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A day trip to Brighton - July 2024

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 We travelled to Brighton by coach which we had boarded in Guildford at 9 am.   By 9.50 we had picked up the rest of the passengers and were on our way.  There was a half-hour comfort stop and we arrived in Brighton at around noon.  Angie and I had a quick lunch in the nearby Harvester and then made for the front and pier  We didn't go on the pier, but made our way alongside to take some photographs of the beach, the sea, and the pier.    The old pier, burned down many years ago. From here we made our way to the famous Lanes and then on to the more colourful North Lanes. The last three are views of the Royal Pavilion - we then left to get a welcome cool drink before boarding the coach for home.
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Whitchurch Silk Mill - July 2024

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 After leaving Winchester our coach travelled a few miles out of the city to the small village of Whitchurch.   We disembarked our coach and made our way to the silk mill, crossing the river Test. The building was built in 1813 and has been in various ownership over the years.   The Mill was rescued by Hampshire Buildings Preservation Trust in 1985 after the building fell into disrepair.  The Mill opened as a working museum in 1990 and in 2020 the Mill underwent a major restoration programme funded by the National Lottery. The machinery is all Victorian and the Mill Wheel is the original, although some parts have been replaced.  Apparently, some Victorian bodging was discovered during this parts replacement!   Nowadays the looms are powered by electricity, but wheel power is used occasionally for demonstrations, but not when we were there.    At one time the Mill produced 16 colours for Burberry to use in the lining of their famous raincoats.  Ottoman silk is produced here - this is us
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Winchester Cathedral - July 2024

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 Another U3A outing with my neighbour and her humanities group.  Angie and I are not members of this group, but Sheila often has spare seats on the coach and offers them to me and Angie and other U3A groups.   The outing to Winchester was supposed to be for her group to visit the Ghurka museum and the King Arthur Round Table.  Anyone who didn't want to go to the museum or the RoundTable could make their own way around Winchester.  Angie and I decided we would go in the Cathedral as we didn't go in when we went to Winchester last December for the Christmas Fayre (which I didn;t write up about).  We then proposed visiting the Mill House.  Unfortunately, most of the High Street of Winchester was closed off for Freedom March. The coach had to drop us off at the coach park, which was quite a bit out of our way.  So, the Humanities group managed their visit to the museum, and Angie and I went to the cathedral, but we missed the other planned visits. The Lady Chapel Beautiful Alter Cl
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