Monday January 2nd 2017 - NO meeting, Bank Holiday

Monday February 6th 2017 - meeting at The Blackwater Sailing Club, Heybridge Basin at 10:00 am, for an illustrated talk by Gordon Davies. “There is a lot of sailing interest in the group in the sense of people who built dinghies or have relatives who have gone on long voyages. We'll look at some of the characters who were around then, in the 1960’s and 70’s, like Frank Dye who sailed his Wayfarer dinghy to Iceland and Norway amongst other places, and innovators like James Wharram with his interesting lifestyle”.

Monday March 6th 2017 - meeting at The Blackwater Sailing Club, Heybridge Basin at 10:00am for a talk by Linda Pargeter on “The life of a Norfolk Trading Wherry”. The talk will give a brief history of the Norfolk Wherry followed by details on the working life of the “Maud”, its rescue and subsequent restoration.

Monday April 3rd 2017 - meeting at The Blackwater Sailing Club, Heybridge Basin at 10:00am for a talk by Alison Mainwood on "Sailing in the Baltic”, Alison will talk about the last two summer cruises. “In 2015, we sailed along the north coast of Germany as far as Poland, and in 2016 we sailed up the west coast of Sweden into Norway as far as Oslo. I will talk about some of the places we visited, concentrating on Second World War history this time”.

Monday May 1st 2017 – No meeting – Bank Holiday

Monday June 5th 2017 - meeting at The Blackwater Sailing Club at 10:00am for an illustrated talk by John Johnson Allan on the use of “Hospital Ships during the War”. The First World War was a global conflict and therefore Britain needed to move troops to battlefields around the world. It was also necessary to remove wounded troops for treatment either to hospitals or on specially equipped ships. The Merchant Service (as it was known at that time) provided the troopships and hospital ships. The size of the Merchant service at that period made this possible, as in 1913 Britain’s merchant fleet was 47% of the world's merchant fleet – effectively every second ship that was seen flew the British Red Ensign. The Admiralty paid tribute to the men of the merchant fleet after the war: – "the Mercantile Marine, from the beginning, faced this unprecedented form of warfare with indomitable courage, magnificent endurance and a total disregard of danger and death, factors which the enemy had failed to take into account and went far to defeating his object."

Monday July 3rd 2017 – trip with City and Village Tours to “This Country called England”. Day trip to Kingston Upon Thames, tea/coffee/biscuits on arrival followed by a short tour; then by coach to Windsor and a two-hour boat trip on the river Thames finishing at Runnymeade. Cost per person is £43.00, this includes the coach, coach parking, driver’s gratuity, Blue Badge Guide, tour as described, but excludes lunch. For further details please contact Malcolm Case.

Monday August 7th 2017 – day trip to Harwich to see the replica “Mayflower” being constructed. Also included is a visit to the Harwich Harbour Authority in the afternoon. Cost per person is £16.00, this includes coach, coach parking, driver’s gratuity, donation to the “Mayflower Trust”, tea/coffee/biscuits on arrival at the Mayflower yard but excludes lunch. For further details please contact Malcolm Case.

Monday September 4th to 7th 2017 – to Portsmouth Dockyard visit to include the Mary Rose Museum (with a guided tour), harbour cruise, and all other attractions included on the day; the Submarine Museum in Gosport (with a guided tour), National Maritime Operations Centre, Hovercraft Museum, Horse drawn canal cruise on the Kennet and Avon Canal, visit to Warsash Maritime Academy (which includes a visit to the Bridge and Engine Simulators, Seamanship centre and Fire training ground), lunch at extra cost in the Academy Restaurant. The hotel is the Meon Valley Marriott Hotel & Country Club. The cost per person is £438.00, this includes the trip as described, entry to attractions as described and driver’s gratuity. For further details and a booking form, please contact Malcolm Case.

Monday October 2nd 2017 - meeting at The Blackwater Sailing Club at 10:00am for an illustrated talk by Mike Childs “Cruising around Cape Horn”.

Monday November 6th 2017 - meeting at The Blackwater Sailing Club at 10:00am for an illustrated talk by James Byam-Shaw on “Rowing”. James has hands on experience of a wide range of rowing boats including the reconstruction of the bronze age Argo of the Jason and his Argonauts legend, he will give a brief history of rowing from around 1500 BC to the present day via the various fighting galleys to the sliding seat racing craft of today. James will bring, for display outside, a 25ft by 18inch (around 14" on the waterline) double scull, a model of a proposed human powered propeller driven camping boat of comparable efficiency and an example of flapping fin propulsion from a Hobie canoe as examples of possible future directions for the human powered propulsion of boats.

Monday December 4th 2017 - meeting at The Blackwater Sailing Club, Heybridge Basin at 11:00am for our annual Christmas buffet and discussions on our programme for 2018.

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Last revised 7th December 2017