Association of Open University Graduates Region 02 The South

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1 Flag of Buckinghamshire Association of Open University Graduates Region 02 The South Edition 13 Summer 2018 Welcome If you are a new member of the Association of Open University Graduates, welcome! Do let us know if you have any ideas for social events within the Region. I hope you do enjoy reading about some of the recent events and our plans for visits over the coming months. Do consider the Pearl events that are being held in each area AOUG is thirty this year! If you plan to attend an event please let the relevant Local Contact, Colin or Mike, know. Save the date!!! The AGM for 2019 will be a little closer to home for us Farnborough. The dates will be 17 th 19 th May 2019 so put the date in your diary now and we hope to see you in 2019! Association News It was a pleasure to see a number of the Region s members at the AGM in Rochdale this year. One item that proved to invoke a lengthy discussion during the formal AGM meeting was that it was proposed by the ex-treasurer that the membership did not, as a matter of course, appoint the auditors for a further twelve months. The reasoning behind this is that the audit can cost about 3,000 per year and is not a legal requirement for an Association of our size and turnover. As many of you are aware, we are having to keep a very tight rein on the finances of the Association due to our reduced level of subscriptions. Our membership numbers have been declining for a number of years now and with less support from the OU recently to aid our recruitment, we are not sure whether this situation will improve in the long term but we have to consider the short term at this exact point in time to ensure the Association can remain afloat. The proposal was that the EC could have the opportunity to look at other, more cost efficient alternative, particularly for the next twelve months. This provided an opportunity for quite a lot of discussion from the members in attendance with views from both sides on how to progress. Eventually the proposal was passed that we would not automatically appoint the auditors for the next twelve months and that the EC would need to move this forward at their July meeting and decide what would be acceptable for the next year. 1 Page

2 Have you returned your General Data Protection Regulations Consent Form? I m sure that all of you have been bombarded with correspondence about GDPR and are probably totally confused by what is required. As a membership organisation, AOUG will still continue to send you your OMEGA and any other membership communications but we still need you to return your consent form to ensure that the information we hold on you is correct and also for you to express your preferences for the methods of contact we may use. Everyone needs to tick yes to postal so that we can send out the OMEGA but we need you to tell us if we may also use or phone as well. AOUG never passes your information to any other organisation (not even the OU) with the exception of the printers for OMEGA and they only use it for the single mailing and then destroy all data afterwards. So please help us comply with the new regulations by ensuring you have returned your form, or if you forgot, by doing it now. Help AOUG to remain legal. AOUG Research Awards and Foundation Lecture The AOUG Foundation for Education Research Awards Ceremony will be taking place on The Open University Campus, Milton Keynes on Friday 5 th October The venue is the Michael Young Building, rooms 1 and 2, and the ceremony will commence at 12noon. This is a ticket only event, open to all, at a cost of which covers the cost of attendance at the Awards Ceremony, Buffet Lunch and after lunch a seat at the AOUG Pearl Anniversary Foundation Lecture. We are pleased to have as our lecturer Dr Ursula Stickler who is Senior Lecturer, OU School of Languages and Applied Linguistics and lists one of her interests as eyetracking. The title of the Lecture is Follow my eyes: What eyetracking tells us about online language learning and this promises to be a very interesting topic. Tickets and/or further information can be obtained from AOUG Office or aoug@open.ac.uk. Pearl Anniversary Weekend AOUG is thirty years old so it is definitely time to celebrate! If you missed the AGM Weekend then you must be sure not to miss the Pearl Anniversary Weekend. The Research Award Presentations and the annual Foundation Lecture will take place as normal on the first Friday in October (Friday 5 th Oct) on the OU campus. However afterwards you can stay for the weekend when there will be opportunities to visit the OU Observatory, have guided tours around campus, take a coach trip to Stoke Bruerne to watch a Blacksmith s wrought iron demonstration, visit the canal museum and take a trip on a canal boat and take a coach tour to Bletchley Park. All activities are priced individually so you can choose as much, or as little, as you wish but be sure to book for the highlight of the weekend, the Anniversary Celebration Dinner on the Saturday when we ask everyone to wear something with pearls or a pearlised element. Bletchley Park. Taken by Sandra Higgins Booking forms were in your Spring OMEGA but an extra one is attached to this Newsletter in case you have mislaid your original. Book early as places are limited and we would hate you to miss these celebrations. 2 Page

