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For Men

The ecumenical Bitterne Men's Group encourages and supports men seeking to live out their Christian faith at home, at work and at leisure.  They meet on the third Thursday of each month at 7.30 in the Church Room for fellowship, visiting speakers and refreshments.
Also for Men, Time Out meets on the third Tuesday of each month at 8pm in the Church Room, a member's home, in a pub - or somewhere else.  They enjoy trips out, eating out together, social evenings, discussions, debate and visiting speakers.
Reports of Time Out Events ...
Our December 2008 meeting was the annual Christmas dinner, held as usual in the Red Lion. We were fewer in numbers than last year but once again the Red Lion did us proud and every one had an enjoyable time.

In January a ‘core’ group of us met for a social and planning evening. Many thanks to Pete Fay for the pizzas and to Howard for two excellent quizzes.

We then discussed the future, but first a little history. Time Out was started during the time Jeff Watson was vicar by his curate Andy McPherson. It was for younger men (sometimes cheekily defined as being younger than the vicar!) to meet informally and to encourage intermittent and non churchgoers to join and experience Christian fellowship in a relaxed atmosphere. As well as more serious topics, activities included indoor football, cricket and go-karting, (one member, who moved on to better things, was said to be going round as if driving his Volvo!).

Although this worked well for a number of years, for some time the numbers of younger men have decreased, while the ‘old faithfuls’ have grown older. Thanks to Ricky we have kept going and I believe have fulfilled the basic aim of the group, but the emphasis has changed, with more ‘presentations’. In order to make the numbers worthwhile for the efforts put in by those giving the talks ladies have been (very) welcome. As a result it is possible that we are now overlapping to some extent with the excellent work done by the Men’s Group.

We discussed the possibility of joining with them, at least on some occasions, but agreed to keep Time Out going at least until our new vicar is in place and has a chance to give his/her views on the matter. In the meantime we are trying to encourage the current ‘younger men’ to come along when they can. We also plan to organise some of the popular activities of previous years, such as Treasure Hunts, trip to the Isle of Wight etc.

We usually meet on the third Tuesday of the month, in the Church Room at 8 00 p.m. unless Ricky has arranged a visit. For details of our next meeting see the Newssheet or contact Ricky Yardley or Norman Davies
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There was another excellent turnout for our November 2008 meeting. Not surprising as it was Chris Harris's presentation of his and the two Joys' (his wife and Joy Jarvis) ‘Arctic adventure'. Those who have seen Chris's pictures of earlier trips to the Antarctic, Egypt and Indo-China would know what to expect in terms of quality and interest. However, like your reporter, they were stunned by the images they saw.

The trip was around Spitsbergen, the largest island in the Svalbard archipelago, off the north coast of Norway , at latitude 78.5° N, well within the Arctic Circle . Whether it was the scenery, animals, birds or flowers we were all riveted.

The expedition started from Longyearbyen (great name!), the only habitation of any size – about two thousand, mainly young people, to cater for the visitors. At different points they went ashore to look for wildlife, particularly polar bears. When the guides were asked about toilet arrangements they were told firmly that this was an expedition, not a cruise!

Chris said that there were times when fog had rolled in, but it only seemed to add an air of mystery to the scene and it rolled away in time for him to take many spectacular views. Joy and Joy played their part in spotting and identifying the amazing variety of birds and flowers. With the flowers it took them ages to be sure of what each one was but whatever their names it was definitely a case of small is beautiful.

Among the animals they saw were reindeers, seals, Arctic foxes and wonderful, cuddly-looking (yes!), walruses. However the highlight had to be the polar bears. It's one thing to admire them on television, quite another to see them live and (not too) close up! One slight puzzle was that at the end Chris included some pictures of penguins, which on being questioned he admitted were taken on a previous trip!

A bonus adventure was a ride on a Dog Sled, on wheels as it was along the road. Chris helped the organiser to put the dogs onto the harnesses and back into the pens when they got back to the starting point, which he thoroughly enjoyed. As Joy H. said, “Joy and I are not dog lovers so the thought of having to handle these very large, frisky dogs was very daunting. Thankfully Chris did ours as well!”

If you weren't at the presentation and would like to get an idea of what you missed why not ‘Google' Spitsbergen on the internet – there are some excellent sites to see the sights!

Following our interesting visit to Ian's business in September 2008 , he and Sue kindly were ‘on duty' (!) again for our October meeting in the Church Room. This time it was a breathtaking tour of many historic sites around the Eastern Mediterranean when they took a cruise on the Queen Victoria for their Ruby Wedding.

