Luckily, we all understood what “Under the Clock at Waterloo” meant – but all of us on our first Moleside visit since Christmas had to admit to being slightly out of practice at getting there.
Not surprising when we remember the stop/start to our club visits that our Outings Coordinator Paul Walker and all of us have had to endure for the last 2 years. 
determination – and a little help from our mobile IT – we negotiated the marketplace of Lower Marsh onto Westminster Bridge and Lambeth Roads and were quickly rewarded by spotting The Three Stags, the pub where Alan Reilly had booked us lunch in 3 hours’ time.
We’d made it to within sight of our destination – and, with agreement on the arrangements for our rendezvous before our meal together, we began our investigations of the museum’s impressive collection of militaria.
Remembering what is currently going on in Ukraine all of us must have found this instructive experience also exceedingly sobering.
From the realities that led to the First World War and the inhuman treatment meted out by the Nazis in World War Two, the stories here go on to remind us graphically of how we have so far avoided total nuclear destruction – but also how difficult it is to produce a wholly successful outcome to a crisis, even when the world attempts to unite in the face of a tyrant.
We must hope that the detail of history presented by the museum helps the younger citizens who make up the scores of school parties that visit the museum every day learn from what’s recorded so vividly here – and better manage how to avoid such inhumanity in the future.
Thanks to Alan and Paul for a great restart to our Visits programme.