PRESIDENT Martin Lee welcomed Speaker Trevor Tipple and Alan Ford, guest of Tom Potts.

He called for the meeting to observe a minute’s silence at 11am to pay respect to the victims and families caught up in recent terrible events.

President Martin then raised the mood by reflecting on the recent club holiday to Kent.

He observed that most people drove through Kent on their way to Dover without a thought of the delights that the county provides.

Our three day stay had included delightful examples of classic homes and gardens, a vineyard and other sites of historical interest.

Passing on to future events, next on our calendar is the visit to Laskett Gardens in Herefordshire.

45 members and partners are booked on this visit which will include a pub lunch.

August sees us back in the gardens of the home of David and Dawn Valentin for the Annual Barbecue. Looking further ahead, there is a proposal for a visit to the Bristol Aircraft Museum with lunch at a local Golf Club.

Club secretary Martin Budden gave further details of proposals for an outing to Poole with an overnight stay.

This will include a steam train ride, Poole harbour cruise and a visit to the National Motor Museum in Beaulieu.

The club was privileged to have Trevor Tipple as the day’s guest speaker.

Trevor is a church organist, tutor and choir director, as well as running an Organ Building company.

He is the holder of a Certificate of Special Service from the Royal School of Church Music and was awarded the MBE in 2013.

His subject was ‘Pipe Organs, Past and Present’.

Trevor gave details of how a pipe organ works, “a glorified penny whistle” as he put it. Some whistle!

The one where he is principal organist, at St Martins Church Worcester, has over 2000 pipes.

He described the three types of pipes commonly used, metal, wooden and reed, each one having to be individually tuned.

He punctuated his talk by playing passages of particularly fine works of organ music which gave real meaning to his presentation.

The meeting was also treated to an insight of the character of some of his musical colleagues.

These included his friend Australian Thomas Heywood, Dursley’s own Cecil Adams and one un-named who often retired to the local pub during the sermon.