JULY NEWS
In May, members enjoyed a trip to Salisbury Cathedral where we had a choice of a guided tour of the Cathedral and Chapter House or a Tower Tour.
The Tower Tour proved to be a steep climb of over 300 steps but was well worth the effort. It was fascinating to discover the hidden medieval structures that support the spire. It was a dry, clear, warm day so the views from the top of the spire were fantastic. The guides for both tours, who are volunteers, were extremely knowledgeable and gave us a great insight into the life and history of the Cathedral.
In June, Martin Fielding gave an entertaining talk on “Life of a Vet”. I was on holiday so missed this talk, but those who did attend were treated to many tales and anecdotes from Martin’s everyday work.
Our last event for the Summer was an evening walk around Dorchester with Alistair Chisholm, the Town Crier. It was a dry, warm evening so we were treated to a fascinating historical tour of Dorchester where Alistair explained a great deal about our County Town. He even included a few ‘ghostly tales’ which local people have verified. He also leads a ‘Ghost Walk’ and some of us felt that this would be a suitable event for the future.
We do not meet in August so we hope you all enjoy the rest of the Summer and the sun continues to shine.
Pat Willetts Tel. 889597
Future events:
Monday 20th September
A talk in Martinstown Village Hall at 8.0pm (Speaker to be confirmed) .
Friday 8th October
Barn Dance with ‘Jump at the Sun’.
Pat Willetts
On 19th April Sonia and I went with The Valley Club to the RNLI College at Poole. We were all most impressed with the excellent lunch and guided tour which followed.
Five years ago the new college was completed at a cost of £25 million. The building combines training facilities with hotel standard accommodation for training staff and classes. This has saved the RNLI £1.3 million a year by not having to use local hotels and brought an income of £1 million a year from letting the hotel accommodation between training terms. With other activities, the building has paid for itself in the first 5 years!
We saw the training pool where courses are subjected to 40 minutes in a life raft in rough seas, darkness, thunder and lightning effects and cold torrential rain (from a fire-hose!).
In the simulator we entered a lifeboat bridge surrounded by a screen depicting the sea outside. Although the bridge never moved, the view outside certainly did. To “amuse us” we approached a huge tanker in mountainous seas as we swayed with the motion on screen. Aircraft and helicopters flew around us and then to our horror a nuclear submarine surfaced about 100 yards ahead! This was followed by two more submarines within a few minutes.
Our excellent guide had taken part in several of the training exercises and so had first hand experience of the effects. Seasickness on the bridge was one. She said she had to take the helm once when searching for a man in the water. The good news was that she found him successfully. The bad news was that she then ran straight over the top of him!
At the depot next to the college is one of each class of lifeboat in service. These are used to replace boats around the UK AND The Republic of Ireland when necessary Old lifeboats going out of service have recently been sold to China and the college has provided a training package (in Poole) for the Chinese crews.
Finally, we were told that since starting in the early 19th century, the RNLI has saved 137,000 lives!! So – don’t just sit there, become a member (and get members discounts on accommodation at the college!
Brian B
Contact numbers for trips etc.
Eileen – Tel. 01305 889584
Angela – Tel. 01305 889628
Pat – Tel. 01305 889597
The Valley Club is a social and general interest club offering talks and outings and other events.
Membership costs £5 per year and is open to anyone but especialy to those who live in the valley and neighbourhood.
Membership is available at meetings or from the Treasurer, Eileen Fisher at 11 Manor Grove phone 01305 889584.
The Valley Club is a corporate member of the Gardens Group Gold Club. This entitles all Valley Club members to certain benefits during the year at Poundbury Garden Centre (and also at Castle Gardens in Sherborne and Brimsmore Gardens in Yeovil).
If you have not received your Spring order forms for composts and other sundry goods at a substantially discounted price, and Spring discount vouchers, please contact Eileen Fisher on 889584. For a full list of Gold Club benefits go to www.thegardeneronline.co.uk