2nd April 2026

Peter Stubbs and Paul Davies

19th March 2026

It is now over two hundred years since the Napoleonic Wars raged across much of Europe but, remarkably, a collection of artefacts associated with one of the campaigns of that conflict has survived for all that time in the custody of one of our local families. At this meeting, club member Hugh Wright brought several examples of these artefacts. They had been handed down through generations of his family since the days when one of his ancestors, William Henry Wright, had fought against Napoleon’s army in the Peninsular War of 1808-1814. This particular phase of the wars in Europe took place in Portugal and Spain, with the British army supported by troops from those two countries.

Hugh described how his ancestor had joined the 4^th Dragoons (a cavalry regiment) at the age of 18 in 1801 and progressed through the ranks until, by now a Captain, he embarked for Portugal in 1809. He then served throughout the Peninsular War under the Duke of Wellington until returning to England in 1814. During this time, Captain Wright was involved in several of the battles fought across Spain with the object of driving out the French invaders. Probably the most notable of these was the Battle of Salamanca in July 1812 in which the British and their allies inflicted a heavy defeat on their French adversaries.

During his talk, the speaker described his inherited collection which included a ceremonial helmet, belt, spurs, and war medals (one of which, a commemorative ‘clasp’, is being held by Hugh in the accompanying photograph). In the future, Hugh’s family members intend to offer these artefacts to a museum where they hope that they will be displayed for the enjoyment of the general public.

Hugh Wright and Paul Davies

5th March 2026

As in so many other aspects of life, the popularity of classical music composers can change remarkably quickly, such as that of Sir William Sterndale Bennett who was the subject of this  talk by club member Kim Rainsford. In his day, Bennett was highly regarded by his Victorian contemporaries but, since the early years of the 20^th century, his music has fallen somewhat out of favour with the public, although the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians has described him as ‘A most distinguished English composer of the Romantic School’.

Kim started his talk by giving an outline of Bennett’s history. He was born into a musical family in Sheffield in 1816 but tragically, at the age of three, had lost both parents within two years of each other. Now orphaned, he was brought up in Cambridge by his paternal grandfather, John Bennett, a lay clerk to the choirs of King’s, St John’s and Trinity Colleges in that city. Having developed a remarkable musical talent, William, aged only ten, was accepted into the Royal Academy of Music where he remained a pupil for the next decade, learning to play the violin and piano. At the Academy, he also embarked on his career of musical composition for which, in time, he became greatly admired by other musicians of the day, including the celebrated Felix Mendelssohn.

In 1836, Bennett undertook the first of several visits to Germany where he and Mendelssohn collaborated musically and were members of a circle of friends that included another notable composer, Robert Schumann. At home in England, Bennett’s status was recognized by appointments as the Director of the Philharmonic Society of London in 1842, the Founding Director of Queen’s College London (1848), and Professor of Music at Cambridge (1856). He died in 1875 aged 59 and was buried in Westminster Abbey.

The speaker described the extent and variety of Bennett’s musical compositions of which there were a total of some 130, comprising choral and chamber music, symphonies, and works for piano. For all this prodigious output, Bennett has become a largely forgotten composer although, in 2016, to mark the bicentenary of his birth he was featured as ‘Composer of the Week’ on BBC Radio 3.

Paul Davies and Kim Rainsford

19th February 2026

Most of our speakers are members of the club itself, but, on occasion, a guest is invited to talk on a special topic. One such was this meeting, when the speaker was Robert Thornhill of Great Longstone, the current head of a long-established farming family in the village.

Robert described how his farming grandfather in 1912 had decided to concentrate on poultry production. Over the following few years, he had expanded his operations such that his flock reached ten thousand laying hens producing free-range eggs. In order to handle these quantities, he set up an egg-packing station, which was the first of its kind in Derbyshire. (An example of the sort of wooden boxes in which these eggs were sent to market is shown in the accompanying photograph). In time, the business turned to the production of poultry meat, which was a premium product, far more expensive than beef in the years before World War II. By the 1970s, Thornhill’s chicken processing factory in Great Longstone employed 450 people. In the meantime, Robert’s father (Peter) and uncle who, by then were running the business in partnership, decide to diversify, with Peter concentrating on cattle rearing from the 1950s.

