3rd April 2025

Although not a word recognizable to most people these days, ‘Shrievalty’ refers to the ancient office of sheriff, the oldest Crown appointment in continuous use since pre-Conquest times. At today’s meeting, club member Kim Staniforth gave an extremely informative talk about the long history of the role, and his own experience of serving as High Sheriff of South Yorkshire during 2001/2002.

As Kim explained, the word ‘sheriff’’ is a contraction of the term ‘shire reeve’ and designated a royal official responsible for keeping the peace (a ‘reeve’) throughout a shire or county on behalf of the king. The office may date back as far as the 9^th century, but it was certainly in existence by 1020. Thereafter, in spite of the changes to society and its administration brought about as a result of the Norman Conquest (1066), the term was preserved in England. The original duties of a sheriff included acting as the king’s administrator, enforcing the law and, importantly, gathering taxes on behalf of the Crown. Unsurprisingly, it was this latter duty that could made a sheriff unpopular in the eyes of the general population especially if, in his zeal to collect taxes for the king, he also retained some of the proceeds for his own ends – his being an otherwise unpaid office.

Over time, many of a sheriff’s former duties were transferred to other administrators, such as civil servants under the direct control of central government. Justices of the Peace and the Police became locally responsible for matters of law and order, with the result that the office of High Sheriff was left with a role that, nowadays. is largely symbolic and traditional. From once being an appointment for several years (or even life), the current term of tenure is for one year, and can see either men or women fulfilling the office.

The speaker concluded with a description of his experiences during his tenure as High Sheriff of South Yorkshire. Primarily, his duties were to support the Lord Lieutenant as the monarch’s representative in the county. He also attended a multitude of official functions at venues such as universities, churches, and assemblies of the judiciary. It was essential that he remain apolitical, especially at times when, as Returning Officer at elections, he needed to be demonstrably neutral.

Clearly, he had taken great pride in serving the community, even though the workload had at times been heavy and exhausting.

Chris Jewitt and Kim Staniforth

20th March 2025

Now an established event in our calendar, the annual springtime debate this year was held today. On this occasion, the motion was ‘This house believes that the former railway line (occupied by the Monsal Trail) should be reinstated between Matlock and Manchester.’ Leading the discussions were club members Kim Rainsford who supported the proposition and Ainslie Kelly who opposed it, with Chairman Christopher Jewitt overseeing the proceedings. A preliminary vote among those present indicated a clear majority against the motion.

Opening the debate in favour of the motion, Kim Rainsford related the history of this main line railway linking the East Midlands direct with Manchester. It was opened throughout in 1863, downgraded under the Beeching proposals, and closed by Barbara Castle, Minister of Transport, in 1968. In the 1980s, a group of enthusiasts proposed re-opening the section between Buxton and Matlock, an idea which evolved into the preserved Peak Rail, a popular tourist attraction known to us all. Extending Peak Rail’s operation through Bakewell to Miller’s Dale and Buxton would greatly enhance the attractiveness of the preserved railway. With negotiation and planning, the route could also carry trains from the national network, thereby restoring its usefulness as a much-needed direct through route. Reinstating this railway would provide a more economical and environmentally friendly option for transporting limestone from the quarries around Peak Forest than both existing lorry haulage and the roundabout routes which have to be taken by rail at present.

Opposing the debate’s motion, Ainslie Kelly concentrated on the beneficial effects of the Monsal Trail which uses the section of the closed line between Coombs Road Viaduct (Bakewell) and Blackwell Mill (Wye Dale). This was taken over by the Peak District National Park Authority in 1981 as a recreational facility for use by walkers, cyclists and horse riders but its full potential was not realised until 2011 when the numerous tunnels were reopened, thus creating an 8½-mile uninterrupted route. Its popularity with tourists and local residents is enormous, and many of the district’s businesses rely heavily on it. Proposals to reinstate the railway have raised their heads on several occasions, most recently by MEMRAP (Manchester and East Midlands Rail Action Partnership), all of which have been greeted with strong opposition from the tourist businesses, many local residents and environmentalists (fearful of the noise, vibration and pollution that would accompany the reinstated trains). Ainslie reinforced his arguments by pointing out the failure so far by MEMRAP to identify an acceptable alternative walking, cycling and disabled-user route for those who would be displaced from a closed Monsal Trail. He also questioned the strategic need for this reopened rail link bearing in mind the recently upgraded Hope Valley line.

Following these two presentations, the debate was thrown open to the meeting and a lively discussion ensued. Finally, a closing vote on the motion of the debate resulted in an even larger majority against it than at the start of the meeting.

