Excursion to Liverpool
Saturday 3rd May 2008

The intention is to visit at least four varied buildingd: Walton St Mary, a medieval church entirely rebuilt in the 19th century, Toxteth Chapel, a 17th century non-conformist building, All Saints Childwall, a real medieval church (shown), and Wavertree Holy Trinity, a Georgian building. The tour will start from Liverpool Lime Street Station at about 10.30 and be back there by 6pm. Lunch will be provided during the day along with information notes and at some stops there will be short background talks.
The cost for the day will be £18 for members and £22 for non members.
 For full details  and booking form click here.

Excursion to The Isle of Wight
Saturday 21st June 2008

Meet at Portsmouth Harbour Station at around 10.00 am for the ferry to Ryde and then ensuring a ferry is connected with for the return arriving at Harbour Station around 6pm. Times to be confirmed late January.
The possible visits will include: Quarr Abbey, if arrangements can be made, Whippington for its memorials of Queen Victoria's family, possibly Newport for its one very fine 17th century monuments, maybe Merstone, which is difficult to access, hopefully Godshill (shown), both for its monuments and wall paintings, and also Brading for its rare wooden effigy. The final times and itinerary will be sent out at the end of April.
  For full details  and booking form click here.

Excursion to Ipswich
 Wednesday 27th August 2008

The photograph is of St Nicholas's Church. For further photographs of Ipswich church click here - don't miss all the links to other parts of the county.

Ipswich still has a good number of medieval or medieval foundation churches as well as a stunning chapel of national importance, although some are no longer in use for worship and some no longer in use at all. The intention here is to arrange access to as many buildings as possible and for local experts to tell us about them. This will be a walking tour. Meet at the Railway Station around 1030 ish and finish at 6pm at the latest - but probably earlier.
Cost will be £18 for members and £22 for non members. Lunch and refreshments will be arranged.
 For full details  and booking form click here.

Excursion to Middlesex
Saturday 18th October

We have visited all the original medieval parish churches in the old county of Middlesex but it is not yet decided where this tour will go to. You can help Robin decide by sending on a postcard your three churches in Middlesex that you wish to see (whether for the first of unteenth time) and why. Only on a postcard please and it can be anonymous. Decisions will be made in July and communicated to all in the form of an itinerary. You can find Robin's address by clicking here.
Whatever, the start and finish time will be around 10am and 6pm. The cost will be £18 for members and £22 for non members.
 For full details  and booking form click here.

Robin Millerchip - An Appreciation

This, sadly, will be the last tour that Robin will directly lead as Hon Excursions Secretary. On behalf of the Church Monuments Society - and everybody else - I should like to extend a big and warm thank you to Robin for all the hard, skillful and very much appreciated work he has put in as Excursions Secretary over more than twenty years. He - and his wonderful sense of humour - will be greatly missed and just about impossible to replace.

AGM - 2008

This will take place on Saturday 6th September at St Mary's Church, Battersea, London

A One-Day Conference 2008

A one day conference is to be held in conjunction with the Centre for Medieval Studies, University of York at the King's Manor, York , from 10.00 am to 4.30 pm on Saturday 25th October 2008. The focus will be on the organisation of the tomb monument industry in the fourteenth century and it is hoped that it will be the first of a series of meetings in various parts of the country examining the monument industry in different periods.
The programme is still being planned but speakers from the Church Monuments Society will include Sally Badham, Brian and Moira Gittos, Phillip Lindley and Tim Palmer. It is planned that several other speakers both from the Society and from the University of York will take part.
The cost will be £30 per person including morning coffee, lunch and afternoon tea. There will be a reduced rate of £25 for CMS members and students in full time education. A full programme and a booking form will appear shortly but get the date in your diary now.

Study Day 2008

This will take place on Thursday  November 6th at Arundel. Further details will be posted in due course.
The photograph shows Arundel Priory - now the parish church.

Study Day 2009

This will take place at Worcester Cathedral on Saturday 13th June 2009. The cost to members will be £20. Further details will be posted in due course.

EXCURSIONS are organised by Robin Millerchip, Excursions Secretary to the Church Monuments Society, (assistant organiser, Sarah King-Lewis) of Church Tours for both the Church Monuments Society and the Historic Churches Preservation Trust. The cost is usually £18 for members of the CMS  or the HCPT and £22 for non-members, except where indicated. Although the excursions are outlined above, full details may be obtained from Church Tours, 10 Newton Villas, Coxhoe, Durham, DH6 4JF. Tel: 0191 377 0521; e-mail: r.millerchip@btopenworld.com . Church Tours now has its own web site, giving full information: www.churchtours.org.uk For general guidelines to the excursions click here.