The IBM Retired Employee Club (South Hants)
www.shrets.co.uk

The IBM Retired Employee Club
(South Hants) Newsletter

December 2010

In order to improve the format of the newsletter we need your feedback on the current content, or other topics that you would like to see covered.

In addition to providing information on forthcoming trips and theatre visits, the newsletter will cover feedback on previous trips, So please join us to help guide the planning of future events by sending in your feedback to com4@shrets.co.uk on events you have participated in.

At the end of the current year (at the AGM) at least one of the current committee members will be resigning.
We have been actively seeking members who may be interested in joining the committee but to date have had little success.
If you feel you might like to devote a few hours each month to the Club please contact Barbara Clark for further details (023 9259 7027)

A Note from The Chairman

On behalf of the Committee I would like to wish all our members a very Merry Christmas and a Happy and Healthy New Year.
Barbara Clark

Next Year

For this month only we will be sending out a copy of this Newsletter in Hardcopy, included with this newsletter you will find the draft programme that we have put in place for 2011. You will also be able to access this programme on the Events page. Please understand that all dates are guidelines only and will be confirmed with the publication of the booking forms in the newsletters.
From experience we have found that members like to have the opportunity for some form of refreshments before going to the theatre in the evening, so to facilitate this we have scheduled all theatre trips to leave North Harbour at 1530.
We have also come to the conclusion that for the City & Village guided tours one guide for 52 people is really inadequate. Consequently we have decided to limit the number of participants in each coach to 40 in future for these tours. Where this causes us to run to three or more coaches for any one event we may take the opportunity to split it across two separate days.
The dates for a number of theatre trips have been left blank. They will be dependent on the availability of a suitable number of tickets and the booking opening dates. Similarly the Shuttleworth Flying Proms is awaiting them fixing the specific date for this event, which we believe will be in early January.
Finally we are posting this out to our entire membership list to ensure that everyone knows what is on during the year and will have a good idea of when to check the website for the necessary details of these trips.

Forthcoming trips

London Shopping

No detail required here – it is a coach to London dropping off in Park Lane to allow a days unfettered shopping experience taking advantage of the New Year sales.

The Motor Museum at Gaydon

The Heritage Motor Centre motor museum in Gaydon is home to the world’s greatest collection of British Cars. The motor car is over one hundred years old and is one of the world's most influential inventions. The Heritage Motor Centre motor museum in Gaydon tells its story, from some of the very first cars to take to British roads, right up to the latest designs.
In the early 1970s, the newly formed British Leyland decided to find out just how many old vehicles it had secreted around the many companies and factories that came under its umbrella. Nearly one hundred cycles, cars and commercial vehicles were discovered, some from the very earliest days of the motor industry in the UK.
In 1975, Leyland Historic Vehicles was formed to co-ordinate and maintain the fleet of historic vehicles that were part of the British Leyland family. It was a couple of years before the collection was able to be seen together by the public; with the help of the late Tom Wheatcroft a small display was put on display at his Donington Park racing circuit.
In 1981 about 100 cars from the collection – now known as BL Heritage – were transferred to a new location at Syon Park in London. The rest of the collection, together with the archive, is stored at Studley in Warwickshire. In 1983 the British Motor Industry Heritage Trust was formed to secure the collection for the Nation. Also in that year the British Commercial Vehicle Museum was opened in Leyland, a new museum dedicated to showing the trucks and buses from the collection. A little later, when Ford acquired Jaguar, the Jaguar and Daimler vehicles were separated and managed by the Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust, eventually in a new museum in Coventry.
The collection soon passed two hundred vehicles and it was obvious that a new museum was required. With help from Rover Group, in 1993 the Heritage Motor Centre at Gaydon was opened, enabling many more of the cars in the collection to be put on display.
When the Rover Group was broken up in 2000, the Trust decided that it should expand its remit to all of the motor industry in Britain, not just to those companies that had been part of British Leyland. The Trust undertook a comprehensive review of the collection, deciding to dispose of some the cars it owned, in particular duplicates that it had acquired over the years. This enabled it to expand the range of manufacturers it represented, by taking on new models for the museum.
Today, the car collection is nearly 300 strong. It takes in smaller manufacturers such as Morgan, via niche producers such as Land Rover, to the mainstream producers such as Austin and Morris. The Trust also works closely with the heritage arms of Britain’s major car concerns, including Ford, Jaguar and Vauxhall, to bring some of their historic vehicles to the museum for visitors to enjoy.

