TRANSITion: from fields to Ford and beyond

Our final community coach trip of the summer was to Milestones Museum in Basingstoke. As before it was very popular and we had to get a bigger coach! Many of our regulars from previous trips to Watercress Line and National Motor Museum Beaulieu joined us again as we took a trip down memory lane.  Run by Hampshire Cultural Trust, Milestones Museum is a huge, cavernous immersive space, which houses under its cover a re-created Victorian streetscape complete with a working/serving pub and a hugely popular sweet shop, among other things.  Descending the stairs our group dispersed to try out the different displays and activities – exploring the shops, warehouses and businesses from a bygone era, checking out the Thornycrofts collection of vehicles, sharing reminiscences in the roomsets of past decades, or queuing up to stock up on favourite sweets or pints.  The museum is a great introduction to the industrial and economic history of the...

16 th August 2017: Our second community trip - a journey on a steam train on the Mid-Hants Railway’s Watercress Line – was as popular as before with a fully booked coach setting off from Mansbridge for Alresford. It was great to see many familiar faces who had been on the previous trip to Beaulieu. On arrival at the beautifully preserved Alresford station the group had some time free to explore the area, have picnics or have lunch and ice cream at the station’s buffet. Basking in the gorgeous sunshine on the pretty platform we were in time to see the earlier train getting ready to depart and, with a huge puff of smoke and whistle, it set off in its journey. We had a whole carriage for our group which was just special and to top it all, the Education Officer, Sheila, came round to hand out colouring and activity kits to the children and Memory Baskets for the adults. That would keep everybody busy for a while. The journey through the rolling hills of the Ha...