The original Building Visits group is now full, so this second group has been set up to cater for the overspill. This new group is formally listed on the Plymouth U3A website as ‘Building Visits 2’, and will sometimes be abbreviated to ‘BV2’. It will visit places that have already been visited by the original group and some that have not. The BV2 visits will begin in February 2025.
We open doors to modern or historical buildings in the vicinity of Plymouth that are generally closed to the public. Visits are usually scheduled for the afternoon and there may be opportunity to meet-up for lunch beforehand. We will give information about parking at or near the venue, try to organise car-shares and provide information about getting there by bus, if that’s possible. Otherwise, we generally meet at the venue about 10 minutes before the start of the visit. There’s usually no charge for visits, although some venues may ask for a donation. For some visits we ask local historian, Richard Fisher, to come along as a guide and on those occasions each person attending will pay him £5, cash.
Our group leader, Anne Pengelly, organises all the visits. Enquiries about the group and its activities should be made to Anne via email to: anniepen7@icloud.com. Admin support is provided by Roger Coggan, who acts as Anne’s secretary, dealing with email circulations to the group members and updating the information about BV2 on the Plymouth U3A website.
Meets: The precise schedule for meetings depends on when the buildings we wish to visit can accommodate us, but this second Building Visits group will aim to meet on the fourth Monday of the month, or thereabouts, with visits typically starting at 2pm. There is usually no prior commitment required for a visit; you just turn up on the day if you are able to make it. However, some venues may require an up-front payment and/or set a minimum/maximum number of visitors, in which case you will be required to commit to a visit, by booking a place with Anne, the Group Leader. We will also endeavour to circulate info. about public ‘open days’ at buildings & venues that are normally closed to the public.
The following list of places shows the type of buildings/venues we are interested in.
Plymouth synagogue. RNLI Lifeboat building. Stonehouse barracks. The Royal William Yard, Stonehouse. Plymouth City Council chambers, Guildhall and Lady Astor’s house. History tour of The Barbican. Thorn Park Pharmacy Museum. Stoke Church and Devonport Park. Union Street including Tamaritans Theatre warehouse. The former Royal Naval Hospital buildings at Millfields. Devonport Dockyard Heritage Museum. The Duke of Cornwall Hotel tower. Devonport Guildhall, Egyptian house and Market Hall. Mount Edgecumbe Masonic hall and catacombs. Saltash heritage museum and Mary Newman’s cottage. A guided history of Plymouth Sound (boat trip). Devonport High School for Boys. Plymouth’s water treatment plant. The Blockhouse Redoubt. The top floor of the Beckley Point building. Backstage tour of Theatre Royal. TR2 – Theatre Royal’s creative workshop, rehearsal studios and wardrobe. Plymouth’s new crematorium.