Amendment

For reasons I know not why, I am unable to access the part of the blog programme which allows one to edit a posting, so I will deal with it as an 'Amendment'
In the programme for the rest of this year I scheduled myself to talk about 'Southampton - the Gateway to the World' in October.   Scrub that out please and under October read: "To be advised"
This is because I want to keep in reserve a programme I can throw on at short notice in the event of any last minute foul up, which ties in very nicely with the possibility of managing to persuade an interesting speaker to visit us in October.....more about that in due course.

Another thing I would have liked to correct was a typing error right at the end of the December spiel, but there it is I have been caught out by not being able to edit what I have typed, something I usually have to do several times.
JG

THE PROGRAMME FOR THE REST OF THIS YEAR

10 May           First Annual General Meeting

14 June           'Southampton Football Club'.   A talk by Dave Juson, BA (Hist). Official historian of The Saints.

12 July            'A Hampshire Policeman'.   By Jim Brown who started as a constable at Shirley Police Station, Southampton,  and patrolled his beat by bicycle when Lordshill was still an agricultural area.  This promises to be a highly entertaining account by one whose book about it has been published, and signed copies will be on sale at the meeting.

9 August          A production by the son of one of our members, whose family was involved in helping Jewish people  escape from Germany during WW2.

13  September   'The Canals and Waterways of Hampshire'.    A talk to be given by Robert Sanday.

11 October       The Port of Southampton, by John Gurney

8 November       On the closest date we could get to Halloween.  'Hampshire Ghosts' by Robert Sanday,  with many thanks to Richard Felix for pernmission to use his DVD 'Hampshire Ghosts' during this presentation

13  December     'Under the Queen's Colours'.     The prize winning author Penny Legg will talk about her latest book, 'Under the Queen's Colours'.......the stories of men and women who have served in the armed forces since the coronation of the Queen.    Signed copies of Penny's book will be on sale.

John G. 

THE APRIL MEETING

A totally absorbing talk on the history and work of Ordnance Survey by Mr, Geoff May, not only an outstanding authority on his subject but also a brilliant speaker who is going to be a hard act to follow.

I have always been a great admirer of the efficiency of the Ordnance Survey organisation, but never did I even begin to understand just how efficient and ahead of their time they are.

Just a small example: Fifty years or so ago I realised the squares on the maps I used so often were smaller than the 1" to the mile scale of the map.  I just accepted it without knowing why.  Never did I realise the squares of the National Grid are in kilometers - Ordnance survey having been years ahead of everybody else in predicting the future lay with metric measurements.

The sheer genius and brilliance of the Ordnance Survey organisation leaves one filled with awe, and is a subject well worth further study.