Kim Rainsford, Christopher Jewitt and Ainslie Kelly

6th March 2025

“We take them for granted, like our parish churches, the country houses seem always to have been there, since time immemorial, part of the fabric of our heritage. They stir the heart with emotion, for in a sense, the historic houses of this country belong to us all.” In this talk, club member Peter Stubbs was quoting Dr. Roy Strong, the then Director of the Victoria and Albert Museum in his introduction to the now celebrated 1975 exhibition entitled ‘The Destruction of The Country House’.

As Peter explained, in 1880 the landowners were the richest men in the country but, over the following fifty years, due to agricultural competition from the USA in the form of imports of corn, and the introduction of Death Duties, many country estates became unviable and country houses of architectural and historical importance were lost. The great landowners whose ancestors had been on the Grand Tour of Europe and had bought paintings by the great masters saved themselves and their estates by selling art to the newly rich Americans. But others, who did not have a fine art collection to fall back on, were in real trouble. They found themselves faced, each generation, with Death Duties to pay, and in many cases managing an estate with a reduced income but with the same running costs. Over eight hundred country houses were recorded as lost – many through demolition because buyers could not be found.

The greatest houses, such as Chatsworth, Blenheim and the like survived, as did many other great houses thanks to The National Trust which, after a change in the law in 1937, was allowed to accept not only a great house but also the endowment of its contents and land in lieu of the payment to the Treasury of Death Duties. The Trust needed the endowment to provide for future maintenance and management costs. Although the greatest houses may have been saved in this way, other more modest estates with still beautiful historic country houses at their heart remain in a precarious financial position, with their future insecure.

Peter Stubbs and Christopher Jewitt

20th February 2025

In times of war, secrecy in planning a military operation is an obvious requirement but there are also occasions when it is deemed necessary to suppress any information about the operation long after it has been completed. An example of this was given today by club member Phil Spillane, who related the story of World War II’s ‘Operation Tiger’ and its aftermath.

Setting the scene, Phil described how, in planning the 1944 D-Day invasion of Normandy by the Allied forces, it was essential for rehearsals to be carried out and, with its similarity to the likely conditions to be expected on the Normandy beaches, a section of the South Devon coast (known as Slapton Sands) was selected for the purpose. Hence, in 1943 orders were issued for the evacuation of all civilians, their livestock and equipment from the hinterland of the Sands, and the whole area was placed under strict British and American military control.

Landing exercises started in December 1943, with Operation Tiger taking place in April 1944. The rehearsal was to cover all aspects of the invasion, culminating in a beach landing from nine tank-landing ships (LSTs). Thirty thousand American troops prepared for their mock landing, which also included a live-firing exercise. As a result of communication failures between various elements of the military, some of the landing ships came under fire from the land-based forces and suffered many casualties. The next disaster occurred when another flotilla of LSTs was attacked by enemy gunboats. In total, almost 750 American servicemen were killed during Operation Tiger but, due to wartime security, the whole episode was suppressed and ‘forgotten’.

But, as the speaker explained, this was not the end of the story. In 1974, a Devon beach-combing resident, Ken Small, uncovered evidence of the events of 30 years earlier and his attention was drawn to a large underwater object, lying in 60ft of water, ¾ mile offshore. This turned out to be an American Sherman tank. After years of trying, he succeeded in buying it from the US government and arranging its salvage. It now serves as a permanent and official memorial to those who lost their lives in Operation Tiger.

Christopher Jewitt and Phil Spillane

6th February 2025

Such have been the advances in aircraft technology since the beginning of the twentieth century that it is sometimes difficult to realise that there are people living today who were once acquainted with the pioneers of aviation. One of the earliest British aviators and designers was Sir Geoffrey DeHavilland, and it was the story of this man and his achievements that was the subject of this talk by club member Brian Barry, who in the late-1950s was an apprentice at the DeHavilland factory in Hatfield where he occasionally found himself in the great man’s presence.

Opening his talk with a brief outline of his own early career, Brian continued by describing that of DeHavilland who was born in 1882 and, after serving an apprenticeship in the emerging motor industry, started to make aeroplanes in the first decade of the new century. Unfortunately, his first attempt, completed in 1909, crashed on its maiden flight but, undaunted, DeHavilland learned from this experience and went on to design and manufacture some notable aircraft types such as the Tiger Moth (of which almost 9,000 were built), and the Mosquito (a combat aeroplane introduced during World War II).

