The Ordnance Society

Ordnance & Artillery of All Periods


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BRITISH GUNS ABROAD – A WORLDWIDE SURVEY OF BRITISH ARTILLERY

The Ordnance Society is pleased to announce the launch of another of its ARTILLERY SURVEYS, the “WORLDWIDE SURVEY OF BRITISH ARTILLERY”.  The format is very similar to our NATIONAL ARTILLERY SURVEY, but there is a different ‘page’ on the new spreadsheet for each calibre/gun type.

Initially there is only one calibre, the 9.2-inch gun, that has data included so far, and empty pages have been set up for other large calibre guns.  It is planned to populate these empty pages as soon as possible, as a number of these gun calibres and types are already included on Flickr sites that we have access to.  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 on the new WORLDWIDE SURVEY OF BRITISH ARTILLERY page.

 


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MEMBERSHIP SUBSCRIPTIONS & NEW MEMBERSHIP SECRETARY

Membership subscriptions were due on 1st 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.


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ORDNANCE SOCIETY VISITS

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!


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NATIONAL ARTILLERY SURVEY – 4th UPDATE

The latest update includes 55 new guns that are mainly from the Royal Armouries collection at Fort Nelson.  They range from gun tubes for the Iraqi supergun project (Operation Babylon) to some very early breech-loading guns and converted 32 pr cannons.

The number of British B.L. and Q.F. guns reported from overseas continues to grow and will be published soon.

There are still unreported guns in the UK as well, and the Ordnance Society would be pleased to receive and publish their details.


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ORDNANCE SOCIETY AGM 2021 & NOMINATIONS FOR THE O.S. BOARD

At the recent board meeting the AGM was confirmed as a webinar event and will be held on Sunday 7th November. The starting time will be 14:00 GMT, which will give our many overseas members the opportunity of attending an Ordnance Society AGM.

Nominations for the Ordnance Society Board should be made to the Secretary, Nicholas Hall, as soon as possible and no later than Friday 17th September.  The relevant section from the constitution is as follows:

40. Nominations of persons for election to the Board of Management must be in
writing to the Secretary no later than 45 days before the meeting and contain the
name of the proposer and consent of the person nominated.

The Secretary’s postal address and e-mail are:

Mr N Hall

Walnut Farm
Pulham Market
Diss
Norfolk
IP21 4X

aghada_hall@yahoo.co.uk