Illustrated Talks in Chobham


IMPORTANT NOTICE

Our venue is the Pavilion in the Recreation Ground in Station Road, Chobham, on the THIRD Wednesday in the month.

 
 

The new talks season will restart in October and will continue as usual to April 2011.The venue will be as usual at The Parish Pavilion, Recreation Ground, Station Road, Chobham, near Woking.

Meetings start at 8pm on the third Wednesday of the month (See map above for exact location). Coffee/tea and biscuits will be available during the interval. Non members and friends are very welcome to come along.There is sufficient, and safe, parking alongside the hall.

 

Winter Season 2010/2011

 


 

 

All meetings are free.

Please come along and support these social evenings where we like to see new faces. Everyone is welcome so bring along your friends as well.

Here are the dates and details of the current season -

audience inside the hall (3K) 

A short history of the talks, compiled by Peter Coxhead ----

The Group was formed in the mid-1970s in those enterprising early muddy days of restoration. A small band of enthusiastic characters used to sit on the floor of members' houses planning programmes that would keep the momentum going.

The first actual public meetings when interesting speakers whetted our appetites for what we should aim for, took place in the long-since-demolished Centre Halls in Woking. Our compere was Mike Grist. We then moved to the old Christ Church Hall (now Barclays Bank) and for a time Peter Coxhead presented the evenings.

Then followed a period at the Methodist Church Hall and surely all who came there will remember the 'ex-sergeant-major' caretaker! Our next venue was St Johns Memorial Hall. Ginny Millard took over from Peter during this period.

For the last few years, our meeting place has been at the Westgate Centre again in the heart of Woking. Arthur Dungate was now our 'master of ceremonies' and all who came will remember the wonderful variety of interesting speakers.

Now, subject to receiving approval of a lottery bid, Woking Galleries will almost certainly be building a state-of-the-art 21st century Museum and Art Centre on the site of the old Westgate building.

Finding a hall suitable for both availability and price is not easy. However Peter Coxhead has come to an arrangement with Chobham Parish Council to rent its Pavilion in the Recreation Ground in Station Road, Chobham. The hall is large enough for our meetings, there is sufficient car parking space and a kitchen is available for those very important 'half time' breaks.

      ---- 2010 ----

    • OCTOBER - Wednesday 20th October


      Ron and Mary Heritage - 'Some Highlights of their Waterways Adventures'
       

      Ron Heritage is Chairman of the Oxfordshire Branch of the IWA and his programme will include the Thames Tideway, Limehouse to Gravesend on a campaign cruise escorting the IWA boat 'Jubilee'. Also the Liverpool Coal and Cotton Rally (last trip on the River Mersey before the new canal was built) plus Waterways in Scotland.

       

    • NOVEMBER - Wednesday  17th November.


      Ron and Myra Glover - 'The Ups and Downs of the Belgian Canals'
       

      Ron And Myra will be returning and will start on the River Moselle in France and continues via Maastricht in Holland into Belgium.On the Canal du Centre we rise through four lifts to the Canal de Charlerois. These lifts run parallel with with the recently opened lift at Strepy Thieu.We then turn towards Brussels and descend on the Ronquiers Inclined Plane.The steel works at Charleroi are also passed through.

    • DECEMBER - Wednesday 15th December.


      Patrick Moss - 'The Somersetshire Coal Canal'
       

      The Coal Canal is an almost forgotten waterway near Bath, the history of which is intertwined with the Kennet and Avon Canal (they received assent on the same day in 1794) and the Wilts and Berks Canal. The talk explores the history of the canal's twin main lines, the surviving lengths of the canal and the hopes for the future.

                    ---- 2011 ----

    • JANUARY - Wednesday 19th January.


      Liam D'Arcy Brown - 'The Grand Canal of China'
       

      Liam will present an illustrated talk on the fabric and history of the canal and people who live and work upon it. He is an experienced writer and has considerable knowledge of China. He is the first westerner, in over 200 years, to travel the full length of the canal, all of 1114 miles. As well as the history, he will cover the construction, route, politics plus both the historic and current use.

       

    • FEBRUARY - Wednesday 16th February.

       
      Roger Squires - ' The Suez Canal - Past and Present'
       

      Roger recently cruised through the Suez Canal on a northbound daylight convoy. He will share this experience with us and will start the evening by telling us about the history of the various earlier links between the Med and the Red Sea. He will highlight the various enlargement works undertaken on the current canal since it was nationalised by Egypt


    • MARCH - Wednesday 16th March.


      Roger Clay - 'The Hidden Avon'
       

      Roger, from the Stratford and Warwick Trust, will talk about the stretch of the River Avon above Stratford-upon-Avon up to Warwick with a description of the proposed restoration scheme. There will be some slides of the existing navigation as well.

       

    • APRIL - Wednesday 20th April.


    • Runnalls Davis - 'Canal Architecture -An Illustrated Survey'
       

      One of our regular speakers will be returning to show the Roman workings of the Fossdyke to the marvels of the Falkirk Wheel and the Drop Locks of Glasgow. This lavishly illustrated survey endeavours not only to portray these varying feats of architecture and engineering but to present them in the social and aesthetic context of their time, thus providing not only a comprehensive tour of the English waterways but an amusing and involving history of English taste and character


       

 

    Note:

  • If you have any ideas for interesting future talks, the Talks Organiser will be pleased to hear from you!
    Please contact: David Millett (01252 617364) or Peter Coxhead (01932 344564). -

 

            
 

Last updated: Jan 2010