After the War, came the DeHavilland Comet which was the world’s first commercial jet airliner. The prototype first flew in 1949, and the production models entered service in 1952. Initially commercially promising and successful, within a year of their introduction, no fewer than three of these aircraft were lost in mid-flight. Subsequent investigations concluded that the cause of these accidents was metal fatigue – a little-understood phenomenon at the time. The entire fleet was withdrawn from service and, following extensive testing, the aeroplane was re-designed and manufacturing processes were improved. These culminated in the Comet 4 series which was introduced in 1958 and remained in commercial service until 1981. Adapted for military use, the type continued in the role of a maritime surveillance aircraft, the Nimrod, which remained in service with the RAF until 2011.

It was while the Comet 4 series was in production that the speaker worked in the DeHavilland factory, and he showed a number of photographs of aircraft under construction taken at the time.

Brian Barry and Christopher Jewitt

21st January 2025

It is highly likely that, when asked, most people would be unable to offer an explanation for the connection between a tiny hamlet in North Derbyshire and one of England’s major cities but, in fact, the connection is James Brindley, the eighteenth century engineer responsible for many miles of Britain’s canal system. Brindley was born in the hamlet of Tunstead, and his name lives on in Birmingham’s Brindleyplace, the canal-side development of shops, bars, restaurants, offices and residential areas which form the UK’s largest such scheme. At this meeting, club member Peter Donaldson spoke about the life and achievements of this local man.

James Brindley was born in 1716, and although receiving only a basic education, from an early age, showed an interest in the workings of water and windmills to the extent that, in his late teens he was apprenticed to a millwright, Abraham Bennett, near Macclesfield. Overcoming early difficulties and mistakes, Brindley was soon able to develop his natural aptitude for mechanics and his attention to detail, combined with an excellent memory. On completion of his apprenticeship, he set up his own business as a millwright in Leek but, in time moved to the Potteries where he became acquainted with a number of local industrialists, including Josiah Wedgwood, who were proposing the construction of a canal that would provide access to their markets at home and overseas. Thus was born the idea of the Trent and Mersey Canal, linking Runcorn on the River Mersey with Shardlow on the River Trent.

At this time, Brindley was employed as a consultant for the Duke of Bridgewater who was building a canal to transport coal from his mines at Worsley into the markets of Manchester and, in the other direction to Runcorn and, hence, Liverpool. Agreement was reached for the Trent and Mersey to link into the Bridgewater scheme, thereby providing a northern outlet for the former. Construction of the Trent and Mersey was started in 1765. Not only was it a lengthy undertaking of 100 miles in total, but it also involved a tunnel nearly two miles long at Harecastle, near Kidsgrove. This was a major undertaking on a scale never previously attempted but, in spite of all the difficulties encountered it was completed in 1775.

With his reputation enhanced by his early successes, Brindley was in huge demand by the proponents of dozens of canal schemes. In total he was responsible for the creation of 350 miles of canal, for which he carried out the initial surveys and design, also supervising much of their construction. A man of enormous vision, integrity, relentless energy and enthusiasm, he finally wore himself out and died, at the age of 56 in 1772.

Paul Davies and Peter Donaldson

3rd December 2024

With the treatment of diseases and other medical conditions becoming ever more advanced and complex, there has arisen a corresponding increased demand for medical practitioners with the specialist skills to address these challenges. This has resulted in the tendency for many health professionals to concentrate on pursuing a career as consultants, expert in their own particular field of knowledge and experience. However, in support of these specialists, are our general practitioners (GPs) who are called upon to recognise and to treat a multitude of different ailments and conditions. As a retired GP himself, today’s speaker, club member Peter Stevens, gave an insight into the life of a GP and he discussed the changes to the profession that had occurred over the course of his own long career.

In common with so many school-leavers in the 1960s, Peter was offered very little careers advice, and so it was almost by accident that he decided that he wanted to become a doctor. Hence it was that he enrolled at Edinburgh University on a six-year course, with each year of study covering a different aspect of his training. Significantly, as a medical student it was not until the fourth year that he started to have hands-on experience with actual patients. On graduation he worked in a number of hospitals and GPs’ practices until gaining his registration with the General Medical Council, thus being granted a full licence to practice medicine. At this point, he applied for an overseas posting to the Caribbean island of St Kitts which, at that time was very underdeveloped. After two years, he returned to Britain and eventually became a partner in the Newbold surgery in Chesterfield.