Ian gave a whistle-stop presentation of some of the many photos they had taken, while Sue added lots of ‘human interest' bits helping to bring the images to life. Each stage of the cruise was preceded by a map with the current location shown. The cruise covered more than 6,000 miles in 12 days, mostly by night, visiting six countries, so that each morning they woke to a fresh scene.

The cruise left from Venice , so the presentation reminded us of some classic images of that unique city. Their first stop was Dubrovnik , ‘The Pearl of the Adriatic', and a UNESCO World Heritage site, before moving on to Katakalon in Greece to visit the famous ancient site of Olympia . Next was Mykonos one of the Cyclades islands where among many stunning images was your reporter's favourite, the five windmills overlooking the bay of ‘Little Venice' backed by a brilliant blue sky.

Istanbul was the new sight and apart from the iconic architecture, where East meets West, Sue, not for the only time, spoke enthusiastically about the beautiful wares on display, particularly in the Grand Bazaar, to part the visitor from their money! Then on to the eagerly awaited stop at Kasadasi and the visit to Ephesus, the people of which St Paul wrote one of his epistles to, and where Mary, mother of Jesus, and St John the Evangelist are reputed to have lived.

The next day was spent ‘Cruising the Mediterranean' to Messina in Sicily . The photos of the ship inside and out highlighted the luxury of their surroundings for this special holiday. There were further calls at Civitavecchia , the port from which they visited Rome , and on to Livorno for Florence and Pisa with many more iconic images.

Next they were off to Marseilles before the final stop at Barcelona . It was towards the end of the trip that they celebrated their actual anniversary. As well as some lovely surprise presents from the family they also received a magnificent cake made on board, which they shared with the many friends they'd come to know.

All in all Ian and Sue's presentation gave our well-attended meeting a vivid picture of the wonderful sights they had seen, for which many thanks, especially to Ian who had been so busy beforehand that a lot of the preparation had to be last minute.

For our September meet we had a fascinating tour of ‘Focus Business Communications' in Sholing. It was a chance to see what Ian does when he's not looking after our church communications.

It's small but beautiful, in that with the help of a select band of very talented people an amazing array of things gets done. These include making DVDs and CDROMs, Presentation Skills Training, Social Media Marketing (Facebook and the like) and, with the aid of a tiny studio, Video Productions and Podcasts.

We were greeted not only by Ian but also Sue, who had kindly prepared refreshments including pizzas and strawberries! While we ate Ian gave us a whistle-stop tour of his website illustrating the various activities, many of the sections being introduced by Alina Jenkins of South Today and Radio Solent.

Of great interest were the many web videos, ranging from the work of the Maritime Rescue Agency to the Brecon Beacons National Park . He also showed us the church's website which he set up and runs in his ‘spare' time. As he said, do make good use of it.

Ian then took us on a tour of the building. First stop was to learn about how videos are edited from two of his colleagues, who were working on the ‘Brecon Beacons'. We were able to see how captions etc were synchronised with the pictures as well as several layers all timed to the split second.

Needless to say it involved a computer and an amazing piece of software. The galling thing for Ian was that it cost £5,500 compared to the £70,000 he had to spend on its less sophisticated predecessor, which admittedly had served him well for ten years. Ian contrasted this with the painstaking and ‘primitive' methods he had to use when he started the business in the early 80s.

We were then shown into the control room for the studio. Some of us were able to try out our skills at reading a report ‘on camera' using an autocue. Howard proved a natural! Your reporter claimed that the reason for his performance was that he'd forgotten his glasses and had difficulty reading the words!

As a last word, your reporter is so impressed that Ian, who is not too far off his age, maintains a grasp of things in such a frantically changing business. By the way Ian and Sue are also doing a presentation on their cruise around the historic sites of the eastern Mediterranean for our October meeting.

It was an ‘outdoors' summer for Time Out. In June the Bitterne Bowling Club were splendid hosts for a ‘Try Bowling' evening. They made about a dozen of us very welcome, providing both helpful tuition and drinks to sustain us. Our enthusiastic trialists preformed with varying degrees of success but all agreed that it had been a very enjoyable experience which they would be happy to repeat.

