Bus Trip
A friendly sociable and supportive group – join us for good company and an interesting day out on the bus once a month – usually the 4th Wednesday.
Do you fancy exploring our local towns, cities and villages in a more environmentally friendly way, without the hassle or expense of parking? Do you enjoy a nice day out, congenial company and maybe a bite to eat?
The Bus Trip group has restarted and is open to everyone. Bus travel is surprisingly cheap, e.g. only £8 return to Gunwharf, and of course it’s free if you have a bus pass! If you are interested in joining the group, but Wednesdays don’t work for you - let me know which days would suit you, we might be able to ring the changes.
I look forward to seeing you on the bus.
Our Bus Trip on Wednesday June 28th is to the ancient Hospital of St Cross and Almshouse of Noble Poverty, nestling in the water meadows alongside the river Itchen and in the shadow of St Catherine’s Hill. Renowned for the tranquillity of its setting and the beauty of its architecture, this Medieval Hospital is one of England’s oldest continuing almshouses and a Grade 1 Listed Building.
For our July bus trip, on Wednesday 19th July we will be having a tour of the Gosport Diving Museum, located in - the Grade II* listed No2 Battery, eating at the Bayside Café next door.
On 24th May we visited Eling Tide Mill Experience, with a tour of the Tide Mill and visitor centre and then lunch at the Anchor Inn at . The weather was lovely, some of the group took the time to look around Eling Quay or walk around the boardwalk.
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September Trip
Our September trip is a joint venture with the Art Group and the Craft Group to Salisbury Cathedral on Tuesday 13th September– as well as a tour of the Cathedral (subject to availability) we will be visiting the Grayson Perry Exhibition ‘The Vanity of Small Differences, an exhibition of six huge tapestries by the celebrated contemporary artist Grayson Perry. Each of the 2m x 4m tapestries, inspired by William Hogarth’s The Rake’s Progress, charts a stage in the ‘class journey’ made by young Tim Rakewell (a wry reference to Tom Rakewell, Hogarth’s protagonist) and includes many of the characters, incidents and objects Grayson Perry encountered on journeys through Sunderland, Tunbridge Wells and The Cotswolds when filming a series for Channel 4.
August Trip - The Hovercraft Museum
On a warm day in August, 25 members of the Bus Trip Group spent a 'A Day at the Seaside' - visiting the Hovercraft Museum at Lee on Solent! Usually only open on Saturdays, the Museum, which is run by volunteers, opened for us on Wednesday 24th August, for a guided tour with passionate hovercraft enthusiast Alan.
Founded in 1987 as a charity, the Hovercraft Museum Trust has become the world's greatest collection of Hovercraft. There are over 55 craft in the collection at present, large and small; from the world's biggest commercial hovercraft, the SRN4, that ran a car ferry service across the channel to France, to craft used to film James Bond Die Another Day. We were surprised to hear of many uses of the hovercraft – testing sonar, carrying Land Rovers for the forces – where they could be transported up shallow rivers, performing rescues on mud flats, ice braking, transporting goods along the shallow waterways of the Fens – to name but a few. There were a variety of smaller specialist hovercraft produced at the Gosport factory of Warsash resident Mike Pindair – including the Skimma 12, a semi- inflatable craft with various applications worldwide , including police, patrol and rescue. The craft was one of three, carrying 11 passengers, used by the Sultan of Oman to ferry his guests from the Royal Palace through the surf to the waiting Royal Yacht! The Skimma 12 was restored by TV’s Salvage Squad.
We went aboard the ‘flagship’ of the Hovercraft Museum, “The Princess Anne”, built in 1969 she was the second of six giant hovercraft built in Cowes on the Isle of Wight. She operated as a ferry and after being stretched in 1978 – yes we saw her stretch marks, she, along with sister craft “The Princess Margaret”, became the world’s largest commercial hovercraft operating between Dover and Calais. Capable of carrying 427 passengers and up to 60 cars her service speed was 65 Knots (approximately 75mph). An average journey would take 30 minutes and she could handle sea conditions of up to 3.5m significant wave height and mean winds of 50 knots. “The Princess Anne” to this day still holds the Guinness Record as the world’s fastest ferry with a crossing time of just 22 minutes in 1997!
Alan remembered with pride, the day in 2019 when Princess Anne visited the museum and the ship she had named 50 years previously. On that day the 190 guests on site were able to partake of a cream tea on the car deck of the SRN4. The museum is keen to rent out the space for other functions, including weddings, to raise funds for their work. So if you are looking for an unusual venue for your next celebration – give them a call.
On Saturday June 4th 2022, at noon, throughout the Solent, Portsmouth Harbour and the country, ships, sounded their horns in Salute to the seventy year reign of Queen Elizabeth I, to mark the Platinum Jubilee. “The Princess Anne” joined in the midday seventy second salute to Her Majesty the Queen, this is the first time the klaxon of ‘The Princess Anne’ the only surviving Hovercraft of her type has been heard in years. The Hovercraft Museum is a working museum and is constantly restoring, preserving and maintaining the craft; it is thanks to the hard work of volunteer restorers at the Hovercraft Museum that the horn of this craft was able to be sounded.
After a fascinating morning at the Hovercraft Museum, we made our way, by bus or on foot - to Lee on Solent, for lunch at one of the many cafes in that bustling seaside town.
Rosemary
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Click the link to the right of this page for photos and write-ups from some of our recent trips.