3 Recent events Portsmouth and South Downs Area Our bi-monthly coffee mornings in Portsmouth have continued in 2018 (with one exception), and should carry on into Over the last few months in the Portsmouth area we ve enjoyed a visit to Buckler s Hard, near Beaulieu. The village was founded in the 1720s by the second Earl Duke Montagu who had hoped it would a trading port. This never came to fruition, but the site, sloping down to a bend of the Beaulieu River, became a shipbuilding site with an almost ready-made slipway. Many ships were built, both for commercial trade, and the Royal Navy, including what is supposed to be Nelson s favourite, HMS Agamemnon. Village lives, and the building of wooden vessels, are reflected in the museum and the beautifully restored cottages; Buckler s Hard played an important part in the run-up to D Day in The village school became a chapel still used for services - with a cellar that was used for the storage of contraband in the 18 th century, when the Beaulieu River was a major landing point for goods smuggled in from France. (The Smuggler s Song, by Rudyard Kipling, embodies this activity very well). The shipwrights workshop (made from trees all from within one mile of the site) is still in use by local apprentices, and one of the cottages now serves as the Master Builder s House Hotel to where we adjourned for a very enjoyable lunch. In August we will continue the maritime theme with three events in one day, to go with the AOUG 30 th Anniversary visits to the Diving Museum in Stokes Bay, Gosport, lunch at the Old Ship in Lee-on-the-Solent, looking out over the Solent itself and then going to the world s only Hovercraft Museum, also in Lee-on-the Solent. Later in the year we will visit the newly-revamped D Day Museum in Southsea. Details are in the Diary Dates. Beaulieu River photo courtesy of Mike Bechley 3 Page

4 Buckler s Hard Cottages photo courtesy of Mike Bechley Oxford Area In February we welcomed old friends and new to our coffee morning at the Bodleian Library. It was great to see friends who we had not seen for a number of years who we welcomed back, as well as our regular attendees. We chatted about what our Pearl event may be later in the year as well as discussing a venue for a late Autumn walk towards the centre of the Region. Some of the group then enjoyed lunch whilst others enjoyed the latest free exhibition Designing English about the graphic design of handwritten manuscripts and inscriptions. It includes a number of medieval manuscripts from the Bodleian s collection. On 26 th April, a small group visited the Soldiers of Oxfordshire Museum in Woodstock. The current display highlighted the tremendous contributions of the Indian Army, and its connection with the Oxford and Bucks Regiments, in the two World Wars. Other highlights included a section on Winston Churchill and his service with the Queen's Own Oxfordshire Hussars (the Oxfordshire Yeomanry) and a display of the front section of a Horsa glider which was accompanied by a first-hand audio description of the airborne assault on Pegasus Bridge on D Day. There were also sections on 21 st Century wars, the Secret War, the liberation of Bergen- Belsen and Oxfordshire Air Power andbattles. Afterwards we adjourned to a local hostelry for a very pleasant lunch. Another successful Aylesbury coffee/lunch meeting took place in the late Spring where we were joined by members from Regions 06 who came to visit Aylesbury and share their news with us. This was a good opportunity for everyone to catch up and meet some new faces. 4 Page

