THE New Year meeting was well attended and we were joined by several visitors.

The chairman brought us up to date with group news including a change of venue for the late spring holiday.

We were also reminded that we need someone to take over the post of treasurer when Ernie Styles retires at the next AGM.

The speaker, Alan Hayhurst, was introduced , and his talk was entitled 600 miles down the Nile.

We learned this had been his childhood dream, but it was many years before he and his wife undertook the trip.

We started the journey looking at three pyramids and were told that they date back to between 4,000 and 3,300 years BC.

They all vary in size and to this day it is not known how they were built.

They are tombs for the Pharoahs and designed for one interment. It takes 70 days to mummify the body and then it would be buried.

Depending on the wealth of the Pharoah his body would be surrounded by goods which he would need on his journey to the afterlife.

Rameses 2nd had a great interest in architecture and built more monuments, pyramids and temples than any other Pharoah.

Alan took us on a tour visiting many of the sites including Luxor and Karnak. Here we saw an avenue of Sphynx 1mile long which connected these 2 sites.

In the valley of Kings there are 62 Pharoahs buried, including the tomb of Tutankhamun which was discovered by Howard Carter in 1922.

The Aswan high Dam was built by the Russians and completed in 1970.

This provides hydro electricity and irrigation.

Before the construction of the dam two temples which were carved out of solid rock had to be dismantled and raised up 200 feet.

Our journey down the Nile was fascinating and Alan was thanked for the talk and the many slides that brought it all to life.

Our next meeting will be on February 18 when the speaker will be Frederick W. Jones with a talk entitled What A Carry On.

Dorothy Wilson