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Summer Programme

 

NIAG 2008 SUMMER PROGRAMME             now compleated.

 

 

 

 

Friday 9th May 7.30 p.m.       GRAND UNION CANAL AND NORTHAMPTON ARM, GAYTON                   PICTURES

Friday 16th May 7.30 p.m.      GEDDINGTON CHURCH TOWER

Friday 23rd May 7.30 p.m.     TWYWELL HILLS AND DALES

Friday 30th May 7.30 p.m.     JOS ROGERS AND CRAFTSMAN BINDERS, NORTHAMPTON                      PICTURES

Saturday 7th June             MASSON MILL, MATLOCK BATH, DERBYSHIRE

 

 

 

Friday 13th June 7.30 p.m.

GRAND UNION CANAL AT CRICK

The area around the village of Crick has changed greatly, with the warehouse developments around the M1 junction, including DIRFT and the new Crick by-pass. However, the Leicester line of the Grand Union Canal still retains a rural charm. We will walk along the towpath in the vicinity of Crick to look at the entrance to Crick Tunnel, the site of the old wharf as well as the modern marina. A climb up Crack’s Hill should afford good views of the new developments.

 

Friday 20th June 7.30 p.m.

HARRINGTON AIRFIELD

Harrington airfield was used by a variety of USAAF aircraft types in WW2 and was also used by the ‘Carpetbaggers’. We will walk around the site identifying the main features of the airfield in its wartime use and its later conversion to a Thor ICBM missile site.

 

Friday 27th June 7.00 p.m.

HUNSBURY HILL IRONSTONE TRAMWAY

It is some 15 years since NIAG visited the Hunsbury Hill Museum, home to the Hunsbury Hill Ironstone Trust. This evening we will be given a guided walking tour of the site (including the hillfort), a distance of about 1.5 miles, which will be followed by refreshments and then a tour of the museum/yard. There will be a charge of £1 per person attending to provide a donation towards the cost of refreshments & opening the museum.

 

Friday 4th July 7.30 p.m.

STEVINGTON MILL

Unfortunately we do not have a single working windmill in Northamptonshire, so this visit to Stevington Mill over the county border in Bedfordshire will give the opportunity to remind ourselves of the working of a windmill in harnessing the wind and producing flour.

 

Friday 11th July 7.00 p.m.

HEYGATES MILL, BUGBROOKE

There is evidence for a mill on this site since about 800 AD. The Heygate family have been millers since c.1870 but apart from the 1866 mill house, the buildings of this working mill date from 1941. We will have a guided tour of both old and new parts of the mill complex and this will finish with light refreshments.

 

Wednesday 16th July

EAST ANGLIAN RAILTOUR

An opportunity for a day tour of the East Anglian area using normal passenger services but taking advantage of the Anglian Day Ranger ticket which offers unlimited travel from Ely onwards. The final itinerary will be subject to confirmation once the summer timetables are known, but the day will start from Stamford station (where there is free parking!) on the (approx.) 08.57 train through to Ely via Peterborough and March. At Ely we plan to continue to Ipswich, passing through Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket, and then on to Lowestoft by the East Suffolk line through Woodbridge, Saxmundham and Beccles. From Lowestoft we then travel across the Broads, by Oulton Broad, Somerleyton, and Reedham to Norwich, where we then return to Ely, this time via Thetford, and then back to Stamford as per our outbound journey.

 

Friday 18th July 7.30 p.m.

BLISWORTH WALK

A walk around the Blisworth area offers glimpses of a wide variety of industrial archaeology, covering canals, quarrying, and both early and modern railways, and now also a new innovation, the recently opened Gayton marina.

 

Friday 25th July 7.00 p.m.

NORTHAMPTON GENERAL HOSPITAL MUSEUM

Our final visit of the summer is to Northampton General Hospital's Museum and Archive, located in Billing Road, Northampton. Our visit will start with a brief introduction on the history of the infirmaries before moving on to the museum and archives. Light refreshments will be available at the end.