Delphine writes: The bus picked us up at the Orpington War Memorial early [I mean really early] on a beautiful Sunday morning. First we visited the Herschel museum where due to its small size we were split into 2 groups. The museum is unusual in that it is the actual Georgian town-house where William Herschel lived and worked. His workshop is as he left it complete with the cracked and shattered flagstones due to a spillage from a mirror making mould.
We learned that as well as discovering Uranus, William Herschel was also responsible for discovering the satellites of Saturn and other planets, the rotation of Saturn’s rings as well as the motion of binary stars.
In the afternoon we visited Stonehenge where we could amble around or relax on the grass and ponder on how the stones got there. All in all a very pleasant day.
Joe adds: Our scheduled outing to Bath and Stonehenge brought out the Sun when we all assembled in the vicinity of the war memorial at Orpington awaiting our coach which soon arrived and whisked ius on our way. After a pleasant journey during which we were given a very interesting talk by Gilbert on the salient points of the life of the man who was the cause of our outing, William Herschel, we arrived at our destination. Leaving the coach we proceeded on foot to the William Herschel Museum, his home, workshop, and observatory during his time in Bath. An ordinary town house, kept in the same manner as it was when he resided there. A conducted tour would have been appreciated but shortage of staff precluded this. However, we were provided with tape recorders which gave the story of all the rooms in the building where we could wander freely.
Having done so, it was time for lunch and a wander around the town, then meeting up for the return journey and a stop off at that awesome structure of Stonehenge. A truly memorable sight, where again we were provided with audio assistance which gave excellent information. We then boarded the coach for the remainder of our journey having has a thoroughly enjoyable and informative day. A special word of thanks to all involved in the organising of this worthwhile trip. Hurry on with the next one.
