Questers Haynes Motor Museum Guided Tour – Thursday 21^st March 2024

A small group of U3A members met up at Wickes car park at 09:00 and as previously arranged and we travelled to the Museum in Sparkford, Dorset in 3 cars arriving at about 10:15am. It was a venue that none of us had previously visited so we were all interested in what it would be like.

On arrival, just a short distance from the A303, we found a modern building clearly indicating the Haynes name above the entrance. The building had been redeveloped in 2014 to extend the facility and to provide a distinctive façade and enhanced facilities.

After coffee and a comfort break we were met by our 2 guides Stewart and Nick, who welcomed us and asked in particular what people were interested in as the collection of over 350 vehicles was too large to be completely covered during an hours tour. Specific items that were of interest to members were Jaguar and MG’s along with Morris Minors and a request to pick out cars that were “gamechangers” those that increased the take up of motoring by the wider public.

On entry to the museum there is a small exhibition about John H. Haynes who was the person who started the car collection. John Haynes had passion for building and driving racing cars and during the 1960’s when helping a friend rebuild his Austin Healey “frog eyed sprite” and finding the factory manual little help he hit upon the clever idea of creating a manual of the process of dismantling and rebuilding of the engine. From this the Haynes Publishing Group was created and went on to create car manuals for all makes of cars. John became a successful businessman and this enabled him to become a prolific collector of cars. He established the museum in Sparkford in 1985 and in 2014 an extensive redevelopment was opened to provide a large reception area, café, conference and hospitality facilities along with Haynes Workshop Services which carry out work on modern and vintage cars.

Moving on through the museum you pass through the Veteran & Vintage area with the oldest of the cars in the collection. There were some beautiful examples of early Rolls Royce’s. This leads into area for which the collection is most know the “Red Room”. John Haynes favourite car colour was red and this room has 50+ cars of all types in a similar shades of red. It makes for an impressive display.

Following this we were then shown Model T Ford the earliest assembly line-built car and a car that made motoring more affordable to the masses. The next few areas contained many cars that members were either very familiar with or had owned themselves. Thes included early Morriss, Jaguars, Anglia’s and Triumphs, a trip down memory lane.

The American section contained some enormous car from the 1960’s along with a 1931 Model J Duesenberg that was in John Haynes opinion the best car in the world.  We then saw John Haynes personal car which was a Bentley with number plate CAR 800K which looked like BOOK on the plate and was very appropriate to John.

There were sections on the Ferrari, Morris Story, Minis, Motor Sport and Williams F1 room. Outside there is a track with go karting which also doubles as an area where the car collection is driven by the team who looks after it.

The volunteers who showed us around were informative and knowledgeable and added to the day’s enjoyment. On completion of the tour we had lunch in the Café followed by a more leisurely look at the areas that interested individuals most.  At 15:00 we met up in the car park and returned to Andover.

Kevin Barter

This will be a self-drive visit, AND CAR SHARING WILL BE ESSENTIAL BECAUSE OF LIMITED PARKING AT THE VENUE.

Arrival time at the Mosque is 11.15 and our visit commences at 11.30 and will comprise a talk about Islam with questions and answers and then some demonstrations.

Please note that the mosque has a strict, but not very onerous dress code to which all visitors MUST adhere.   The guidance they supply states ‘everyone to wear modest dress (ie no shorts, short skirts, etc no bare arms). Ladies to wear a headscarf or bandanna.’  You will probably need to remove your shoes upon entry.

The mosque provides a lunchtime meal of Asian food which is not particularly hot or highly spiced at a cost of £6-00 pp.  This is a daily event; the food being prepared in their own kitchens from where they feed members of their community.

A number of other groups known to us have made this visit and they have been full of praise about the warm hospitality, general interest, and friendliness of the congregation.  It is recommended as a completely new experience.

FURTHER DETAILS TO FOLLOW.

Meanwhile, please indicate you interest to me and whether you require a lift.

Best wishes

Norma Bryan

01264 335652

rjb@btinternet.com

Questers Salisbury Cathedral Guided Tour – Thursday 22^nd February 2024

Another rainy day in February what can we do today    ? Well luckily a guided tour of Salisbury Cathedral had been arranged by the Questers Group.

A number of us met up at the London Road Park and Ride and travelled in on the bus where we met the rest of our members at the Cathedral who had come in earlier to avail themselves of a coffee in the Refectory prior to the start of our tour. We met our guides who introduced themselves and divided our group into two to explore the cathedral.

The guides explained that the cathedral building had commenced in 1220 and the main part was completed in 1258 (38 years later) which was very quick for the period. The tower and the spire took another 72 years to be added and were completed in 1330. The spire was later heightened to 404ft and since 1561 has been the tallest church spire in the UK.

Originally the cathedral was sited at Old Sarum but permission was given to re-site it. Legend says that Bishop Poore shot an arrow in the direction of where he wanted to build the cathedral which hit a deer who carried it with him until dying on the site where the cathedral now stands. As we progressed around the cathedral, we saw the clock which dates from 1386 and is the oldest working mechanical clock in the world and the modern font which is the largest working font in any British cathedral. The font is cruciform in shape and is a 10-foot-wide vessel filled to its brim with water, designed so that the water overflows in filaments through each corner into bronze gratings embedded in the cathedral’s stone floor. It was installed in the cathedral in 2008.

We were given a potted history of the cathedral with some quirky features highlighted during the tour, such as the tombs of various dignitaries that had been defaced with graffiti over the years, a removeable block in the floor with a rod that enables the water level beneath the building to be monitored, Edward Heath’s memorial plaque showing where he was buried and the Whistler Crystal which is an engraved prism depicting the Cathedral housed in a side chapel.

We then moved into the octagonal Chapter House which has one of the best medieval friezes in the world. The circular frieze, located above the stalls depicts the scenes and stories from the books of Genesis and Exodus. In the Chapter House is the best-preserved copy of the Magna Carta and its transcription into modern English is displayed. The copy came to Salisbury because Elias of Dereham who was present at Runnymede in 1215 was given the task of distributing some of the original copies. He later became a canon of Salisbury and supervised the construction of the cathedral.

This completed our tour and as we had to leave the cathedral because it due to close for a major funeral to take place in the afternoon, we all dispersed to various places to eat in the town after completing an interesting and very informative tour.

Kevin Barter