Stokesley University of the Third Age- Travel and Excursions

Stokesley and District U3A - the University of the Third Age

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Travel Group

The Travel Group plans the following excursions.

Pitman Painters - Ashington and Tynemouth Castle/Priory - 25 April 2012

Victorian Newcastle - 30th May, 2012

Berlin and Dresden - 7 days departing 14 June 2012 NOW CANCELLED

Booking Forms and further information for these trips are available from the Travel Group Leader

Pitman Painters - Ashington and Tynemouth Castle/Priory - 25 April 2012

This is a modified repeat of our visit to the Pitman Painters Gallery at Ashington in March 2010 following requests for such a visit as a result of publicity following the recent performance of the Pitman Painters play at Darlington and the BBC TV programme.

The Museum includes the Pitman Painters' Gallery where the surviving paintings of the Ashington Group, as they were known, are on display. There will be a Guided Tour of Woodhorn Colliery Museum including the Pitman Painters Gallery with an opportunity to view their paintings and a Talk about the Painters.

Following our pre-booked Soup / Sandwich lunch in the Oliver Kilbourn room where some 60 of his paintings are on display (not usually open to the public) we will leave for Tynemouth Priory where we will visit the Castle and Priory for approx 1 hour. If the weather is suitable we can then have free time in Tynemouth (maybe to get a coffee) before our return to Stokesley.

The coach will leave Stokesley at 9-00 (returning about 5-30) and the fare will be £38 pp including tea/coffee on arrival and a Buffet Lunch, the Woodhorn Tour and entry to the Castle/Priory. If lunch and accompanying refreshment are not required the ticket price will be £30-00.

Please complete a booking form to reserve your place on this trip.

Victorian Newcastle - 30th May, 2012

9.30 hrs – Meet Tom Keating* at the Angel of the North for coach Panoramic Tour of Newcastle Gateshead. During this tour we will briefly visit:

Discovery Museum, Newcastle – which houses Turbinia, Sir Charles Parsons first ship powered by his great invention, the steam turbine. Other galleries tell of the region's rich history of scientific invention and industrial activity and display some of the most interesting products made on Tyneside including a model of one of Stephenson's famous locomotives and the revolutionary Armstrong No.1 Gun.

Tyne Theatre & Opera House – Now known as The Journal Tyne Theatre this is a Grade I listed building with key elements of outstanding national importance including the lavish auditorium and wooden stage machinery, one of only twenty-three Grade I listed theatres in Great Britain, only ten of which date to the Victorian period. The magnificent auditorium of 1867 is undoubtedly one of the finest of its date in Britain, and remains structurally the same as when originally built.

Leazes Park – Newcastle’s first public park - the first opened on Tyneside, in 1873 for the purposes of Health and Recreation. Recent restoration with the help of Heritage Lottery funding has restored this park back to its former beauty.

12.00 hrs – Soup/Cheese Toastie Lunch at Pitcher & Piano, Newcastle Quayside, with extraordinary views of the Gateshead Millennium Bridge.

13.00 hrs – Quayside and Bridges walk – to enjoy the current world famous panoramas and learn the stories of this amazing location, with particular reference to our Victorian Industrialists.

14.30 hrs – Visits to:

The North of England Institute of Mining & Mechanical Engineers – Located in Neville Hall, a Grade 2 listed building from 1872 designed and built at the height of Gothic Revival, this elegant building is in keeping with the philanthropic and educational purposes of the Institute, it houses the Nicholas Wood Memorial Library, and it contains the hidden reserve of the culture of the North East – The documentary history of coal mining.

The Literary & Philosophical Society –also Grade 2 listed, it houses the largest independent library outside London, with over 150,000 books, and a music library without equal in the North of England. Originally founded in 1793 as a “conversation club” the current building dates from 1825. Various ground breaking demonstrations of new technology took place here, such as George Stephenson’s Miners Safety lamp in 1815, and the society’s lecture theatre was the first public room to be lit by electric light in 1880 when Sir Joseph Swan demonstrated his “Incandescent light. The society still holds a range of lectures, concerts, readings and workshops and membership is open to all.

Ticket Price (including lunch) - £30-00

Please complete a booking form to reserve a place on this tour.

*Our Guides are Qualified Blue and Green Badge Guides experienced in tours of Newcastle and the North East.

The Coach will leave Town Hall at 8.15 am, returning approx 5.30 pm

Berlin and Dresden - 7 days departing 14 June 2012 NOW CANCELLED

Stokesley and District U3A

Registered Charity Number 1117650