5 Future events Portsmouth and South Downs Area Wednesday 11 th July at 11.00am Meet for our Summer get-together at the Toby Carvery, Copnor Road, Portsmouth, PO3 5HS, to discuss further events for the year. Saturday 18 th August at 11am -The Pearl Anniversary Event Come to any or all of the following: 11am - Meet at No 2, Battery Car Park, Stokes Bay Road, Gosport, PO12 2QU for a visit to the Diving Museum. This is a small museum housed in part of the old coastal defences, and shows a remarkable collection of diving items dating from the first use of diving equipment up to an including James Bond. Admission charge is pm (approximately) adjourn to the Old Ship. Marine Parade West, Lee-on--Solent, PO13 9BW, for lunch. There is ample car parking by the pub, or in side roads or on the promenade. 1.30pm (approximately) meet at the Hovercraft Museum, Marine Parade West, Lee-on-the- Solent, PO13 9NS. Parking on the road or in adjacent side roads is free. The Hovercraft Museum (admission 8/ 7) has the world s only collection of hovercraft, from the days of its invention by Sir Christopher Cockerell to the present day. At 2pm and 3pm there will be an opportunity to take a short ride in one of Hovertravel's modern craft (weather permitting) and be shown the spin, the deflation of the skirts and the amazing ability to move easily from a water-craft to a land-craft. All venues are served by the X5 bus service (every thirty minutes) from the Gosport Ferry or Fareham Railway Station. Wednesday 17 th October at 11.00am Meet for coffee at the Toby Carvery, Copnor Road, Portsmouth, PO3 5HS. Lunch will be available for those who can stay. Saturday 24 th November at 11.00am. Meet at the main entrance to the D Day Museum, Clarence Parade, Southsea, PO5 3NT, to see the Overlord Embroidery (88 metres long) an LCVP landing craft of the type used in Normandy in 1944, a Horsa Glider and a unique Beach Armoured Recovery Vehicle. Admission charge approximately 8. There is no public transport to the Museum, but bus service 1 (every ten minutes) from Portsmouth Harbour station / The Hard Interchange passes nearby along Palmerston Road; alternatively it is a twenty minute walk from The Hard. Wednesday 9 th January 2019 at 11.45am for 12.00noon. Meet at the Toby Carvery, Copnor Road Portsmouth, PO3 5HS for our annual New Year s lunch. There is no need to book, but please advise the Portsmouth Area local contact by 3 rd January if you intend to come. Oxford and Area Saturday 7 th July at 1.45pm: Tour of Brightwell Vineyard, Rush Court, Shillingford Road, Wallingford, OX10 8LJ. Meet at the entrance. The tour, which starts at 2.00pm, lasts for two hours; one hour for the actual tour, then a "tutored tasting of wines". Tickets are Please advise the Local Contact, as he has to confirm numbers before 30 th June. 5 Page

6 Saturday 18 th August at 11.15am: Annual Oxford Walk. Meet outside Oxford Station. The intention is to walk along the Thames Path to Wolvercote, then lunch at The Plough Inn. After lunch, return along the Canal Path. Alternatively, catch the No. 6 bus back to Oxford. This is the reverse of the walk the Group did three years ago. Tuesday 4 th September at 12noon. Meet at The Bell, Market Square, Aylesbury (HP20 1TX) Join one of our coffee/lunch gatherings in Aylesbury. This will be the Aylesbury Pearl Celebration Gathering. This is an opportunity for local members to get together at one of our occasional social events in Aylesbury. There will be a copy of OMEGA and an AOUG backpack on the table. Saturday 8 th September at 12noon Meet at the Côte Brasserie, 41-47, George Street, Oxford OX1 2BE for an AOUG Pearl Celebration Lunch. This will be more expensive than our previous lunches, but it is a special occasion, and the food is good. Please advise the Local Contact, as he will need to reserve a table. Thursday 18 th October at 11.15am: Meet at Bodleian Library, Weston Entrance, Broad Street, Oxford (OX1 3BG) for coffee. Afterwards visit the Bodleian Library's Tolkien: Maker of Middle-Earth Exhibition, which explores Tolkien's amazing legacy from his genius as an artist, poet, linguist and author, to his academic career and family life. Entry is free. A limited number of tickets are available each day on a first come first served basis. Book at (ticket free, but a 1 booking fee per transaction). Thursday 15 th November at 1.30pm Meet at Bodleian Library, Weston Entrance, Broad Street, Oxford (OX1 3BG) for an early afternoon tea. Afterwards, cross the road to the Museum of the History of Science for a tour of the Museum and its collections. Led by an award-winning volunteer guide, they usually take place every Thursday at 2.30pm and 3.15pm. Thursday 20 th December at 11.15am Meet for a coffee morning in the Ashmolean Museum's rooftop café, Beaumont Street, Oxford (OX1 2PH). It is anticipated that the annual Oxford Christmas Market will be taking place in nearby Broad Street. Lunch Time Organ Recitals These are held in most months, usually on the third or fourth Wednesday, in the Oxford Town Hall, St Aldates, on the world famous Father Willis organ. "Bring your lunch and enjoy". The recital is from 12pm to 1pm. Admission, on the door, is 4, which includes tea/coffee and biscuits. Dates from Local Contact, or go to Local Contacts Oxford and Area Colin Reed - Home Telephone: Mobile: (Event Days Only) colin@crv-reed.demon.co.uk Portsmouth and Area Mike Bechley Home Telephone: Mobile: m.bechley@ntlworld.com 6 Page