October Newsletter 2025 Part Two

Fareham & District Model Engineers held their open day recently and by the look of the photos it looked a terrific day out. John Williams a is also a member of the group. Andy Wood came along and blagged a ride on one of the engines. By the way, the photo in the September edition was a Leander Class Frigate HMS Andromeda F57, a squadron leader, denoted by the black tipped funnel. Leander – class frigates were the most numerous class of it’s day, numbering twenty-six in total. I served on a Leander, HMS Danae in the mid 1970’s. A great class of ship to serve in..

On 14th September we held our annual family BBQ at the Anders Hall Jubilee Park. A team arrived early to set up the facilities, chairs and tables in the hall and the BBQ outside in readiness for the families and friends. We had some concerns about the numbers for the catering, so Peter and Dave went on a ‘resupply’ visit to ASDA for more rolls, sausages, burgers and disposable plates and cutlery, to ensure all were catered for. Those there had a great time chatting and enjoying not only the sausages and burgers but the wide choice of cakes provided by families too. John Skerratt provided a challenging quiz for the groups with bags of sweets as prizes. A big thanks to those who help set up this annual event. We were however disappointed that there were many no shows with the consequence of wasted food that couldn’t be refrozen after we had catered for a specific number. A big thanks must also go to Philip Griffiths for his bespoke sausages and burgers. Much appreciated. I gather he had an order for further bangers and burgers after the BBQ.

Thanks again to our intrepid chefs Paul and John. As you can see there is much preparation needed for a family BBQ but believe everyone enjoyed the afternoon and am sure no one went home hungry!!!

Friday 26th September was yet another chance for members and their families to enjoy an evening together. The twice-yearly fish/chip supper with a talk. The talk this time was ‘Kings Theatre Portsmouth Then & Now’ by Dave Allport. I believe everyone enjoyed the evening looking back on this fine local theatre and the traditional supper. Dave also provided a rolling PowerPoint record of the numerous achievements WMS has had during the past year to watch whilst we had our supper. Thanks to Paul Turner for organising, it even though he couldn’t attend and to John Skerratt for his supervising and even the washing up !