After studying farming techniques in several countries, Robert joined his father in the family business. By crossbreeding Holstein Friesian with Jersey cattle, imported from New Zealand, they created a grass-fed herd of dairy cattle which produced milk of enhanced quality with a high fat content. Now in charge of the farm, Robert has a herd of 250 cows which he grazes on sections of his land in rotation, thus allowing the maximum growth of grass with the least damage to the ground. He described how he uses technology to monitor the growth of the farm’s pastures and the health of his animals. Along with his usual day-by-day farming activities, he is also clearly focussed on environmental matters, such as tree-planting and the restoration of the historic dewponds which are a feature of this limestone area.

It was clear to his audience that here was a farmer whose attitude and actions are worthy of far more appreciation by government and the public in general than is usually afforded them, and that they should be encouraged and supported.

Robert Thornhill and Paul Davies

5th February 2026

As though on cue – but, in fact, by a remarkable coincidence – news of the assassination of Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the most prominent son of the former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, was announced on the day before this meeting to hear a talk by member, Tony Byrne, on his experiences of working in Libya during the 1970s when that country was under the firm grip of Gaddafi (senior).

The speaker opened his talk with a description of the geography and history of this North African state. It is the fourth largest country in Africa but, most of it is desert which means that the majority of its 7½ million population lives in the relatively fertile Mediterranean coastal strip. For many centuries a province of other Mediterranean powers such as the Romans, followed by the Ottomans and then the Italians, Libya gained independence as a kingdom in 1951. Eighteen years later, a bloodless coup led by Muammar Gaddafi deposed the king and established a republic which, in time, became repressive and the sponsor of international terrorism.

It was during the early years of Gaddafi’s time in power that Tony, at times accompanied by his wife and two small children, lived and worked in Libya. His first major civil engineering project was as part of a team to design a pipeline scheme, 300 km long, from an underground water source in the desert to the coastal city of Agedabia. This involved learning to survive in the hostile desert conditions of heat and frequent sandstorms. Following a preliminary design, the actual construction phase of the planned pipeline was postponed for many years when it was superseded by a far more ambitious scheme of supplying ground water to the whole coastal area.

Having finished work on the pipeline scheme, Tony was placed in overall charge of his employer’s Libyan engineering operations. Now based in Tripoli, it was possible for him to be joined by his family, and they spent the next five years living in the city. However, Libya proved to be quite restrictive in many ways and, with the children’s continuing education to be considered, the family moved back to England. That was in 1980. Since that time, Tony has never returned to the country which, as we know, has torn itself apart with civil war.

Tony Byrne and Tony Fry

15th January 2026

Throughout most of human history the loudest noises to which we were subjected would have been those of the natural world, such as a thunderclap or a barking dog, but none of these would have been a continuous source of sound for a long period of time. However, with the development of sound amplification systems it has become a far noisier world of sustained high-volume sound, one in which it is very easy for damage to be caused to our delicate hearing organs, the ears. Problems with sound systems and their effectiveness were the subject of this talk by Club member, John Thurstan, who related his experience of trying to achieve an acceptable sound system in Holy Trinity Church in Chesterfield.

As John explained, setting up a public address system should be quite simple. A microphone receives a sound which it converts into an electric current. This is then amplified, sent to a loudspeaker where it drives a paper cone which moves the air and makes the sound we hear. Alas, this is where problems arise because the quality of this sound depends on where the listener is sited; out of doors, or in a room with sound absorbent soft furnishings, or in a concert hall, or – worst of all – in an echoey church. It follows that the more reflecting surfaces there are in an indoor space, the more the amplified sounds will ‘bounce’ around and interfere with each other, resulting in a blurring effect for the listener. These difficulties can be overcome by careful siting of loudspeakers and the correct use of the microphones, but often only after a considerable amount of trial-and-error experimentation.

