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The Society publishes and distributes to its members four Newsletters each year. The first is published in October, the second in January, the third in March and the fourth in June. The newsletters contain information of interest to society members and include summaries of lectures given to the Society. Each year the Society also publishes and distributes to its members a booklet entitled ‘Proceedings’. This publication, which is published in August, typically runs to some 70 pages and contains a detailed account of all the lectures given to the Society that year. Although neither the ‘Proceedings’ nor ‘Newsletter’ is published on this site an example of a typical Newsletter is included below.
Typical Newsletter (published in 2007) A Message from our President This is the first newsletter of my two year Presidency. I have been shadowing Andrew Jarratt and now I have started my new duties. The Annual General Meeting (AGM) held in October 2007 was more eventful than usual in that two special presentations were made, which are described in the AGM section of this newsletter. Following the presentations I gave my presidential address entitled, ‘Anna’s Room to Six Dogs’, which was the story of the construction of the Sishen to Saldhana iron ore export railway line from 1974 to 1976, where I was Construction Manager. Our new venue for winter lectures at the Nottingham Squash Club is a vast improvement over the previous location. We have settled into the club and are well looked after by the manager and his staff, in addition to the lecture meeting room there is a bar and restaurant for our use. Building on Andrew’s success in recruiting new members, I echo his sentiments and wish to attract new members and have designed a lecture programme that will appeal to our existing and new membership. I urge all members to come along to our lectures and ask your friends to accompany you and join. Remember the “Member-get-a-Member” scheme where a member introducer receives a bottle of whiskey or another item. I presented my first bottle last week, smiles all round. Besides the advantages of being a member, all the benefits are available for lowly sum of £16.00 per year if paid by standing order, what a bargain! In the selection of lecture topics I have attempted to emphasise achievements from Nottingham such as the TLM method of electro magnetic analysis, Mapping the Underground and 3D X-ray imaging for security application all originating in Nottingham and being used world-wide. For our annual dinner on 23 November 2007 we have Norman Askew, Chairman Taylor Wimpey plc, as the main speaker. The evening should prove to be very enjoyable.
Lastly, we are associated with a number of other organisations that provide synergy with our society. One is the East Midlands Engineering and Science Professionals (EMESP), where we organise events with other regional institutions such as the Prestige lecture and the Master’s Innovation prize. This year the prestige lecture is about development and production of the Aston-Martin saloon car and the Master’s prize was won by Mark Grub of Nottingham University for his work on baby incubators. Through the EMESP we are able to attend each others lectures. We are also associated with the Nottinghamshire Construction Forum where we are able to attend presentations. So please become involved in your society and reap the many rewards.
Annual General Meeting (AGM) This was held on Monday 8th October 2007 at the Nottingham Squash Rackets Club. The following appointments were made:
There are still four vacancies for Council Members and would anyone interested in joining the team currently working on your behalf please contact the President. The President is very keen that both new and former Members put themselves forward to serve on Council. It is emphasized that Membership of Council does not pre-suppose you will be asked to undertake duties you may not wish to perform. President, Eugene Davern, presented Treasurer and Vice-President, Andrew Jarratt, with an Honorary Life Membership Certificate in recognition of his sterling work for the Society over a period of more than 40 years. Andrew thanked the Trustees and Council for the certificate and recognition they had shown him. He stated that he hoped to continue working for the Society for many years to come. At the 2006 AGM the Honorary Secretary, Alan Foster, indicated he wished to resign from this position at the 2007 AGM. Most of the Hon. Sec., functions have now been taken on by other Members of Council. However, there are still some areas that need covering. The President asked all those present if anyone wished to take over the job of Hon. Sec., but no-one put their name forward. The President has also sent out a request to the general Membership to determine if anyone is prepared to come forward to carry out this function. Alan Foster is continuing for a short while in an advisory position but has made it clear that this will only be for a limited period. Following donations from Members of the Society, Sir Joseph Pope and Trustee, Richard Potter, made a series of presentations to Alan Foster, thanking him for all the work he had carried out as the Hon. Sec., over a period of more than nine years. The presents consisted of wine and sherry glasses, a decanter, a cheque and a bouquet of flowers for his wife, Josephine. Alan Foster thanked everyone, both present and absent, for their kind words and generous gifts. He stated they will always be a strong reminder for the enjoyable and interesting time he had spent performing a worthwhile duty.
