“On Tuesday 29th October 2013 several Corhampton Seniors, amongst others, visited the Warsash Maritime Academy’s Manned Model training facility at Timsbury lake near Romsey. As you can see from the photos not only did we get a guided tour of the lake and its facilities, but we had to go back to school as well before hand to learn what the facility
does. This facility trains Captains and Pilots of large container ships and very large oil and liquefied gas tankers to manoeuvre and control them in close proximity to land with the objective of not hitting other ships or going aground. Students come from all over the world to Timsbury, there are only four such facilities world-wide. Courses usually last a week and
cost approximately £6,000 per head. When you consider that the ships that they are responsible cost roughly £450 M the cost of these courses are not expensive. Unfortunately we did not have the time or the expertise to ‘have a go’ on the real thing. The models are 1/25th scale models and their engines and rudders are similarly scaled to ensure that they respond in the same way as the real ships do. Each model can cost from £60 – £ 80 K to build and another £20K to fit out so they are not ‘toys’. We had an interesting and enjoyable three hours.”

George Angas

On the left is Mark Rogers, Keith Waldron, Frank Glasspool and Colin Beames

Ahead in front of the radiator is Mickey Barber and David Searle all from Corhampton Golf Club

Inspecting the models

On the water