Pictures from the Summer evening phpto shoots were among those featured in the members' "Show and Tell" evening.
Slide Shows were presented by Sylvia Grant form a trip to Switzerland which was accompanied by lovely music.
Carolyn Mcgreggor also presented a slide show from the temples of Ankor.
Enid Taylor also brought in a slide show from her holiday in France to Lake Annecy
Clive McGuiness brought a selection of photos from our summer shoots and also from the lotus car day at duns which was held in the summer.
Allan Dunnet had a small selection of photos from a trip to Switzerland.
The images are a selection from Clive McGuinness Enid Taylors and Allan Dunnetts.
REPORT BY DAVE SANDERSON
THE GREY MIST
Martin Mears showed some photos on the first member’s night of an old ship and talked about the history of the boat.
David Sanderson was interested in the subject and decided to do some research as to what happened to the ship.
David discovered on a yacht website that the Grey Mist was still afloat after all these years.
Martins commentary on the member’s night :-
Before the war my father was an ironmonger, but having served in the Navy during the war, he could not settle down again.
At the time the Admiralty were selling off ships they had commandeered for use in the war. One was the motor yacht “Grey Mist” owned by the Guinness family and used as a mine sweeper throughout the war.
My father sold his business and bought the “Grey Mist” for £4000, which was about the price of two houses then.
I was 16 at the time and joined my parents spending two years chipping off the grey paint. The most difficult part was using a blow lamp and scrapper on the beautiful teak superstructure without staining the panels. To tend the underside the boat was slipped in Southampton. At that time the unions were so strong we were not allowed to work on her, so had to do it at night after the yard had closed.
Eventually we had a charter from the Rothschild family and sailed across the Bay of Biscay and took them on board at Marseilles and toured the Greek Islands.
The last picture shows the dining saloon which had an interesting table that was gimballed with a lead weight slung beneath it to keep it level when the boat rolled.
There were few people who could afford to charter such a large boat in 1950, so it was sold.
Unfortunately I have been unable to find out her fate.
(HISTORY FROM THE WEBSITE)
In 1919 the first blueprints for Grey Mist were written up for H.N. Anderson. A year later Grey Mist, was finally completed by the ship builders of Camper & Nicholson at their yard in Gosport.
In 1926 Sir John Archer K.B.E purchased Grey Mist and enjoyed her till 1934 when Harry Vincent took ownership. Then in 1939 Lady Maud Burton and her husband Ronald Rothbury Burton purchased her. Unfortunately war soon broke out and in 1939 Grey Mist was requisitioned by the British Royal Navy and participated in the Dunkirk Evacuation and was then used as a signal ship throughout World War II.
After the war it was purchased from the Admiralty by Walter Mears. After the restoration he operated it as a charter yacht around the Greek Islands and then in 1951 Martin stayed aboard for some weeks to familiarise the new skipper with all the machinery, and then travelled back to England by train with a small dog and had much trouble with the authorities at Dover about the dog that went into quarantine.
Martins Father then sold it in Cannes to Albert Bachelor who took her out of the British Registry, and later re-named her Marina II in 1966. From there she became hard to follow until the present owners found her in 1993 in Dearborn, South Africa under the name Dorita. Her current owner saw Grey Mist for the true prize she is and started getting her sea-ready and soon she was crossing the Atlantic to America in 1998.
Now she resides in Galveston Texas where she has been restored to her previous glory.
