The Hampshire Family Historian | Volume 50 No.3 | Dec 2023

Local Group Programmes

Gosport Meetings are normally held on the second Wednesday of each month in the Scout Hut, Clayhall Road, Alverstoke, Gosport, Hants, PO12 2BY from 7.30-9.30.

Contact: Janet Heath Tel: 02392 522 827 Email: gosport@hgs-online.org.uk

Forthcoming Meetings:

Christmas Festivities

December 13th

No details of 2024 available

Ringwood We normally meet at 7.30 p.m. on the third Wednesday of every month at Ringwood Meeting House, 22 Meeting House Lane, Ringwood, BH24 1BY. Visitors and new members welcome. (September) Send a Gunboat – Kevin Patience We met in Ringwood Meeting house on a very wet and windy night for our last face to face meeting before we start on the winter zoom program. This is a very interesting talk about the work the Royal Navy did in the 1870/80 to protect the trade with the spice islands and stop the slave traders. They managed to close the slave market in Zanzibar and build a church on the site but the trade moved to the neighbouring island of Pemba. On a visit Kevin did a trek into the bush on the small island of Funzi where he had heard of four navy graves. These he managed to find and one was to Benjamin Stone, aged 19. Coming from Dorset he connected Benjamin Stone to the isle of Portland in Dorset and eventually found a brass plaque to Benjamin in St George’s church on Portland. There are navy cemeteries on Zanzibar which can no longer be visited ‘owing to the current government’ and along the East African coast. There was a skirmish when the navy destroyed the front of the Sultan`s palace in Zanzibar, called the shortest war. There is a lot more detail in Kevin`s talk which makes the talk well worth hearing. Forthcoming meetings in the Meeting House unless stated otherwise: Contact: Alison Davis or 07806 985671 Email: ringwood@hgs-online.org.uk

December 20th Christmas Festivities In the afternoon No details available for 2024

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