IBM Retirees Club (Midlands)  

                                  (www.retireesmidclub.org.uk)

 

May 2011 Newsletter 

Editorial 

Our thanks to Carole for organising another trip to Highgrove - she must know the location extremely well by now!  Also to Alan for an excellent few days in the Forest of Bowland.

Please note some changes to the Events Status.  There are further details and booking forms for Blists Hill, the Summer Lunch, the Olympic site and a trip to Cornwall for New Year, together with the date for the planned skittles evening.  Some of the cut-off dates are a bit tight but, as we have previously stated, we sometimes have to do this to be able to take advantage of offers.

Quite a lot of interest was generated by the piece about the sale of IBM shares.  I have converted this into a permanent link which can be used as a reference.  If anybody wishes to suggest any amendments/improvements, please get in touch.

This year, IBM is celebrating 100 years.  As part of this, it is planned to recognise the efforts of those who give many hours of service to their community - if you would like to know more about this and perhaps get involved, see the item later in this Newsletter. 

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 Events Status

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Brian Wilson, Newsletter Editor. Telephone: 01926-777710 e-mail: brian_h_wilson@msn.com

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Chairman's Notes

I am delighted to report that Dave Compton left hospital and returned home in the middle of April - a remarkable achievement! Please keep your fingers crossed for his complete recovery.

After all the bad news last time about cancelled and struggling trips this year, we have just completed an oversubscribed trip to the Forest of Bowland (see trip description below). And thanks to all of you who have filled in a trip suggestion form. It is turning out to be a great source of ideas which will definitely improve our 2012 event planning.

We have also managed to hold two PC Club meetings since the last Newsletter. This unusual occurrence seems to be the result of a website building proposal on the agenda. This created more enthusiasm and participation than I have seen for a long time!

Alan Bridgman, Chairman, IBM Retirees Club (Midlands)

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Event Reports

Highgrove 21st April

Our trip to Highgrove in April with a party of 26 was everything a Gardner would want to see in late Spring. Though the daffodils have finished the hundreds of tulips were magnificent, to say nothing of the bluebells and Camassia in the meadows - shrubs laden with blossom of every colour - a gardening delight.

Carole Robertson

Forest of Bowland 9-12 May

A group of IBM Ramblers and IBM Retirees joined forces to explore the little-known area in Lancashire called the Forest of Bowland. The Forest of Bowland is designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) and covers 312 sq. miles of rural Lancashire and North Yorkshire and includes the famous landmark of Pendle Hill. The name 'forest' is used in its traditional sense of 'a royal hunting ground', and much of the land still belongs to the British Crown as part of the Duchy of Lancaster. We used the services of a Blue Badge Guide to take us on a tour of the area and recount the story of the Pendle Witches. We had private tours of two historic houses - Gawthorpe Hall and Browesholme Hall, where we were met by the current Bowbearer of Bowland and owner of the Hall. We stayed in a delightful country hotel in Hurst Green and lunched in two excellent pubs (we shall draw a veil over the third!). The weather was better than forecast and did not deter the ramblers or the sightseers from enjoying the superb countryside.

Alan Bridgman (organiser)

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UPDATE TO THE - Three Counties Show – Malvern – 17th June 2011

Due to low numbers wanting to use the coach we have had to cancel the coach but can still offer subsidized tickets at £9.00 per member and 1st guest.

The Region’s Premier Agricultural Show offering excellent entertainment for all the family and showcasing the best of British food, farming and rural life.

Do you want a fun day out in the Worcestershire countryside with family and friends? Do you like to see magnificent animals, rural crafts and even a bit of stickmaking? Or maybe some food sampling from the finest producers washed down with a cool glass of cider? Or how about watching a stunt motorcycle team jump over a lorry? Well it’s all here.

Have a look at their website, which is where I copied the above write-up from!!

http://www.threecounties.co.uk/threecounties/

Tickets are available for members and first guest to drive yourselves, the price is £9.00 each, we can also include second guests at £13.60 each.

Due to the short timescale, bookings must reach me by Friday the 3rd of June to get the early booking discounts.

To book your place, please complete the booking form and send your cheque to:

Tony Mancell, 73 Mill Street, Harbury, Warwickshire, CV33 9HS.

Telephone:- 01926-613313   Email :-Tony@Mancell.com

- Go to Booking Form

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A Day Trip to Ironbridge Blists Hill Town (organiser - Dave Dagley)

The coach will leave IBM Warwick at 8:30am on Wednesday 27th July 2011.

Ironbridge is the home of ten museums including the "all new" Blists Hill Victorian Town. The Victorian Town is a living museum which gives a real insight into how our predecessors lived in Victorian times. Our coach will drop us at the 'top end' of the town at approximately 10.15am and we will have some 3 hours to wander and explore the shops, the narrow gauge mine railway and meet a host of colourful characters who portray life as it was some 100 years ago.