In his professional career, John had spent many years working in hospital ENT clinics and had thereby acquired a wealth of knowledge and experience in the workings of the human ear. For the second part of his talk, he described the physiology of this remarkable piece of equipment, and he showed how easily it can be damaged. He also explained how our hearing naturally deteriorates over time, but he stressed that we should avoid exacerbating this process by our own actions in overloading them with loud sounds. As he pointed out, ‘Taking your ears to a pop concert is like weighing an elephant on the bathroom scales.’ Surely, a sufficient warning to take great care of your hearing?

John Thurstan and Paul Davies

4th December 2025

On this typically cold, grey and wet December day, we were reminded of sunny skies and summer warmth by our colleague, John Hopkins, who presented a talk about his experiences as a schools inspector in Dubai.

Having spent a career in teaching, culminating in a headmastership in Wales, and approaching the age of retirement, John was presented with the opportunity to serve as an inspector of schools in a team of education experts operating in the United Arab Emirates. Initially, his appointment was for a short period but, in the event, he spent twelve years based mainly in Dubai, although he also worked in most of the other UAE states during that time.

As he explained, the international nature of the businesses operating in Dubai with their high proportion of expatriate employees, has led to the establishment of a great number and variety of schools. These cater for the educational needs of the children of Dubai’s immigrant and transitory workforce as well as those of the more affluent members of the indigenous population. Of course, schools exist which are funded and run directly by the State, but it was the schools in the fee-paying private sector that came within the scope the of inspectorate of which John was a member. In order to illustrate the complexity of Dubai’s private schools, John described the mix of cultural, ethnic and religious differences between them. The nationalities of the students included those from India, Pakistan and other countries of South Asia, together with Americans and Europeans, and many from the UAE itself and other Arab states. The teaching staff in these schools reflected a similar range of nationalities.

The school inspections considered such factors as the students’ academic achievements, their personal and social development, the quality of teaching, and the appropriateness of the curriculum. Following inspections, schools were graded from ‘Outstanding’ through three intermediate levels to the lowest ‘Weak’. It was found that, overall, the standard of the private schools was high and, over the period between 2008 and 2024, consistently improving.

In concluding his talk, the speaker gave his impressions of Dubai. He described it as vibrant, clearly very prosperous and tolerant of foreign influences and attitudes, provided its own values and culture are respected.

John Hopkins and Paul Davies

20th November 2025

When, on the grounds of ‘Health and Safety’, we are prevented from carrying out a course of action, we sometimes complain that such considerations are an infringement of our liberties. However, the need for such legislation was clearly demonstrated at today’s meeting when club member Tony Fry described three catastrophic industrial accidents which, most probably, would have been avoided had the relevant health and safety laws been in existence at the time or, if those already in force had been observed.

The first of these events described by the speaker was an explosion at a chemical processing plant at Flixborough in North Lincolnshire in 1974. This facility was manufacturing caprolactam – a key ingredient used to make Nylon. The process involved a series of connected steel retorts operating at high temperature and pressure. At the time of the accident, one of these had been found to be inoperable and therefore had been isolated by making a temporary pipework connection between its two neighbouring retorts. On the day of the accident this connection failed, with the result that a huge vapour cloud engulfed the site and ignited with a massive explosion that was felt many miles away and which caused injury and death to dozens of workers at the plant. At the subsequent enquiry it was clear that a number of factors, some relatively minor but whose cumulative effect caused the disaster, were to blame.

