Visit to King John's hunting lodge

Visit to the vineyard

July at the Romanse Cente

Eleven of us met at the Romanse Centre at 2.30 pm today. We were first shown in to what looked to be a board room where we watched a 10 minute audio film made at the time when it was first started as a pilot scheme to control the flow of traffic. A very young looking Sally Taylor enthused as to how it was going to improve everybody's lives. Some of the things promised did not materialise such as the planning your journey. The operation is almost automatic with software able to recognise road conditions and adjust the flow of traffic accordingly by varying the timing of the traffic lights.
It was interesting to see the bank of screens beaming in the pictures from all of the Southampton area.

VISIT TO BBC SOUTH TELEVISION STUDIOS ON WEDNESDAY, 14TH MAY 2008

About 15 of us arrived at BBC South between 6.00 and 6.15 pm, as instructed, and were taken down into the bowels of the building, to a room with a large television monitor, rows of chairs and welcome refreshments. The windows gave onto a courtyard garden – very pleasant until a train rumbled by on its way into the tunnel under Southampton.

We had come to watch the local news programme, South Today, with Sally Taylor and our hostess roughly explained how live broadcasting works. We were each given an order of procedure, which didn’t make any sense at all to me at the start. It contained provisional start and finish times of each item of news, as they knew it at the time of printing earlier in the afternoon, with timing in minutes and seconds. They also have to cope with merging the Oxford area halfway through.

As the programme went on air we were talked through and soon realised that it had changed radically at the last minute and was being manipulated very skilfully to accommodate more breaking news. We were able to hear the instructions Sally was receiving in her earpiece while she was speaking, but she didn’t show that anything was interrupting her flow of speech. There were also visual signals from the Floor Manager in the studio and Sally was reading from the cue monitor at the same time. They overran by 20 seconds at one point and had to scrabble that back before the end of the programme, letting the presenters know how many seconds they had until the end of each item of news. At one point, Roger who reports on sporting events, had sat down on the couch and was blocking part of the screen showing a picture of a butterfly and a caption underneath. We heard the voice in his ear ask him to move to his left and he casually did so, perfectly naturally.

The whole 30 minutes passed in a maelstrom of sound as far as I was concerned and when it finished I felt quite punch drunk. I suppose they become used to it, but I have nothing but admiration for the way they remain so natural and fluent.

We then proceeded to visit the gallery, after a wait while an extra interview on the Chinese earthquake got under way for another news programme. This had obviously not been scheduled when our visit was arranged. The gallery is where all the monitors are located and the studio is directed from here. This was fascinating; there were so many keyboards and banks and banks of switches. The chap in charge talked us through what was happening on screen in the interview and how it was being directed from the floor of the studio.

Once the interview was completed we were able to go into the studio itself. It seemed smaller than on the TV but the tables, chairs and couches were instantly recognisable. There we were given more details of how the cameras are worked, sometimes remotely, and where images are projected for each topic.

All too soon our tour was completed and I for one left with more understanding of this area of television and a great admiration for all who work in the hectic world of live TV, in particular the presenters who are up there in full view and have to cope with whatever is thrust at them.

Thank you once again, Julie, for arranging such an interesting visit for us.

Sue

CITY COUNCIL MUSEUM ARCHIVE STORAGE UNIT

VISIT TO SOUTHAMPTON CITY COUNCIL MUSEUM ARCHIVE STORAGE UNIT THURSDAY, 17th APRIL 2008

Not a good morning to choose to head for Southampton Docks, as the new cruise ship, Ventura, was embarking passengers for her maiden voyage and the traffic was horrendous. However, we all arrived eventually and our own voyage of discovery began. Just like finding buried treasure - not underground but in a couple of drab units on an industrial estate!

Our guide for the morning was very enthusiastic and we soon realised what a great job the council is doing in preserving our local history. We started off with a general overview of what is on site, with photographs and post cards mainly donated by the general public. He pulled out photographs of Shirley, as my family comes from this area, and it provoked a host of memories from several of us.

Associated British Ports also used to keep a record of all ships passing through their hands, but sadly it is now up to individuals with a passion for shipping to fill the gaps and one recent donation of records of all container ships was particularly impressive.

They also have archive film of various areas, mostly amateur and these invoke the feel of their period more than any modern production could hope to do.

We started on our tour proper and entered the warehouse unit, where huge shelves were stacked high with such things as model ships, furniture from great liners like the Queen Mary and QE2, alongside parts of the huge beam engines which powered one of the old floating bridges, on to domestic memorabilia, such as prams which couldn’t possibly fit into modern homes, much less family cars, which shows how times have changed. We saw old weights and measures used by the inspectors of their time, eg, two bushel measures, one of which was from the time of Elizabeth I and a “Southampton Yard”. There were treadle sewing machines, a fridge from a prefab and a handsome dining suite made by a local company. At one end they had even found storage space for two – yes two – tramcars, one recognised by many of us, with the domed top and steep spiral stairs leading to the top deck at either end. The other was from about 1902, the open top of which had seats back to back down the centre and was low enough to go through the Bargate in the days when that was the only route to the lower part of the town. Even so, the conductor had to climb the stairs and remind everyone to duck! Sadly, these are awaiting a new home so a team of volunteers can commence conservation work.

