Meets: Kempston Constitutional Club, 196A Bedford Road, Kempston, Bedford MK42 8BL, (located 100 yards from Sainsburys store toward Bedford), on the 3rd Thursday of each month, at 19:30 for 20:00 start. EXCEPT DECEMBER which is varied between 2nd and 3rd Thursday according proximity to Christmas.
Contact: Branch Secretary Tim Webb, Phone 01767 314129 / 07484 717083
Branch Notes
March 2025
The March meeting started with the branch AGM, followed by a DVD about FERRIES ACROSS THE MERSEY in the period 1901 to 1996. The show included some rare 1901 film and onward, featured film of ferries in stormy weather, visits to the bridge and engine room. Earlier tugs were illustrated either by photos or diagrams and all accompanied by an excellent narrative. Also seen were views of the piers that the ferries served and included luggage boats and horse traffic. The pier mounted fog bells were explained these were used before the days of radar with their unique system of strikes of the bell for each pier to assist the ferry captains navigate in the fog.
February 2025
The Presentation for the February meeting was a digitised Slide Show loaned from the WSS collection. The show was an excellent series of slides taken in the Port of Vancouver in the 1990’s (CD7). It started with a few general views of Vancouver to familiarise the viewer with the area. It then followed on with a selection of ships transiting the port area taken from the many vantage points in the port area.. There was a great variety of shipping seen , bulk carrier, car carriers and cruise ships, port shipping plus a variety of other visitors. We took the liberty of updating the script to show the fates for the majority of the shipping which had for the main been broken up. An excellent show may thanks to the Vancouver branch for the presentation, well worth the loan.
January 2025
Bedford kicked off 2025 programme with two films from Dave Menzies’ collection both filmed in Liverpool and Birkenhead. The films seen were Mersey Memories No1 and Snowbow Great Liners No 26. Both films looking at sailings from Liverpool. Reviewing the ships providing these services from companies such as Cunard Lines, Cunard White Star Lines, Pacific Steam Navigation as well as White Star Lines. Many well-known liners were seen in the films. Also featured was the raising of EMPRESS OF CANADA Gladstone Dock (1954) after she capsized during efforts to put out a disastrous fire. Several launchings were seen from Cammell Laird notably the second MAURENTANIA (1938) , HMS ARK ROYAL (1950) and WINDSOR CASTLE (1958)
December
For our December meeting, Member Alan Pepper presented pictures recently scanned from his family collection.
Starting with a visit to New York to see the Statue of Liberty and the World Trade Centre in 1980, from which views of the Hudson and East Rivers were seen and where the liners DORIC and OCEANIC were identified by our experienced audience.
There followed pictures of the Solent in 1989, Thames in 1993, St Lucia, Barbados and Jamaica in 1995 to 1997 and finally cruises on the LEGEND and SPLENDOUR of the SEAS in 2000/1.
An update on last year’s presentation about the Atlantic voyages of Christopher Columbus preceded the main show.
The usual enthusiastic input from the audience made it an enjoyable evening for the presenter.
November
Bedford welcomed Bill Mayes back for our November meeting with his latest presentation on his travels undertaken in 2023. Time on the water covered ferries and cruise ships, covering journeys on the North Sea, Western Mediterranean and Atlantic. Cruise Ships travelled on were AURORA, WORLD EUROPA, RESILANT LADY , MSC EXPLORA I and SPIRIT OF DISCOVERY plus numerous ferries. An interesting part of the presentation was travelling along the Göta Canal, Sweden which has 58 locks that can accommodate vessels up to 30 metres long and is 120 miles long. The presentation was illustrated with images of exteriors and interiors of the vessels with ample sprinkling of images of the food on offer also the many ships seen in travels were included. Many thanks Bill.
October 2024
The October presentation by Don McKeand started with a brief look at the ships used in the earliest days of Antarctic exploration by Cook and James Clark Ross. Then the advent of steam with ships used by Scott, Shackleton, Amundsen and other explorers of the “heroic age”. Between the wars the need for sail assistance declined. Ships were increasingly used to transport the aircraft then being used with an assortment of vessels, some more suitable than others depending on the budget available. Finally, the ships used post-war and up to the present day with specially built research vessels of many nations and the Royal Navy ice patrol vessels. A well-researched presentation with over 50 vessels being mentioned. The presentation was augmented with an excellent selection of Don’s scratch-built model of ships many of which were vessels mentioned in the presentation. These were on display during the meeting for all to enjoy and marvel at the skill in their manufacture.
September
The September presentation given by member Edward Parry was somewhat different to the normal detailed ship reviews – it was a selection of video clips which covered many aspects of the merchant navy from years ago port ports from around the world.. In brief these included
•Liverpool Sea School training cadets in 1964(Blue Funnel line)
•OCL Containership Ships – Liverpool Bay class ships on passage around the world
•London – Thames & Royal docks visit from Tower Bridge
•Blue Funnel Memories – from 60 – 70 – 80 tracing the progress of Capt. Mike Harrison from Middy to Captain and the ships he sailed on
•Building a Type 45 Destroyer D33 – HMS Dauntless
•Singapore Port – it’s development from the beginning up to the 1950’s
•A view of Liverpool docks from the mid-19th century up to the 1950’s
The second half of the evening was a review of a 2308 mile road trip undertaken by Edward and his wife in 2023 to northern Spain(Picos mountains) staying in some wonderful state owned Paradours , then driving over the Pyrenees mountains and back up through France . We sailed on Brittany Ferries MV GALCIA from Portsmouth to Bilboa (Biscay was flat calm all the way) and returned from Saint Malo back to Portsmouth on BRETAGNE. A great “bucket list” trip..
July 2024
Recovering from health issues by the sea Jim Charnock was unable to make his annual visit to Bedford in July. His place was taken by Alan Moorhouse who up to his teens lived at Timperley within walking distance of Jim. They both enjoyed viewing ships on the Manchester Ship Canal at the same area but never meet in this period, not meeting until 1995 when Alan visited the Manchester branch. Alan structured his presentation on views of shipping they would have both seen on the canal in period of the 1970’s. Many thanks for Alan for stepping in for Jim and best wishes to Jim from Bedford for continued improvement in his health.
May 2024
Michael Galley gave an insight into the world of international shipbreaking at his presentation for the May meeting. Staring with an overview of the history world shipbreaking then concentration on the main sites currently breaking up ships. In India and Pakistan ships are run ashore on gently sloping sand tidal beaches at high tide so that they can be accessed for disassembly with it seems little thought to contamination to the environment. The dangers of process were illustrated by excellent photos. The one photo I still have in my mind was an Indian lady who at first glance appeared to be preparing food . The correct description for the photo was that she was processing asbestos teasing out the fibres without wearing any form of Personal Protective Equipment. Michael finished with new working practices that have been introduced by the Basel Convention and Hong Kong convention stating that getting these agreed has been a slow process. A thoroughly enjoyable presentation, looking at another aspect of the shipping industry.