For his second example of industrial accidents, Tony turned to the North Sea, in particular the Piper Alpha oil production platform. Here there was an explosion in July 1988, during maintenance work on a gas condensate pump. At the end of their shift, a gang of workers failed to secure a vital piece of equipment on the pump and left instructions to the oncoming shift not to use the pump. However, this warning was not received and the new group of workers switched on the faulty pump, with the result that there was an escape of gas which immediately ignited, engulfing the rig in fire. In the following hours, a series of explosions devastated the rig, which then collapsed into the sea. Altogether, 167 lives were lost on that day.  The enquiry into the accident identified numerous failings in maintenance procedures, communication, design and emergency procedures. Again, as in the case of Flixborough, many different factors had combined to disastrous effect.

Finally, the speaker described the causes of an explosion in 2005 at the Buncefield oil storage depot in Hertfordshire. In this case, there was an undetected spillage of petrol from a storage tank while it was being filled. The highly inflammable vapour ignited in a huge explosion which, in its turn, set off a series of further explosions and fires which eventually spread to the entire facility. On this occasion, there was no loss of life but numerous buildings around the site were severely damaged. Once again, the findings of the subsequent enquiry into the fire established that several factors had contributed to the overall disaster.

In conclusion, these three disasters shared many similarities. Working practices had become too familiar, leading to complacency, correct maintenance had not been carried out, suitably skilled and knowledgeable staff were absent, and financial pressures had been allowed to rule over safety.

Tony Fry and Paul Davies

6th November 2025

To judge by the popularity of television and radio programmes devoted to the subject, crime thrillers are a source of continuing fascination to the public. Most of these are based on fiction but, in contrast, an actual murder committed in 1931 was the topic of this talk by club member, Steve Maybury.

The story, as related by Steve, was about an apparently contentedly married couple, Julia and William Wallace living in the Anfield area of Liverpool during the 1930s. William was an insurance agent whose habit was to spend his evenings playing chess at a club in a city centre café, leaving his wife at home. On the evening before the murder, a telephone call from a public phone box in Anfield was made to the café. The caller did not give his name but asked for a message to be given to William when he arrived there for his scheduled chess game. The message was for William to meet a potential client the following evening at an address some distance from Anfield. Therefore, on the day of the murder, William left home for his appointment and, travelling by tram, arrived at his destination only to have difficulty in finding the address which he had been given. Having sought directions from a number of people, he realised that the address did not exist, and he therefore returned home, where he discovered the body of his brutally murdered wife.

Despite all the available evidence from witnesses to William’s movements on that fateful evening and the seemingly impossibility of his committing the crime within the known time frame, the police were convinced that he had done the deed. He was brought to trial, found guilty of the murder and condemned to death. However, on appeal, the conviction was quashed on the grounds that the original verdict could not be supported having regard to the evidence. But, if William was not the murderer, who was? This was a question at the time and remains a mystery. There appeared to be no motive for it, no weapon was ever discovered, and no person was known to be sufficiently hostile to Julia to kill her.

In summing up, the speaker (who had been a Deputy District Judge in his working life) expressed his own view that the findings of the appeal were correct. And, of course, being intrigued by the whole story, many members of his audience enthusiastically added their opinions and conclusions.

Steve Maybury and Paul Davies

16th October 2025

To many people in this country, the name of Marks & Spencer suggests the traditional British business but, in fact, it was founded by a penniless immigrant, Michael Marks who, in 1882, arrived in England unable to speak the language but who was determined to work hard to earn a living. The story of the famous retail business which bears his name and that of his partner, Thomas Spencer, was related today by club member Stefan Andrejczuk (whose own father had similarly escaped a repressive European regime albeit six decades after Marks).

Opening his talk with a summary of his own career, Stefan explained that, on leaving school he had worked for the bookseller W.H. Smith for four years until leaving to join M&S as a management trainee. He then spent the next 23 years with the company, rising through successive promotions to a senior position.

He continued by describing the development of M&S which started with Marks trading from a stall in Leeds market. By 1894, he realised that his expanding business needed someone to help in managing it, and he therefore entered a partnership with Spencer. In spite of Marks’ death in 1907, the business, by now a limited company, continued to prosper under the chairmanship of Marks’ son, Simon. Having visited the US in the 1930s, Simon introduced many of the retail strategies that he had witnessed there. These included scientific management and efficiency, customer-centric innovation, in-house research and product development, and pioneering staff welfare schemes.