In July the annual ‘cruise' to the Isle of Wight was blessed with a beautiful evening. While there were less of us than on some earlier trips everyone enjoyed themselves. This included Ricky who sailed over separately and joined us for the usual excellent fish and chip supper eaten ‘alfresco' under ‘our' tree before we had a gentle stroll along the prom. The glorious setting sun helped make the homeward trip a memorable one.

Continuing the outdoor theme, the August meeting is the Pitch and Putt competition at Riverside Park followed by supper at Howard and Sue's home. However as we have to go to press before the date the report will have to wait. In September we hope to visit Ian Ward's studio. For details see the Newssheet.

There was a ‘full house’ for our May meeting held in the Church Room for Ricky and Jean’s presentation on their trip with Philip and Susan to Australia in March. Like Chris and Joy’s talk in April this was a ‘tour de force’, from the beautiful green and historic island of Tasmania to the tropical splendour of Queensland taking in the cities of Melbourne and Sydney, and most iconic of all, the heart of the continent from Alice Springs to Uluru (Ayers Rock that was).
There were many famous images of Australia including those which gave the ‘human touch’ such as the pictures of many animals usually only known from books and TV. Perhaps the most memorable was of the family taking the chance to hug koalas. On a more sombre note there was the prison ‘island’ off Tasmania, so beautiful, but, as the museum ‘village’ the buildings have now become illustrated, the scene of great cruelty.
While in Tasmania they also saw the oldest bridge in Australia and attended a church where the stained glass windows originally graced a church in Battle in Sussex. The Sydney Opera House looked magnificent, but, as Ricky pointed out, presented many structural and engineering problems and cost very much more than budgeted for - how often have we heard that before! Despite all that the Australians are rightly very proud of it.
When Philip and Sue went to Bondi Beach, Ricky and Jean visited the oldest pub in Australia. Earlier, in Melbourne, Philip and Jean toured ‘Ramsey Street’ of ‘Neighbours’ fame. They also visited ‘The Pub With No Beer’ made famous by in song but the supplies had arrived by now!
No story involving Ricky would be complete without at least one ‘interesting’ experience. The drive from Alice Springs to Uluru via King’s Canyon on the unmade roads certainly seemed to fit the bill, but from the photos and their descriptions it was well worth it. Indeed the whole visit seems to have been great.
It is not possible to do justice in a short report to the impression made on us by the mixture of wonderful pictures and the entertaining commentary, suffice it to say that everyone enjoyed the evening and many were inspired to see the country for themselves!
It would not be right to close without mentioning Philip’s contribution in making the PowerPoint Presentation so polished and interesting as well as thanking John Sturgess for his help with the technical side.
Our next meeting will be on Tuesday 15th July. It’s the annual evening ‘cruise’ to the Isle of Wight, which is open to all. Details will be in the Newssheet nearer the time.
Our April 2008 meeting was held in the Church Room for Chris and Joy Harris’ ‘tour de force’ presentation entitled ‘Images of South East Asia’. Chris gave the commentary to accompany the many stunning pictures he took on their visits to Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos, while Joy added helpful comments and occasional corrections!
The presentation started in Thailand, the richest country, and finished in Laos, the poorest, which they loved the best, not least because of the friendliness of the people. The large audience was enthralled by the range of subjects, from temples of different religions and structure, through landscapes and gardens of exotic beauty to street scenes and people, especially children.
Chris devoted a brief section to their accommodation on their journey. While most was luxurious, some was basic, but in almost every case made memorable by the beauty of their surroundings. This was especially true of their trip down the Mekong River on what seemed an almost open boat and even then they saw smaller boats on which whole families lived!
It is impossible to do justice to the impressions evoked by the presentation, suffice it to say that everyone came away enthused with the images they had seen and looked forward to seeing the results of Chris’ efforts after their visit to the Arctic later this year.
Our next meeting will be on Tuesday 17th June. Details will be in the Newssheet nearer the time.
Our March 2008 meeting was held in the Church Room for Norman Davies’ evening of ‘FUN MATHS’ or ‘Crack the Code and Win a Million Pounds’.
The brave and intrigued few who came to see if the words ‘fun’ and ‘maths’ could go together were first treated to two short videos from the 2006 Royal Institution Christmas Lectures given by Marcus du Sautoy to a roomful of enthusiastic youngsters.
The first video about the search for and the role of prime numbers was enlivened by explosions and lots of other aids to maintain interest and achieve understanding. The theme was taken up in the second video on ‘Codes’ which included the use and explanation of the ‘Enigma’ machine from WW2. The main point was to show in an enjoyable and understandable way how prime numbers are used in the codes that provide security for our modern institutions especially business transactions over the Internet etc.
To round off the evening, Norman showed some ‘mind reading’ tricks followed by their mathematical explanation, which, thanks in no small part to the ‘polish’ that John Sturgess had added on his laptop computer, seemed to go down well – at least no one appeared to be asleep! There was a good selection of books to dip into, chosen to reinforce the idea that maths can be fun, interesting and understood by most of us.
Our next meeting will be on 20th May. For details see the Newssheet nearer the time.
Our February 2008 meeting was held in the Church Room for Brian and Sandra Gaffney’s talk on their autumn visit to the ‘Holy Land’ with a party which included David Snuggs, our former curate and current vicar of St Thomas’s church in Fair Oak.
Brian led us through the tour with the aid of photographs taken on the trip and appropriate excerpts from a DVD about many of the places mentioned in the Bible, while Sandra added her comments when necessary.
As Brian said, there was almost too much to see and do in the time they were there, whether it was seeing the famous but crowded sights associated with Christ in and around Jerusalem, or on the Jordan river where they managed a paddle. They didn’t want to miss any of it but wished at times to be able to pause and dwell on what they were experiencing.
Despite the distractions they communicated to us very well the emotions they felt, for example at the Gardens of Gethsemane and the tranquillity when their boat anchored out on the Sea of Galilee. The views of and from the mountain fortress of Massada were stunning and their experience of ‘swimming’ in the Dead Sea also made an impact on all of us. A wonderful evening much appreciated by the large number of people who attended.
There was a bonus at the end when Roger Ward, who had very recently returned from a visit to Jerusalem was able to add his thoughts on the effect of being where the Bible story took place. He like Brian and Sandra conveyed his enthusiasm for what he had seen and also was planning to return.
Our next meeting will again be in the Church Room at 8.00 on Tuesday 15th April when Chris Harris will tell us about Joy and his visits to Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam. As anyone who has heard Chris before will know it will be very entertaining with lots and lots (and lots!) of pictures to illustrate his talk.

