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Additional Event Archived Event Reports | Winter Talk 1 - HMS Edinburgh Gold Winter Talk 1 – The Salvage of the Century
We had our first winter talk of 2026 on Sunday 18 January, combining a fascinating talk, good food and good company. Mike O’Meara from the Diving Museum delivered an excellent talk focusing on the amazing story of how a team of divers retrieved hundreds of gold bars from the wreck of WW2 battleship HMS Edinburgh in the deep, icy waters of the Barents Sea off Muransk. The museum re-opens later in 2026. You can see and feel the (lead reproduction) bullion bar as well as learn more from Mike and his team about this and other diving operations. There is also a lot of information about the HMS Edinburgh operation online ( Salvage of the Century, HMS Edinburgh and Her Cargo of Gold | Alchemist | LBMA) . The staff at O Sole Mio looked after us well, providing excellent food and the ideal location for the talk. January days can be quite dreary, with many boats out of the water and sailing days still some way off, so it was great to have the chance to see so many friends at the talk. Christmas Social Meeting December 2025 Jingle and Mingle The Harvester hosted Port Solent Yacht Club for our latest pre-Christmas "Jingle and Mingle" social event. It was lovely seeing such a good turn out. Attendees included the "real" Santa (thank you Derek Kaminski for having a word with Saint Nick and his little helper - it's a shame that nobody could find Derek on the night to say "thank you" in person...), not to be confused with a second "interloper" Santa accompanied by one of the reindeer! As you can see from the photos, many of the club members made a point of letting Santa know that they have been good this year. The Port Solent buskers provided some live music, combining Christmas songs with a rendition of the unofficial PSYC anthem "Hotel California". Assuming they get asked back again the buskers need a band name. "PSYC O'Killers" or "Motel California" are currently in contention but suggestions welcome. Yours aye, Alan Taranto Night - Marriott Hotel Taranto Night Dinner Review Saturday 8th November 2025 Marriott Hotel, Port Solent
However, ‘Team Taranto' did a fabulous set up job at the Marriott; Dave and Claire Fortey, John Scott, Alan Bowie, and Jane Nweze made ready for ‘Battle Stations’. Following ‘Grace’ by the Commodore, our ‘Battle of Taranto’ raged in between courses, and at times, the interchanges did resemble a bun fight in a kids’ playground but definitely added to the overall sense of chaos and fun.
I don't think that throwing ‘popper’ shells was quite part of the plan, but improvisation is often the essence of combat success. A very big thank you to all table captains on both ‘sides’, namely Deborah King, Mark Reed, John Scott, David Jump, Paul Depper, Nikki Richardson, Derek Kalinski and John Heaton and also the Bunting ‘Person’, Ryan Morgan, and Alan Bowie, as Captain of Illustrious and very much in command of the telegraph. Your collective efforts made a splendid contribution to the success of the evening. A little more discipline in ‘the ranks’ would have been welcome but obviously not as much fun! I wonder whether the Marriott will have us back.
And finally, Dave Fortey, as well as delivering a humorous script, should now be thinking of auditioning for a role on ‘Blue Peter’ as the sticky back plastic king, given the superb ‘props’ he created for the evening. Taranto Night is ‘enthusiastically’ commemorated by the Fleet Air Arm but, in drawing the evening’s proceedings to a close, Dave brought us back to the reality of the harsh battle, and the courageous men that, again, changed the course of history. And so, with one final 'tap of the gavel’ my heartfelt thanks and BZs to everyone in PSYC for helping make the events of the past two years, so much fun. Susan
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Should you ever decide to hold a ‘Taranto Night’ Dinner, don’t underestimate how long it takes to make up at least 100 cardboard biplanes, particularly when a discussion ensues, late in the day, as to the relative aerodynamics of planes, either with or without propellers, trajectory, and likelihood of reaching target (Thank you John Scott and Dave Forety); not to mention the small matter of inflating over 30 helium 'barrage' balloons.
In the first few waves of attack, some ‘Italian’ tables were rather overzealous with their gunfire, and ended up short of ammunition; they did, however, very kindly send the British planes back without the need for sprightly reconnaissance and retrieval. (By the way, congratulations to whoever landed their plane on top of 824 Squadron’s table plane).
Andy Cassel Brown with 'fun' as his middle name, did a sterling job of rallying his Italian Fleet. His sense of style and dress, line delivery, both scripted and unscripted, was impeccable, ably assisted by Angie...did anyone else think of the film 'Love Actually’.
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