Although these helped to create a business that was the envy of others, a number of major crises hit M&S in the 1990s and early-2000s. The company failed to keep up with changing consumer preferences and trends and faced serious competition. The management had become inefficient, and it was only under the new leadership of Stuart Rose from 2004 that matters began to improve. Many store closures followed during a period of restructuring, but some momentum had been regained until the latest crisis, a cyber attack in 2025 from which recovery has been a long and expensive process.

Paul Davies and Stefan Andrejczuk

2nd October 2025

‘Where would we be without our satnavs?’ The answer – in the case of those of us who had not taken the precaution of keeping a road atlas in the car – would probably be ‘Lost’. We have become increasingly reliant on the satellite navigation technology offered by the system but are generally ignorant of how it works. It was to explain the workings of satnav that a visiting speaker, Dr. David Allerton, Emeritus Professor of Computer Systems Engineering at Sheffield University was invited to speak at this meeting.

Professor Allerton started his talk by observing the contribution of satnav, a major development in engineering, to society. He outlined the functions of the major components of satnav systems and explained the orbits of the global positioning system (GPS) satellites to enable users on the ground (or in the air) to detect their position. Although a military system, the Department of Defense (sic) in the USA manages and maintains the constellation of satellites, making the system free to civilian users. He explained the limitations of GPS in terms of accuracy and susceptibility of jamming. Once position is measured from the satellite signals, the route to the destination position is determined from digitised maps, searching all the possible paths to extract an optimal route, often in a matter of seconds.

The talk concluded with Professor Allerton summarising the benefits and limitations of satnav systems and answering a wide range of questions from the audience.

When it is considered that a typical satnav includes a GPS receiver capable of detecting its position to an accuracy of between five and ten metres, a route finder that can compute an optimal route in a matter of seconds, and a moving map display, all for less than £150, the system is truly remarkable.

Christopher Jewitt and David Allerton

18th September 2025

Are we alone in the universe? After centuries of scientific development, we humans are no closer to a definitive answer, although we now have sufficient knowledge of the size and nature of the universe to arrive at the reasonable conclusion that we are unlikely to be the only sentient life forms to have evolved.

In addressing the question of whether or not there may be life elsewhere, the speaker at today’s meeting, club, member Paul Davies, discussed the evidence available to us. As he pointed out, claims for the existence of extra-terrestrials date back thousands of years but it has been only during the past couple of centuries, following major discoveries in astronomy, physics and mathematics, that making contact (either friendly or hostile) with such creatures has been thought feasible. However, there are major limiting factors to be considered in assessing the possibility of the existence of life in other parts of the cosmos, and the likelihood of being able to make contact. Firstly, there is the sheer scale of the universe. Not only is it spatially vast, but it is populated by billions of galaxies, each of which contains billions of stars. It is reasonable to assume that if only a tiny proportion of these stars are orbited by planets similar to those of our own solar system there must nevertheless be a significant total number of these exoplanets with the potential for life to evolve.

Next, there is the question of the level of evolution achieved by life on these planets and how this compares with that on Earth. We can be certain that other ‘intelligent’ life does not exist within our own solar system but, in the past few years, evidence has come to light from advanced exploratory spacecraft that conditions favourable for the evolution of primitive life forms exist on the moons of the outer planets. There also seems to be evidence that primitive life has existed on the planet, Mars.

Beyond our solar system, any contact between alien beings and ourselves would need to take into account the time taken for any electromagnetic messages (travelling at the speed of light) to reach us. It could be that by the time the signal is received, one or both of the life forms could no longer exist.

In his concluding remarks, the speaker expressed his own belief that there is almost certainly life elsewhere in the universe and it is highly possible that there are intelligent life forms out there; but it is unlikely that we shall succeed in making contact.

Christopher Jewitt and Paul Davies