Outlining some of the changes that he had witnessed during his career, Peter thought that one of the most significant came when the links between a patient and his/her designated GP were broken. Up until that time, the patient would normally see the same doctor at every visit. This engendered trust by the patient and, most importantly, allowed the doctor to gain an understanding of the patient’s medical and personal history. The speaker regretted that this mutually beneficial relationship has been largely lost.

Chris Jewitt and Peter Stevens

19th November 2024

In the context of manufacturing, the method of designing a product has evolved over the centuries through different processes, each requiring different skills. In the late 19^th century, this led to a need for increasing levels of analytical competence on the part of the designer, and progressively to an expectation that design engineers would require degree-level education. This in turn encouraged a “two cultures” approach to secondary education in British schools with ‘Arts’ and ‘Science’ disciplines treated in isolation from each other. It can be argued that for aspiring engineers this has encouraged a logical deductive approach to problem solving to the detriment of creativity. So, what can be done to enhance the creative ability of engineering students?

This was the question posed by the speaker, club member Richard Chaplin, at today’s meeting. Richard is Emeritus Professor of Engineering Sciences (University of Reading) and therefore has had first-hand experience of the problems created by the existing system. He started his talk by outlining the evolution of the design process from the simplest, in which a craftsman would create an artifact himself, testing small changes with each item made. This arrangement worked well enough but, if the manufacturing process was going to require the involvement of others, it became necessary for a designer to illustrate his intentions by means of drawings. With the development during the industrial revolution of ever more complicated artifacts, the designer had to use mathematical analysis to predict behaviour. This was the point at which the shift of emphasis was to ‘design by analysis’ with engineering science becoming the underlying skill of the designer.

As the speaker explained, all this has had a major impact on the educational requirements for a competent engineer, with an emphasis on maths and physics at university entrance level. In turn, this has demanded the same emphasis at post-GCSE level and, hence, segregation into ‘Arts’ and ‘Science’ at A-level. The overall effect has been to produce designers who are skilled at analysing problems and making informed decisions, employing “convergent” analytical thinking, but who lack the ability to think creatively, using “divergent” open-minded thinking, especially in the earlier stages of concept-development where alternative solutions need to be considered. To overcome this drawback of the present system, Richard proposed a number of ways in which engineering students could be educated in creative thinking, many involving group activities where the participants are encouraged to think collaboratively and uncritically.

Chris Jewitt and Richard Chaplin

5th November 2024

In 1896, a brilliant and enterprising young Italian engineer, Guglielmo Marconi, came to live in Britain where he believed that he would be able to secure funding to develop his work on ‘wireless telegraphy’. This was the transmission of telegraph messages without connecting wires or, as we now know it, radio. His pioneering work led directly to the creation of the British Broadcasting Company in 1922 which, on receiving its Royal Charter in 1927, became the British Broadcasting Corporation. This, the BBC, was the subject of today’s talk given by our club member, Ainslie Kelly.

As the speaker explained, the BBC’s Charter, which is still valid, defines the BBC’s objectives, powers and obligations, and it complements the work of Ofcom (the government-approved regulatory body for broadcasting, telecommunications and postal industries). The main tenet of the BBC is that the organisation will act in the public interest, serving all audiences through the provision of impartial output which, in line with its founding principles, “Informs, Educates and Entertains”. Its independence is paramount – free of government or commercial interference.

Established in 1932 in line with these criteria, came the BBC’s Empire Service (now known as the World Service). From small beginnings, the World Service now reaches a weekly audience of 450 million people in 59 countries and in more than 40 languages. It is acknowledged to be the most trusted source of information in the world.

Throughout its history, the BBC has kept pace with new technology. A television service which began in 1936 became viable and more widely adopted in the 1940s and 1950s. Colour TV started in the 1960s, followed by cable in the 1970s and high definition a couple of decades later with, most recently, digital output. There are now dozens of TV and radio channels available to the public.

Acknowledging that the organisation has had troubles in the past and continues to face challenges, the speaker reminded his audience of some of the high-profile cases where the BBC’s presenters, and others, have exceeded their authority or acted in a criminal manner. He also pointed to the competition coming from other broadcasters and from social media posing a threat but, in spite of all, he remains an admirer of this most British institution.

Paul Davies and Ainslie Kelly

15th October 2024

What is money for? We all think we know the answer to this question but it’s probably not as simple as we would like to believe. In fact, the purpose of wealth and the uses to which it should be put are matters that have been considered by philosophers such as Cicero and Aristotle since ancient times. Even religious teaching refers to money in the oft-incompletely quoted warning from Saint Paul in his epistle to Timothy, “The love of money is the root of all evil”. In the footsteps of such illustrious thinkers, at this meeting our own club member, John Hayes, addressed this particular question himself.

