In a change to the orginal programme Colin van Geffen, aviation artist & enthusiast, will give a talk about BEACHCOMBER, one of 760 Sunderland long-range patrol flying boats of which fewer than 10 survive world -wide. BEACHCOMBER's amazing story of survival against the odds holds many surprises.

Talk to be given by Simon Ritchie.  The Ordance Survey has been mapping the UK for over 200 years. Until recently they used simple mathematics, theodolities and a network of benchmarks and trig points to achieve one metre accuracy, a triumph of engineering in its day. This network is now redundant and beginning to need conservation, but nobody is picking up that responsibility.

The talk looks at the invention of linoleum by Frederick Walton in 1864 and his establishment of a factory to produce it in Staines. The different production processes and uses of this once universal floor covering are explained.

Looks at the disaster itself and its aftermath on the environment. 

One of England’s most important monastic houses, Merton Priory disappeared completely at the Dissolution in 1538, but its archaeological remains have now been reborn as a uniquely situated museum.

 House building virtually ceased during WW1, the major exception being houses for munition workers.  The first of these was at Well End for the Woolwich Arsenal, built in 1915.  Because of the lack of both bricks and bricklayers many of these houses were constructed using non-traditional

The talk is about the passenger and passenger cargo liners seen in UK ports during the author's boyhood in the 1950s, the ship owners, their origins and the trades which they served.

This talk explores gap between the early experiments of Faraday and the provision of electrical power that we enjoy in our homes.   Faraday discovered electromagnetic induction, the principle behind the electric transformer and generator