Torbay & East Devon Branch

In June we enjoyed a selection of photos presented by Tom Walker showing views of ships in Teignmouth taken by his father Gordon Walker in the 1950s. Tom has researched the histories of the ships extensively, and talked about how the work of the port weaved into the life of the town. A very entertaining talk, with annecdotes and excellent photos that Tom has put a great deal of effort into scanning so that they can be enjoyed. Thanks Tom, and we look forward to the next installment.
Our branch treasurer, Colin Baigent, presented a talk on his recent travels at our August meeting.  Starting with a ferry trip from Plymouth to Santander, he continued with ships at Bilbao before crossing the Atlantic to take us to Canada’s St.Lawrence Seaway, Great Lakes and the Welland Canal.  An excellent presentation greatly appreciated by the audience, thank you Colin.
In September we were taken on a tour of the Netherlands by David Eeles who showed photographs taken on a recent trip to Rotterdam. David travelled with our treasurer Colin Baigent, and basing themselves at the Delta Hotel they travelled as far afield as the shipyards of Delfzijl and Westerbroek, also taking in Amsterdam. In October David returned at short notice to cover our scheduled speaker who was ill. He showed a range of sketches of local ships, made in the late 1960s and early 1970s, before showing photographs of his favourite coasters taken between the 1930s and current date. Thanks David for a pair of highly entertaining evenings.

In February and March we had a two-part WSS library show, the subject of which was the photography of Sid Belham between the 1960s and 1980s. Sid’s travels took us across the UK, with scenes of ships in the south east interspersed with the occasional local scene from Devon. We had a good view of how the shipping scene evolved over the period, with very high quality images scanned from Sid’s slides by Jim McFaul. An excellent set of talks, well recommended for any branch.

For our May meeting we welcomed Krispen Atkinson, who was our first guest speaker since the pandemic. Krispen presented three trips he made around the Baltic, from Helsinki to St. Petersburg, Tallinn and Stockholm. His entertaining talk was illustrated with stunning photographs taken on the trips, and we saw a plethora of shipping from brand new warships to preserved vessels from the mid 19th century. It was particularly interesting to see relatively recent visits to a city that has become inaccessible to western visitors in recent years. Thanks Krispen for a really excellent evening.