Portsmouth
Portsmouth has played a major role in British history, particularly as the home of the Royal Navy. The rich heritage in the city offers a variety of activities for the visitor, not least the Historic Dockyard which houses one of the most important collections of historic warships in the world. This includes HMS Victory, Lord Nelson’s flagship used at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, and the Mary Rose, a Tudor-era warship. Boat tours of the harbour also allow ships of the modern navy to be observed. As an important military base for 2,000 years, the Portsmouth area contains fortifications from almost every era of British history.
Portsmouth was the TSS venue in the autumn of 1958, the first year the Society held two meetings, a regular annual practice now since 1967. It was hoped that those who did not attend the spring meeting in Turkey because of the distance might come to a meeting closer to home, and so it proved. Bernard Williams arranged the 1958 programme, which involved all three Portsmouth hospitals and included a pioneering Syringe Service, forerunner of the now universal central sterile supply. Problematic rare clinical cases were presented and discussed. Finally, members had the opportunity to see over an aircraft carrier. Home meetings were held every three years thereafter until 1967, then annually.
Images above show the Spinnaker Tower and HMS Victory