| The organisation of our trip to Manchester is well in hand and will be available to book in the next month. The visit is being planned in conjunction with a sister organisation – Manchester Lit & Phil. Numbers will be limited to around 25. This page will be updated as elements of the trip are confirmed. The trip will be by coach booked from Parks of Hamilton – a company which has helped make previous tours hassle-free. |
Tour
On the way, there will be a guided tour of the Museum of Lead Mining at Wanlochhead. This includes the Miners’ Library opened in 1756; cottages depicting the life of a miner in 1750, 1850 and 1920; and a chance to walk into Lochnell Mine, seeing where and how the miners worked. Possibly finish with lunch at the museum.
Hotel
Members will be staying in the Didsbury House Hotel in Didsbury, chosen because it is four-star, family-owned Victorian town house with only some 30 rooms. An excellent breakfast is included. The hotel is over the road from a delightful park, which includes a house where the RSPB was created out of two earlier societies.
Visits
Lyme Park and House –famous as the location for the filming of Pride and Prejudice. We will get a guided tour of the magnificent house, a separate back stairs tour of the servants quarters and working area, and a tour of the exceptional gardens and grounds. We can have a light lunch in a private room.
Jodrell Bank – Still a working radio telescope doing cutting edge work on pulsars, the Lovel telescope is apparently the third largest in the world. Excellent exhibition and film theatre onsite. Ability to walk right round the telescope. We are hoping to arrange a talk by a professor from Manchester University on the latest developments in radio astronomy.
The Lowry – The delightful small gallery of Lowry’s work is in an interesting location in Salford at the end of the Manchester Ship Canal.
The Whitworth Art Gallery – part of Manchester University, this first rate gallery has examples of fabrics created in Manchester for the African Trade – issues around slavery. We will receive a guided tour with commentary and there is a possibility of viewing materials not on display. This is also an excellent place for lunch overlooking the Whitworth gardens.
People’s History Museum – billed as the National Museum of Democracy with a great collection of relevant materials, banners, posters and guided tours including the story of the Peterloo massacre.
The trip will include half a day free in the centre of Manchester for members to explore other places like the John Rylands Library, the Chinese quarter, the Alan Turing Memorial, the Engels story.
Talks
There will be at least two talks: one on radio astronomy and another on Manchester’s astonishing skyscrapers – far more than any other city in the UK bar London. Also, a possible talk on cotton, slavery and the effects of the American civil war blockade. One talk will be done in co-operation with the Manchester Lit & Phil – a society founded even earlier than our own.
More information will be available in October.