Extracts from Council Meetings President Eugene Davern is very keen to continue the work of Vice-president Andrew Jarratt relating to attracting new Members to the Society. An increased membership base will provide enhanced financial security for the Society along with greater flexibility for its operations. To this end several sub committee meetings have, and will continue to take place, in an effort to produce ideas that can be used to encourage people to join the Society. This is being reviewed as an ongoing item and suggestions from the Membership on ways of increasing the numbers in the Society would be most welcome. You will note the Presidents message mentions “The Member get a Member Scheme”. Since its introduction we have attracted a number of new members to the Society and you are all encouraged to make use of this scheme. This year we are hoping advertise the Society by to placing an A4 copy of the 2007-2008 lecture programme on seats at the Prestige Lecture on 21st November 2007. This lecture is attended by a wide range of people interested in engineering and hopefully we might attract new members. Following the need to review the production of Newsline, Council agreed to it being re-branded as Proceedings and produced as an A5 booklet. This was a significant undertaking and Council members D W Hardwick and Prof B Clayton were thanked by President Andrew Jarratt and the Council for their effort in creating this document.
Educational Initiative We have a continuing association with the National School Hucknall. The next project presentation evening for the society Cup will be on Monday 19th of May 2008. Put this in your diary (when you get one). It is always a splendid evening to see some of the remarkable work of the students and quite difficult to decide on a winner because of the high standards. The Energy Learning Centre at the Elliott Durham School is still continuing to attract other schools to the one day courses. Although originally designed for junior schools a number of courses for more senior pupils have proved successful. The outcome of a lottery bid for the development of the Meadows area which involves the creation of a new centre is still awaited.
President’s Address (Monday 8 October 2007)
‘Six Dogs to Anna’s Room’
The President, Eugene Davern, explained that the South African experience he would describe, from his perspective as a civil engineer, arose from his work on the construction of the Saldhana to Sishen Iron Ore Export Railway during the period 1974-76. Saldhana is about 100 miles north of Cape Town and is a port with a deep-water harbour on the Atlantic Coast and Sishen is in the Northern Cape about 150 miles from the Namibian border. He arrived in Johannesburg having responded to a job advertisement and was told by his new boss that he was needed to help build a railway across a remote part of the Northern Cape! His main responsibilities lay in the earth moving and civil engineering aspects of the project and a French company was in charge of the laying of the track and ballast. A week later he flew to Bloemfontein and after another stop at the town of Brandvlei he landed at Graanatboskolk, a remote campsite. But, this was a good area to indulge in his pastime of flying his glider, which he collected from a ship in Durban after a tortuous drive on dust tracks and rough roads. This was a big step up from Eugene’s previous job in Milton Keynes as the project spend was some £300k per month. The camp was more-or-less in the middle of his section of the line and work comprised mainly shallow earthworks along with isolated deep cuttings and embankments to achieve the gradients. A sub-contractor built several bridges and others built culverts and drains. A company aeroplane (Beechcraft Baron) was used to transport people and documents between offices and also the weekly film, there being no TV! Accommodation comprised a (flat pack) Terrapin bungalow with 4 bedrooms and a bathroom but no air-conditioning. When the French arrived there was mutual exchange of lager, wine and films. Long hours were worked compensated by a monthly long weekend in Johannesburg for rest and relaxation and relief from the heat, snakes, locusts, flash floods and mosquitoes. The movement of earth depended on hardness and distances to a destination; soft material up to 3km used a scraper, to scoop up material, and a bulldozer; a front loader and tipper trucks were used for distances over 3km. Several surveying problems were overcome in order to keep to time, cost and the track centre line. The French laid the track (ballast, sleepers and rails), using deep Krupp rails (200mm) to support 120 tonne of 99% pure iron ore in each wagon and laid a record 3.5km/24hr. Temporary rails were positioned first, in order for the track-laying train to run on and then sleepers were lowered within these rails upon which the permanent rails were fixed by clips. A tamping machine raised the rails and sleepers, drew in ballast and repeated the tamping process to relieve stress in the rails and align the track. The temporary rails aft of the machine were then raised and brought forward for re-use. The line was built to carry 17.5 million tonne per year of iron ore for export using 200 wagons per train. Initially, the haulage locomotives were Diesel but later electrically powered. The track was subsequently upgraded to carry 29 million tonne per year with plans for a further upgrade to 41 million tonne per year by 2009/10. As the President said, ‘it is nice to know the engineering skills used 31 years ago are still standing up well today in such a demanding environment’. And what of the title of the Address you say? On the side of a small French grader was a sign. Pointing down the line was Salle d’Anna, the French equivalent of Saldhana, or Anna’s room and a picture to the left (or up the line) to Sishen was six chiens or six dogs with a picture. Now you know!! The President responded to many questions and the Vice-President thanked The President for this fascinating review of a large project undertaken in challenging conditions, sentiments endorsed by all those present.