In January 2008 we visited the Marine Coastguard Agency station at Lee on Solent to see how our seafarers are watched over day and night by the dedicated men and women of the Coastguards and Air Sea Rescue.
Fifteen of us were shown around the ‘ops’ room by the senior officer Mike O’Sullivan. We saw lots of very modern computerised equipment including one screen which charted all the shipping above a certain size from the English Channel to Cornwall. The day before we visited, the Ice Prince had sunk in their area and there was a screen which, using the latest tracking techniques, showed the predicted area where those planks were.
There was a screen with all the contacts for the other emergency agencies and a database with the names and details of all the smaller yachts etc which have been registered. Ricky earned a pat on the back when his yacht was registered and easily found.
Despite all the equipment it was the expertise of Mike and his team of four that impressed. While we were there a distress signal came in, which although traced to the middle of Langstone Harbour and probably due to faulty equipment (the car alarm syndrome), the decision was taken to scramble the helicopter as no chances are taken. A fascinating visit.
In November 2007 we visited the Energy Recovery Centre at Marchwood for a fascinating and enlightening talk and tour. The hardest bit was finding the place as there were so many changes going on to the roads on the industrial site round it. Indeed Ian Ward, who had come hotfoot from Alton, missed the talk but was spotted on the security cameras and let in late to at least get some reward for his efforts!
Did you know that this site is only the latest, and biggest of three in Hampshire? We were informed of how ‘rubbish’ is sorted at other depots to save as much recyclable material as possible while the non-recyclables are brought to Marchwood to be turned into electricity while minimising any pollution. In fact the solid residues are made use of as fertilisers and much more. This, together with the ‘green’ waste that is collected, makes Hampshire one of, if not the, leading areas for recycling!
The tour was great, not just because we saw the safety control systems and the two big semi-automatic ‘grabs’ which keep the furnace supplied from the vast pile of rubbish in the enclosed, and very big, ‘room’ but also because we were allowed to sit in the controller’s seat and work them – under the watchful eye of the two man team who run the whole thing!
To round off the year we held the annual Christmas dinner at the Red Lion, where we were splendidly fed by the landlord and his helpful staff. This, like the trip to Marchwood, was organised by Ricky for which we all say a heartfelt ‘Thank You’.
In September 2007 we met at the Bitterne Bowl for one of our ‘occasional’ (i.e. every few years or so!) tenpin bowling tourneys. The company was leavened by three sporting ladies. After half of us had changed lanes, due to the machinery for putting up the pins mysteriously failing after one bowl – probably trying to spare the blushes of those of us who were ‘very’ occasional bowlers – the contest got under way.
Despite some classic ‘duff’ shots everyone had at least one shot to be pleased about even if it was off the ‘bumpers’ on the sides! Pete Naylor won the contest – he looked as if he’d played before! – and Kay Davies came first among the ladies after a hard fought battle. Everyone got a prize as there was some spare cash after Ricky found he’d overcharged us. Phil Robinson had been detained by something called ‘work’ and joined us in time for the beer at the Red Lion, so everyone enjoyed themselves.
In October the ladies joined us again on our very enjoyable visit to the ‘Real Ale’ brewery at Ringwood . The tour was very interesting but even better was the chance to taste the ales at the end. The ladies, some of whom claimed never to have drunk beer, seemed to enjoy the taste and came away with smiles on their faces. As, of course, did the men, even Ian Ward who was slightly frustrated as he’d kindly volunteered to drive five others there. The evening was rounded off with a Ploughman’s Supper (like a Ploughman’s Lunch only later) as part of the deal at a local inn.
