At present we have eleven members and meet in each other’s homes during the afternoon of the second Monday of the month. As the average attendance is about eight members, we would welcome possibly three new Members to join the group. We take turns to present a topic for discussion about something of interest in the press/magazines, or a research topic such as nuclear fusion, climate change, flood management, the expanding universe.
Occasionally we have a meeting involving short talks about miscellaneous topics. These are easy to develop, usually generate lots of discussion and provide members confidence in presenting full-length talks; the most recent shorts covered the Rogun Dam under construction in Tajikistan, Battery Developments in the UK, an introduction to Quantum Computing and an introduction to Technologies for detecting illegal migrants in lorries and ship containers. Visits have also been arranged to places of interest such as the Signals Museum at Blandford Forum and the Army Flying Museum.
Full talks planned this year include:
Monday 9 February: Stepper Motors
Monday 9 March: Quantum Computing
Monday 13 April: Alzheimer's
Monday 11 May: Detecting Illegal migrants inside HGVs
Monday 8 June: Coastal Management/Engineering
Monday 13 July: Bridge Disasters
Recent talks have included one on St Helen’s Tower, a 55-year-old, 24-storey, 118m high office block built in the City of London. It was constructed using a reinforced concrete central core for lifts and services and the outer steel structure built from the top downwards (with a view to later demolition). The current owners are proposing to build a 74-storey tower which will be the same height as the Shard and known as Undershaft. Demolition has started by removing the outer steelwork from ground level up. Problems to be addressed prior to the new building include the view of St Paul's Cathedral, wind effects, archaeological remains and underground rivers.

Another member talked about Thiophene, an organic chemical which is widely used in everything from nuclear processing, electrochromic displays, denaturation of alcohol, pharmaceuticals and agrochemicals to food flavouring. Traditionally thiophene was extracted from coal tar together with benzene but, as demand grew, it has been made synthetically, initially in the UK and France and, following the closure of the UK site, now in China.
A more technical talk was given on the Expanding Universe, discussing both Dark Energy and Dark Matter.

Janusz Adamson

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