Today we were invited, along with the Lord Mayor of Portsmouth and other Mayors and Chairmen from across Hampshire, to the annual Fareham Civic Day.
We gathered in the Mayor’s Parlour in the Fareham Civic Office before leaving for a tour of the very interesting Bursledon Brickworks Industrial Museum in Swanwick. Here we were given a guided tour of the country’s last steam driven brickworks and shown how to make a brick by hand, as well as seeing some of the machinery in action.
Also to be found at the brickworks are the Hampshire Narrow Gauge Railway Trust and the South Hants Historic Steam and Engineering Society, both with working steam engines.
From Bursledon we were taken to Fareham College for lunch, before travelling the short distance to HMS Collingwood.
At Collingwood we were taken to the ship’s bridge simulator and then on to the indoor shooting range, where we were able to try our hand at firing a simulated Browning pistol.