The inaugural meeting of the Southern Branch took place on Thursday 16 October 1958 in the Council Chamber of Hampshire County Council, The Castle, Winchester. Major H. E. Aldington, President of the Institution of Highway Engineers, addressed those present after which the first meeting of the Committee took place with Mr Norman Jenner, County Surveyor of Hampshire in the chair. Greetings were received from the neighbouring South Western and Thames and Chilterns Branches.

The first Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Branch was held at the same venue on 12 March 1959 at which Mr Jenner was elected Chair and Mr Maurice Milne joined the Committee. Both gentlemen were destined to become Institution Presidents. The Branch is proud of the fact that to date eight Branch or Committee members have served as President of the Institution.

In the early days AGMs and committee meetings were variously held at Winchester, Chichester, Guildford, Southampton and Bournemouth, the latter transferring to Dorset and therefore to the South Western Branch following Local Government Reorganisation in 1974.

In 1967 The Welcome Inn, Petersfield, well remembered with nostalgia by many of our older members, became for many years the exclusive home for all winter technical meetings and for some social gatherings, the last being the 27th Annual General Meeting in March 1985, shortly before the establishment finally closed down.

After a short spell at the Sports Centre, Petersfield, meetings were moved in 1986 to the Grange Centre, Midhurst, which remains the principal meeting place for the Branch.

By tradition two social functions have been held each year – an informal gathering such as an evening social, canal trip or non-technical visit, and a formal dinner/dance, the first of which was a dinner at Hindhead at a charge of £1 per head!

The Chair's Badge of Office depicting the Appian Way, the Institution of Highway Engineer's former logo, was presented to the Branch by Mr Maurice Milne, branch member and President of the Institution in 1975.

The 50th Anniversary of the foundation of the Institution was celebrated by the Southern Branch at the Welcome Inn in January 1980 by Prof. T. E. H Williams and founder members of the Branch, and in January 1984 the 25th Anniversary of the Branch was celebrated at the same venue attended by President Mike Hardy and past Presidents Norman Jenner, Maurice Milne and Tom Williams. Presidential Conferences were held at Southampton University in 1980 and 1998 and the Branch hosted the Locan Cup National Golf Competition in 1982 and 2001. Branch Golf Competitions held annually have been the Midpave Trophy and the Jacomb Jug, and matches have traditionally been held against the Municipal Engineers, Tarmac Limited and the South Eastern Branch.

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