We could have spent hours here, but had to move on to the air conditioned units. The first one housed the picture collection and other memorabilia, eg, a seaman’s record of his working life, including his time on Titanic [this had to be reproduced after his rescue, as all papers were lost]. There were rails and rails of paintings and engravings of Southampton residents and local areas.

The next unit contained costume and accessories. These were mainly housed in cardboard boxes, protected by tissue paper, so had to be accessed to see what they contained. We were shown a box of three smoking caps, one of which was richly embroidered and covered in small beads topped with a tassel. We saw dress uniforms of stewards on the great liners. We even noticed but did not investigate a box of undergarments!

One thing which came over very strongly was how much local industry and expertise there had been, with much of what we saw, from heavy machinery, the trams, furniture, ships and much, much more having been constructed here in our area.

I have probably forgotten as many things as I have mentioned and there are certainly more I do remember, but our two hours wandering these fascinating storerooms was just a “familiarisation” exercise, to show the richness of material preserved, as our guide said, for the people of Southampton, as it belongs to them. We were told that much of what we saw was being stored pending the reopening of Tudor House Museum, which is nearing completion following restoration and should be open for tours this year, but will have to close again later for the installation of such mundane things as a lift, electricity, etc!

I felt very privileged to have been able to take part in this visit and would like to thank Julie for organising it.

Sue

April

Quester Group.
9am on Thursday the 10th April saw six members being made very welcome for the start of our tour around the Millbrook Bedding factory. It’s always a plus when we start with tea & biscuits. Both the guys (Colin & Ross) who showed us around were really enthusiastic and proud of the quality of their beds. Every part is made at the premises save the mattress buttons and, probably, the castors.
We started with the machinists sewing the fabric for the divan sides, then the wire being made into springs, the springs being sewn into individual pockets which formed the base of the mattress. Quality mattresses have 3000 springs in them! Then it was on to the men who hand stitched all the springs to the edges. From there it was time to add the flocking (which can be a combination of lambs wool, mohair, horsehair and silk depending on the price of the bed) and latex and then the top fabric. Once passed by the quality inspectors we saw them packaged and ready for delivery. Having seen the mattresses made we then moved on to see the bed bases being made from pre-cut wood from green forests in Scandinavia. We also passed (and sat in) some ‘Houses of Commons’ chairs which Millbrook refurbishes under government contracts which also includes beds for the forces and prisons. All of their beds are made to order and, massive though their warehouse is, there is no stockpile.
After more tea and biscuits we were let loose in the show room to try out all the beds. Starting on the £4000.00 bed and progressing down to a mere £700 they all seemed quite comfy though I wasn’t to keen on the bed that vibrated! It was a truly interesting morning and a real insight into the quality and comfort of beds. None of us realised how much work goes into a quality bed – most of which is hand-made- and justifies the cost. Well done Julie – we look forward to the next quester visit.

VISIT TO BRADBEER’S, ROMSEY, ON TUESDAY, 18TH MARCH 2008

We met at 9.30 am on a cold morning, at the side entrance to Bradbeer’s, and were welcomed by the head of the Romsey branch of the family which still runs this thriving privately owned group of stores.

He took us upstairs behind the scenes to a light airy room, where he proceeded to tell us the history, with the aid of slides, of the firm which commenced trading in the early 1800’s. It first opened for business in Bernard Street, Southampton, opposite Holy Rood Church, then moved to Above Bar, to a prime corner site next to one of the parks, where it thrived until 1940, falling victim to one of the air raids on the town.

The business was moved to Romsey, where it continued throughout the war and at its end, plans were drawn up to rebuild the Southampton store, but the City Council put paid to this by compulsory purchase of the site.

This unwittingly did them a favour, as they have continued to thrive and progress, expanding their New Milton department store and modernising their buildings in Eastleigh, where the purchase of a furniture business led to the establishment of furniture removals and business sites for rent.

The Romsey store, which moved to Bell Street from its first location, continues to grow and since the purchase of the Dolphin Hotel has led to modernisation and expansion into this building, with an enlarged restaurant and café surrounding a courtyard.

This purchase also led to Bradbeer’s taking control of the weekly open air market which has moved from the courtyard to the square outside.

The latest expansion plans will include refurbishment of the two storeys above Martins next door, with planning sought for a conservatory restaurant on first floor level overlooking the courtyard. It is also planned to move the furniture and carpet business from the store to an out-of-town site of its own.

When questions had been answered, we were handed over to another member of the family and taken on a conducted tour of the sales floors. There are many new ideas in the pipeline, with expansion of the popular kitchenware area and perfumery and cosmetics high on their list of priorities.

This was an interesting, in-depth history of one of the most enduring family-run retail businesses in the Hampshire area and one which is well used by both local people and those from further afield, who appreciate the atmosphere of a modern shopping outlet which still reflects the fact that it is lovingly run by yet another generation of the same family. We all came away from the experience wiser and most appreciative of such an interesting morning.

From Sue

February up-date

February and March

Tuesday 26 February Tour of the Mayflower Theatre 10.30am

Tuesday 18 March Bradbeers Romsey 9.30am