Brighton Dog Racing

This is an evening with a difference, which has always been popular with our members. Leaving North Harbour at 16.30 we head for Brighton, certainly the most scenic of all greyhound stadia in the British Isles. The big, sweeping circuit is recognised by experts as being one of the fastest and safest tests of the racing greyhound.
The cost includes admission, racecard and a 3 course meal, with vegetarian options, whilst watching the races. Come along and see if you can win enough to pay for the trip.
By the way – be reassured – the restaurant is under cover and the tiered tables and large glass windows offer an excellent view of the racing.

Madam Butterfly

Following the last newsletter we had sufficient interest registered by members to justify the purchase of tickets for this well known opera.
No opera can match the tragedy and sorrow of Puccini's Madam Butterfly. Set in Japan at the turn of the century, this tale of the doomed love of an American naval lieutenant and his young Japanese bride inspired Puccini to write some of his most sublime and beautiful music.
The differences in attitudes and styles of East and West are skilfully woven together in Puccini's ravishing score. The magnificent love duet which closes the first act and Butterfly's celebrated solo 'One Fine Day', in which she shows her unwavering belief that Pinkerton will return to her, are just two of the greatest moments. And when, after several years, Pinkerton eventually returns with his American wife, Butterfly realises she has been betrayed and the opera moves to its powerful and tragic conclusion.
Since its world premiere at the Hall in February 1998, this truly sensational production of Puccini's tragic masterpiece has left an indelible impression on the hearts and minds of over four hundred thousand people, receiving the highest critical acclaim wherever it has been performed. By huge popular demand, Madam Butterfly now returns to London. Once more the floor of the Royal Albert Hall will be flooded with water to create David Roger's stunning design where Madam Butterfly's house is perched on stilts above the shimmering surface of a traditional Japanese water garden.
Madam Butterfly is sung in English using the highly acclaimed translation by Amanda Holden, and is directed by renowned opera and theatre director David Freeman. Oliver Gooch conducts the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and a distinguished cast with the title role being shared by Mihoko Kinoshita, Jee Hyun Lim, and Hye-Youn Lee.

Journey Through the Afterlife

The British Museum’s major autumn exhibition, supported by BP, will present and explore ancient Egyptian beliefs about life after death. Journey through the afterlife: ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead will showcase the rich textual and visual material from the British Museum’s unparalleled collection of Book of the Dead papyri. The ‘Book’, used for over 1500 years between c. 1600 BC and 100 AD, is not a single text, but a compilation of spells thought to equip the dead with knowledge and power which would guide them safely through the dangers of the hereafter and ultimately ensure eternal life.
The British Museum has one of the most comprehensive collections of Book of the Dead manuscripts on papyrus in the world, and this exhibition will be the first opportunity to see so many examples displayed together. Due to the fragility of the papyri and their sensitivity to light it is extremely rare for any of these manuscripts to ever be displayed so this is a truly unique opportunity to view them. The exhibition will include the longest Book of the Dead in the world, the Greenfield Papyrus, which measures 37 metres in length and has never been shown publicly in its entirety before. Also on display will be the famous paintings from the papyri of Ani and Hunefer, together with selected masterpieces on loan from major international collections. These treasures will be exhibited alongside a dazzling array of painted coffins, gilded masks, amulets, jewellery, tomb figurines and mummy trappings. State-of-the-art visualisation technology will provide new ways of accessing and understanding this key source in the history of world religions.
The Book of the Dead opens a window onto the complex belief systems of the ancient Egyptians where death and afterlife were a central focus. Though the name may be familiar today, the wealth of magical images and texts is actually much richer than is generally known. Beautifully coloured illustrations graphically show the fields and rivers of the Netherworld, the gods and demons whom the deceased would meet, and the critical ‘weighing of the heart’ ritual the judgement which would determine whether the soul was admitted into the afterlife or condemned to destruction at the hands of the monstrous ‘Devourer’. Although the earliest texts appeared on the mummy shrouds of royal families and high officials, papyrus became the texts’ main medium and remained so for more than 1,000 years.

Houses of Parliament

We have received numerous comments from members who have unfortunately been waitlisted for this visit in the past. However we are very restricted in our ability to get trips when Parliament is actually sitting and it has to be arranged via one of our local MPs and we are also limited to one coach each time. Once again we anticipate that there will be a heavy demand for this trip and we shall continue to try to arrange further visits until all demand has been satisfied. If you don’t get on this trip we would ask you to please be patient.
This is a unique opportunity to take a guided tour of both Houses of Parliament and see how government works. You will have a guided tour of both houses and afterwards will have some free time to explore for yourselves. Then after buying lunch, (prices reasonable in the restaurant), see the parade of the speaker before the session in the House of Commons.

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