In his talk, John examined the disparities in the distribution of wealth, and the ways in which such wealth can be used either by philanthropic donation or, more directly, by providing inheritance to family members or other legatees. He also considered the effects of financial crime. Firstly, he gave examples of the ways in which wealth has become ever more concentrated into the hands of fewer, but vastly richer individuals. For instance, sixty years ago, the salary of the top executive of a business would be ten times that of someone working at the shop floor, whereas nowadays, the difference would be one hundred times. This type of development has resulted in the creation of many billionaires with vast accumulations of wealth. It is estimated that the fifty richest families in the UK are worth a combined total of £500 billion, a sum dwarfing the current deficit in the nation’s finances.

Of course, as the speaker pointed out, there can be many effects of possessing great wealth. Some will spend their money in displays of extravagant spending for selfish pleasure, but far greater good comes from giving it away, with the resulting joy and satisfaction felt by the donor himself or herself.

Alas, never far away from the subject of money is the prevalence of financial crime. It has now reached epidemic levels, not only carried out by criminal gangs but also by individuals such as benefit cheats. The sums of money involved, if recovered by the State, could go a long way towards improving the lives of the overwhelmingly law-abiding majority of citizens.

As usually occurs at these meetings, the speaker’s subject matter generated much comment and discussion amongst his audience at the conclusion of his talk.

John Hayes and Christopher Jewitt

1st October 2024

At this meeting we welcomed a celebrity from the world of model makers as a guest speaker. Introduced by club member Peter Donaldson, Peter Kazer had brought a selection of the many items of model railway rolling stock (e.g. locomotives) which he has made over the course of many years, and he discussed the processes involved in creating these masterpieces of miniature engineering.

Although the speaker has built models based on several narrow gauge railways in England and Wales, for this talk he concentrated on those of North and Mid-Wales – the Ffestiniog, Corris, Talyllyn, and North Wales Narrow Gauge Railways. He described how, before starting any work on the actual construction of a model, he had needed to spend much time in carrying out the research necessary to ensure the accuracy of what he intended to create. In that many of his models are based on railways that are either greatly changed or even no longer in operation, this involved measuring and photographing any buildings and other features still in existence on site, and delving into such records and drawings as may still exist. In fact, in some instances, the time to research a project has taken longer than building the model itself.

As far as creating his models is concerned, Peter has made everything from scratch (i.e. starting from the basic raw materials) – the baseboard, scenery, buildings, railway infrastructure, locos, carriages and wagons. Very little use has been made of products not actually made by himself. Naturally, such attention to accuracy and detail has required a great amount of time. For instance, possibly his most spectacular model, that of the Corris Railway in Mid-Wales, took ten years to build, and involved an estimated 20,000 hours of work over that period.

The display of locomotives and rolling stock which Peter had brought with him illustrated the extent of his model making abilities. Some members of his audience, being modellers themselves, had seen his layouts at model railway exhibitions and read about them in railway journals. Hence, they were already acquainted with the quality of his work, However, irrespective of the level of their personal interest and experience in the subject, all members of the audience were full of admiration for the models on show, expressing amazement at the patience and skill involved in their creation.

Peter Kazer and Ron Enock

17th September 2024

Of all the lifeforms on this planet, humanity is the one having as its most distinctive characteristic its ability to communicate using the spoken word. It was this remarkable skill of human beings to convey information to each other by the means of language that was the topic of today’s talk given by Club member, John Robinson.

John opened his talk by outlining the history of the development of our own, English, language from around 3000 BC, when the native language was Brittonic (Celtic). Following the period of Roman occupation (up to c.500 AD) with its Latin influence, successive invasions from Northern Europe introduced Germanic words leading to Old English. The Norman conquest (1066 AD) in turn, brought French into the mix, to create Middle English which, from around 1500 AD, evolved into the Modern English that we now speak. Words from all of these periods still survive, from the earliest, such as the Celtic names of many of our rivers (Derwent, Avon, Thames), through the Latin with place names based on ‘castrum’ (Chester, Leicester), and later contributions from the Germanic and French languages.

The speaker then described, and gave examples of how language had influenced him throughout his life, from his earliest years, reciting nursery rhymes, through his time at school where he had to record and memorise Virgil’s Latin quotations, as well as substantial tracts from the Bible and English literature. To the admiration of his audience, he was able to recite, from memory, some of the poems that he had learned at that time. This was clearly an indication of how much he has loved the English language.

John Robinson and Ron Enock