Once again many thanks to Ricky who organised both events. Just in case we’re giving you the wrong impression we do have more ‘sober’ activities. Our next trip is to an energy reclamation centre at Marchwood and we do have meetings back at our base in the Church Room, however our December meeting is the Christmas dinner at the Red Lion! It’s a great evening and all are welcome.
The annual Pitch and Putt was (not!) held on Tuesday 14 August 2007. The plan had been to do battle over the Woodmill course before retiring to the ‘19th hole’ at Suzie and Howard Palmer’s home for a buffet supper. In the event the weather was so bad that we went straight for the food!
As always Suzie had provided an excellent spread and we would-be players and supporters, about twenty in all, were able to spend even more time chatting and reminiscing about how well we would have played if the sun had shone. Also Norman made sure we earned our supper by inflicting a ‘20th century quiz’ on us.
To encourage you to join us next time, the word ‘annual’ Pitch and Putt means just that. Anyone practising in between or using their own clubs, as occasionally has happened, is deemed a ‘professional’ and is not eligible for a prize!
In October we plan a visit to the Ringwood brewery which includes a Ploughman’s supper. For details see the Newssheet or speak to Ricky Yardley.
On Tuesday 17th July 2007 fifteen sun-seeking(!) folk set off from Southampton at 6.00 on the evening ’cruise’ to Cowes. We did have the sun even if the temperature was average for this ‘summer’, i.e. not as hot as we’d like, and there was a brisk wind which kept only the more seasoned up on deck.
However it was lovely to be at sea and away from the busy roads. Excitement was provided when we saw the rescue services taking off people from a dinghy aground on the notorious Brambles sandbank. Why they had gone aground was not known – they didn’t appear to be kitted out for cricket on the famous low tide ‘pitch’!
On arrival a short stroll to ‘our’ fish and chip shop, Sammel’s, resulted in the usual excellent service and meal eaten ‘alfresco’ under ‘our’ tree (see accompanying photo). If you have noticed that there are only thirteen people in the picture it is because Kay Davies and Peter Fay were taking the photos.
Afterwards we ambled round to the Esplanade for a short stroll by the sea. As we sat and chatted on the trip back everyone said they’d enjoyed it and it made a nice change from sitting in front of the telly. Do join us next year.
The annual Treasure Hunt was held on Tuesday 19 June 2007. Despite heavy showers just before the start at 6.30, five carloads of intrepid hunters (twenty in all) set off from the Wesley car park on a testing trial set by Bea and Peter Fay. Happily the sun came out, and while there were a number of head-scratching moments, we all made it to the destination for a well earned drink and chat.
The booby prize went to the Davies and Richards, who were last to leave and even later to arrive! They achieved a prize because the Palmers and Marshs had opened their brown envelope to get to the pub that evening! Second place went to the blend of youth and experience formed by the Robinsons and Matthews, which certainly pleased the younger Robinsons as the prize was a big box of chocs. – which they generously shared with everyone. The first prize went to the ‘old heads’ of the Wards and McCalls – a bottle of wine, which was not shared! The only team not to get a mention so far is the Yardleys and Jarvis, who experienced dizziness after going round in circles!
We all thank Bea and Pete for setting the test – and providing the prizes. Everyone enjoyed themselves and will be looking forward to next year’s event. Do come and join us.