The Ordnance Society

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

The Ordnance Society has got 2022 off to a great start.  The Journal, Volume 28 was posted last week and has already been delivered to many UK OS members.  It’s one of our best to date with wide-ranging in-depth articles and lots of colour photos.  The indices have been updated and enlarged to include an index by topic, again, thanks to Alastair Fyfe.  The new Journal will be added to the download list over the next few days.

A fascinating new sub-page has been added to PUBLICATIONS, called ANIMATIONS.  They consist of about 50 different, moving solid 3-D guns or torpedoes, that are gradually broken down into their constituent parts to show how the whole system works, in slow motion.  Riveting, as well as educational, these short episodes are not to be missed!  A lot of hard work by Rob Brassington.

Changes are being made to the layout of the website and if you haven’t received notification of the new location of Newsletters, please contact the Society: ordnance.society@btinternet.com

Printed Newsletters will be posted as normal to those who have requested the hard copy option.

The Ordnance Society has launched the first upgrade of its “WORLDWIDE SURVEY OF BRITISH ARTILLERY”.  The format is very similar to our NATIONAL ARTILLERY SURVEY, but with a different ‘page’ on the spreadsheet for each calibre/gun type.

There are now many more guns than the initial 9.2-inch gun in the first survey sheet, and these include 10-inch, 8-inch, 7.5-inch, 5.5-inch (Naval), 5.25-inch and 5-inch Naval.  A few empty pages for other large calibre guns still remain and these will be populated as soon as possible.  Smaller calibres will be added in the near future.

There are many British guns in overseas countries and the Ordnance Society welcomes Data Input Forms that are sent in.  They are also on the new WORLDWIDE SURVEY OF BRITISH ARTILLERY page.

The latest Agenda and notes for Ordnance Society members to join in the Members’ Talks and Presentations is on the ORDNANCE EVENTS page.

The Ordnance Society AGM will be held online via Microsoft Teams and e-mail invitations have now been sent out.  It MAY be possible to join/attend the AGM and the following session if you do not have a personal e-mail address, but you will need to contact Graham Whittington by 5th November on 07955 804729.

Updated Newsletter indices, including the latest Newsletter No. 135, are now available on the PUBLICATIONS page, thanks to Alastair Fyfe.

Alistair Graham Kerr’s 2nd Newsletter is now available for download from the PUBLICATIONS page.  Hard copies will be posted tomorrow, Monday 4th October, to those OS members who have opted for the printed version.

Details of the 2021 AGM Webinar are on the ORDNANCE EVENTS page.  Please return your Voting Slip, which is included on the page, as soon as possible.

Membership subscriptions were due on 1^st July, so if you haven’t already paid by standing order, please do so as soon as possible using the revised Membership Application/Renewal Form on the Membership Page.

You will notice a new name as Membership Secretary on the form, Graham Whittington, our former Newsletter Editor.

After 26 years in the post our long-serving Membership Secretary, Ian McKenzie is taking early retirement from work, giving up his Ordnance Society post, and retiring to the West Country.  Ian’s work in his role has been gruelling at times, recording members who join and leave, especially when the information isn’t easily forthcoming.  There was also the sometimes difficult task of informing the Treasurer which members had paid their subscriptions, and when.  He also took on the role of storing our archive Newsletters and Journals, and despatching these introductory items to new members, or to researchers who had purchased copies for their own use.

Thank-you very much Ian.

They are back!  With Covid restrictions now easing, our Visits Secretary Neil Grant has revived a number of the visits that had to be cancelled earlier this year, and is working on a full set of visits for next year.

Details are on the VISITS page; the first is to the Vickers Machine-Gun Collection on 26th September and bookings are already open!