheques can also be taken or sent to Debbie Wilsher. To see her address, click here to log in to the members' area.

Visits start times are usually 8:30am from HIADS returning between 5:30pm to 6:30pm depending on Traffic. Other pick-up points are: United Reform Church, Hollow Lane; Opposite Co-op / Tournerbury Lane; Bus Stop opposite New Cut, North of the Esso Garage.

We welcome suggestions for visits which should have wide appeal for members.

Visits arranged for 2018 ...

... are to The Globe Theatre, Borough Market, the Millennium Bridge and Tate Modern in April and Longleat Safari Park and House in June.

A special visit is planned for August. Our destination is Swanage where in addition to sightseeing it will be possible to go sailing on “Moonfleet” a 70 foot Gaff rigged cutter for two hours with the opportunity of some ‘hands on’ experience if desired. There will be two sessions available each taking 12 members. Alternatively you can take a trip to Corfe Castle via the Swanage Railway. The cost of these two activities is not included in the visit basic cost but what is included is dinner in Bournemouth at the Laguna Hotel. As you can see this will be a full day’s outing.

December will carry on what has become a tradition with a visit to a Christmas Market - in Bristol. This will be combined with a visit to Brunel’s “SS Great Britain”.

This is an article published in the Winter 2017 edition of the Hayling Island U3A newsletter...

We arrange four visits a year on behalf of all Hayling Island U3A members. At around this time of year a small committee meets to consider places to visit that should have general appeal. Visits are arranged to venues within a 100 mile radius of Hayling Island. Start times are usually 8:30am from HIADS returning between 5:30pm to 6:30pm depending on traffic.

The visits usually take place in April, June/July, August/September and December. Once dates have been finalised and costs calculated the visits are published on the web site and displayed at the U3A monthly meetings. You do not have to join the Visits 'group' to go on one of our trips. Bookings for visits are limited, and we take bookings on a first-come first-served basis, but (because of issues we've had in the past) we do not recognise a booking until we've received your payment. That means we cannot start taking bookings until we have calculated the cost to members.

Cheques are not cashed until nearer the date of the visit when various payments have to be made.

Visits are available for 50 members although if we have sufficient notice, we can book a 59 seater coach. If visits are under subscribed we reserve the right to offer places to members of other U3A Groups in order to avoid making a loss. Our last visit to Denbies Winery was a case in point and we were joined by U3A members from Havant and Emsworth. Naturally Hayling U3A members have priority.

The easiest way for you to book a place on a visit is to go to the visit page on the web site. Look under the heading ‘Events’ then select ‘Visits” and follow the instructions shown under 'Your bookings' at the end of the description. If 'Your bookings' doesn't appear it means we are still calculating the cost of the trip so can't yet take bookings. You can also book visits at the monthly meetings. We'll have a table set up for this purpose.

You can now make payment by bank transfer using the internet. You need to login to the members' area to see the bank account details. Click here to do that now.

Cheques can also be taken or sent to Debbie Wilsher. To see her address, click here to log in to the members' area.

Visits planned for 2018 are to The Globe Theatre, Borough Market, the Millennium Bridge and Tate Modern in April and Longleat Safari Park and House in June.

A special visit is planned for August. Our destination is Swanage where in addition to sightseeing it will be possible to go sailing on “Moonfleet” a 70 foot Gaff rigged cutter for two hours with the opportunity of some ‘hands on’ experience if desired. There will be two sessions available each taking 12 members. Alternatively you can take a trip to Corfe Castle via the Swanage Railway. The cost of these two activities is not included in the visit basic cost but what is included is dinner in Bournemouth at the Laguna Hotel. As you can see this will be a full day’s outing.

December will carry on what has become a tradition with a visit to a Christmas Market - in Bristol. This will be combined with a visit to Brunel’s “SS Great Britain”.

This year in April we visited Beaulieu and Buckler’s Hard:

Next was Hampton Court in July, followed by a visit in September to Denbies Winery

To finish the year we shall be visiting Salisbury to see the Christmas Market, the Cathedral and other nearby attractions.

We welcome suggestions for visits which should have wide appeal for members.

Patrick Hulls

This is an article published in the Spring 2017 edition of the Hayling Island U3A newsletter...

The visits for 2016 finished with a trip to London to see the Banqueting Hall in the morning and Churchill’s underground War Cabinet Rooms in the afternoon.

Trips to London are always problematic due to traffic hold-ups, road works etc. We were dropped off just short of the Banqueting Hall. I found this morning visit a little disappointing. One could admire the decor and especially the murals on the ceiling. There was also an interesting Audio/Visual presentation on the Hall’s history.

The afternoon was a complete contrast. There was plenty to see. One could almost spend a whole day soaking in the atmosphere.

A glimpse of what life would have been like during the tense days and nights of the Second World War. The Map Room, which has remained exactly as it was left on the day the lights were switched off in 1945.

The 2017 programme of visits kicks off with a trip to Beaulieu and Buckler’s Hard.

There is much to see at Beaulieu. Click here for full details. A brief visit to Buckler’s Hard will also be squeezed in before leaving the area.

Other visits planned for the year are:

• Hampton Court and Grounds. June/July.
• Denbies Vineyard at Dorking. Indoor and outdoor tour, possibly followed by a visit to Box Hill. August/September
• Salisbury Cathedral and Christmas Market. Mid December

Dates for these visits should be finalized shortly so that members can plan ahead accordingly. One problem we have found is that some organisations do not firm up on their details until February/March.

Patrick Hulls