Food, snacks and drinks are available at a selection of places

Coffee Shop

Located inside the new Visitor Centre, a modern café serving hot and cold drinks, light snacks and delicious farm-made ice cream.

The New Inn & Club Room

An atmospheric public house with a Victorian-style tearoom above, serving traditional hot & cold lunches, morning coffee and afternoon tea.

Lunch will be provided for us at The Forest Glen Refreshment Pavilion ..

STARTER

MAIN COURSE

PUDDING

After lunch the coach will pick us up at the 'bottom end of the town' at 2.15pm to take us onto Ironbridge where we will have approximately ½ hour to absorb the beauty of the gorge and the historic iron bridge itself.

Afterwards we move on to the China museum, home to the Coalport China Factory until 1926, where you can discover the secrets of ceramic production. Whilst here, for those in need of a cup of tea, the YHA (all part of the same building) provides tea and snacks for visitors.

Ready and refreshed for the return journey we leave the China Museum in time to arrive back at Warwick for 6.30pm.

If you wish to travel independently to Ironbridge, please let me know and I will adjust the cost accordingly and let you know where and when you can meet up with us.

The cost of the trip will range from £31 to £36 for Member / 1st Guest (depending on numbers); £45 for second and subsequent guests. The cost includes coach travel and lunch; your admission ticket is valid for 12 months and may be used to enter any of the museums in your own time at a future date.

As there's a fair amount of walking involved there are disabled facilities available for those who need them at each of the sights. Please indicate any such requirements via the booking form.

For further information visit   www.ironbridge.org.uk/our_attractions/blists_hill_victorian_town

Please complete the booking form and send your cheque to :-

David Dagley, 47 Hanbury Road, Dorridge, Solihull B93 8DW.

Email david.dagley@lineone.net, Telephone:- 01564 230020.

If you have already paid the £10 deposit, you can send the booking form as an email attachment.

Dave Dagley

- Go to Booking Form

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SUMMER LUNCHEON - WEDNESDAY 10TH AUGUST 2011 [Organiser Carole Robertson]

A different venue this year for our Summer Luncheon and equally attractive as 2010. Henley Golf and Country Club, Stratford Road, Henley in Arden is our choice for 2011 [www.henleygcc.co.uk]. The restaurant overlooks the golf course and has a large friendly bar for pre-meal drinks. Once you leave the A34 just north of Henley in Arden centre the drive to the Club is a little way, but well worth it. The plan is to meet in the bar area at 12.00 for pre-meal drinks followed by a three course meal with wine for £26 pp for members and first guest.

Please make your selection from the list below and enter these on the booking form.

Starter

Main Course

Sweet

Coffee/Tea

All enquiries to Carole Robertson [carole.robertson@talktalk.net or 0121 704 9677]

- Go to Booking Form

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Day Trip to the 2012 London Olympic Site - Wednesday 12th October 2011 (Organiser: Alan Bridgman)

You may just have heard that the London 2012 Olympics are nearly upon us! All the main stadia are built and the Olympic Village is completed and so I thought that it would be good to have a tour around the site before they fill it up with athletes and spectators. Whether you are planning to go to the Olympics next year, just watch it on television or try and ignore it altogether, I thought it would be good to see what all the fuss is about and see all the facilities at first hand.

We will have an early start from IBM Warwick, travel to central London and pick up our professional Blue Badge guide, who will accompany us for a 3-hour tour. From central London we will travel through London's East End - recently gentrified and fashionable residential areas, scene of the Peasants' Revolt, and once famous for market gardens, fine churches, textile, clothing, furniture and shipping-related industries. Hear a little of the dark side with stories of Jack-the-Ripper and street gangs. And then into the 21st century as you arrive at the Olympic Park with all its various venues - the 80,000-seater Olympic Stadium, the Aquatics Centre, the Velodrome, the Multi-Sports Arena, Olympic Village and Stratford City. As part of the tour we will be able to take a short walk inside the Olympic Park on a raised walkway "the Greenaway" which affords us the best views of the Olympic venues. (Please note that there is no access to the Olympic Park or Olympic Venues for security reasons). If time permits, we may take a tea-break on the way home at the Thames Barrier Park.

The cost of the trip is £31 per member and 1st guest; £44.00 for 2nd guests. This cost includes coach and Blue Guide services and tea. Numbers are limited so it is advised to book early. We will provide a more detailed information pack before the trip so that you can plan your day.

Alan Bridgman Telephone: 01789-267134 Email: abri@waitrose.com

- Go to Booking Form

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Celebrate the New Year with Us

To see the Old Year out, and the New Year in, in style, we have provisionally reserved twelve double rooms for a 3-night festive package at the Porth Veor Manor hotel. If you would like to join in the celebrations, please complete the attached booking form, and send it with a deposit cheque for £40.00 per room, made out to IBM Retirees Club (Midlands), to Simon Barratt, Laurel House, The Green, Tredington, Shipston on Stour, Warwickshire CV36 4NJ by 26th May 2011. Space is strictly limited, so reservations will be made on a strict First-Come, First-Served basis. Those whose reservations arrive after the allocation is used up will be wait-listed and accepted if we can book additional rooms.  

The basic cost to Members and First Guests is £235.00 per person with second and subsequent guests at £294.00, but may vary slightly depending on the cost of the room (sea view or non-sea view)    After the deposit has been paid, the balance will be required in two tranches - the first of £220 by 17th August with the remainder by 30th November.

Porth Veor Manor is only a mile from Newquay, Cornwall’s premier resort. Its terraced lawned gardens overlook the sandy beach at Porth, which can be reached by a private footpath.

Have a look at http://www.porthveormanor.com

Included is:-

This is an “Own Way” package. Transport to and from the hotel is not provided.

The Gala Dinner will be based on-:

Starters

Palette Cleanser

Mains

Desserts

Tea or Coffee and after dinner mints

Simon Barratt Telephone:- 01608 661996 Email:- sjbarratt@btinternet.com

- Go to Booking Form

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Announcements and Advertisments

The Harry Green Way

Many of you will remember Harry Green, who died in 2006, as the original driving force behind the Retirees PC & Technology Group.  Harry was also active in other areas, one close to his heart being the Southam Ramblers Club.  Gordon Jones has given me some information about The Harry Green Way, this being a walk of 21 miles devised in 1988 by Harry which links eight villages in the Southam area.   Go to:-  

http://southamnews.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=534:the-harry-green-way&catid=54:southam&Itemid=82

for detailed information about the walk.  There is a better, book format, guide on the Warwickshire.gov site but that has just the book. 

Brian Wilson

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IBM100: The Centennial Celebration of Service

In 2011, IBM is marking the 100-year anniversary of the company's founding on June 16, 1911. As part of the celebrations, the company is recognising the efforts and commitment of our volunteers - and highlighting the contribution that, together, we make - with a Celebration of Service.

Every year IBM employees and retirees volunteer over a million hours at schools and community organisations worldwide. Such enthusiastic, dedicated and caring individuals are typical of the employees who have contributed towards IBM's great 100-year history.

Make a Pledge

In IBMs Centennial year employees around the world are being invited to show global solidarity by making a pledge and volunteering, to help a project or a community-based organisation of their choice.

IBM retirees, friends, family and business contacts can also pledge their time.

http://www.ibm.com/ibm100/us/en/service/

How to sign-up to a volunteering activity

This year we have a fantastic range of volunteering opportunities that retirees can take part in, alongside the option to create and nominate your own volunteering activities.

To participate in IBM's Centennial Celebration of Service please contact the Corporate Citizenship and Corporate Affairs team at CCRUK@uk.ibm.com

Centennial Grants Programme

As part of the Celebration of Service, IBM has also committed to giving $12 million in the form of grants to support volunteers and exceptional projects around the world. Sums ranging from $500 to $100,000 will be awarded to individuals and teams volunteering in schools, charities and local community groups.

To find out more go to http://www.ibm.com/ibm100/

Jessica Woodward, 76 Upper Ground, Brand System London, SE1 9PZ .

Professional Marketing & United Kingdom Communications

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Sub-Groups of  IBM Club and Retirees Club

IBM Retirees PC and Technology Group (founded by Harry Green)

The IBM Retirees PC and Technology Group meets every alternate month for a lively discussion on PC and technology topics in the digital age. There are usually one or two specific presentations given by members or by outside speakers, which the members of the Group have requested. We try to provide a reasonable balance between PC "techie" topics, new technology, and topics of a more general nature such as digital television, Internet telephony and digital photography . So whether you are a newcomer to the PC or a more experienced user, we hope you will find something of interest. You are very welcome to join us.

Contacts:-   Roger Goodman  email:- ladevie@dsl.pipex.com           Alan Bridgman   email:-  abri@waitrose.com

- Go to meeting dates and other information

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IBM Midlands Golf Society

IBM Retirees and spouses/partners are eligible to play, the events being subsidised by IBM.  The fixture list for 2011 is attached, together with proposals for 2012.  

Please contact one of the undersigned with any queries.

Contacts:-     Graham Seal  email:- gaseal@sky.com           Michael Davies   email:- enosmd@ntlworld.com                

- Go to Fixture List and contacts

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Click on the links below for specific information.  Links to booking forms are from the event announcement. 

  2011 Diary             Booking Conditions for Events               Photographs from Past Events

            IBM Midlands Retiree Club Constitution     Committee Contacts         AGM Minutes 

                                              Newsletter Archives     Newsletter Production     

                                      IBM Club Warwick                          IBM Alumni Programme          

     IBM Pensions Trust (Rewards, IBM Contacts and other useful information)          IBM Shares

                                              Parking at Bedfont Lakes and Harrow

- Return to 2011 Archive List

- Return to Current Newsletter