Future Lecture Details
By the time you receive this Newsletter the lecture will have been presented. A précis will be included in Newsletter 2.
Radio-frequency identification (RFID) is an identification method, which relies on radio-frequency techniques to remotely retrieve data stored on a device referred to as an RFID tag. An RFID tag is in effect a miniature very low cost transponder that can be applied to, or incorporated within a manufactured product, animal, or person, for the purpose of remote identification. Some tags can be read from several metres away and beyond the line of sight of the reader.
Non-technical travelogue presentations have proved very popular subjects with Society members and their guests and this lecture continues the tradition.
This lecture will describe the use of Inkjet technology in industry, such as plasma screen manufacture.
Infrastructure can now be found hiding beneath our feet in the unseen maze of pipes and cables. The majority of this has never been accurately mapped or recorded, making specific objects difficult to find when repairs are necessary, or excavation is required around them.
The summer 2007 visit by the Society to the Millau Bridge and Airbus in France was a major success and this is your opportunity to see video and photographic highlights from the visit.
This lecture will describe how the energy and environmental performance of buildings from concept designs right through to post-occupation are predicted. The goal is to optimise buildings such that they have net-zero energy consumption or carbon emissions. This is not always possible as it largely depends on the building use but as a minimum the aim is to reduce energy consumption to as low as is practically achievable.
The recent TV series, ‘who do you think you are?’ has resulted in Ancestry becoming a very popular past-time. This lecture promises to be both interesting and entertaining.
Imaging techniques that combine binocular stereoscopic imagery with motion, or kinetic depth effects, are important for security applications. A major advance is the production of dynamic imagery from a single X-ray source and a static arrangement of linear X-ray sensors. The image capture time is the same as conventional 2D X-ray systems.
This lecture will describe an innovative approach to the problem of draining surface rain-water from large surface areas that are subjected to high loadings, such as at airports and docks. This innovative approach employs new materials and cross-sections.
Annual Dinner Members are now reminded that tickets can now be booked for the Society’s Annual Dinner. The cost of the tickets is a modest £22 each. This is a prestigious event at relatively low cost. Please bring family and friends. The Society has had a proven formula for organisation of the Dinner for many years. It is therefore very appropriate for corporate entertaining with confidence! The Dinner will be held at the Masonic Hall, West Bridgford, on Friday 23rd November 2007, the main speaker being Norman Askew, Chairman Taylor Wimpey plc. The President hopes many of you will join him on the evening to enjoy good food and the conviviality that is the hallmark of the Nottingham Society of Engineers Annual Dinner.
Proceedings (formerly Newsline) The 2007/2008 Proceedings has been circulated to all Members and copies have been sent to all last session’s lecturers so they may have a record of the specific lecture they gave to the Society. It is hoped this extra form of circulation will generate interest from engineers who currently are not aware of our Society’s full programme of events.
Society History The Society was founded one hundred and ten years ago in 1897. Throughout this period it has supported the engineering profession and encouraged those with an interest in engineering. The Society has witnessed huge changes during this time. The invention of: motor car, aeroplane, television, microcomputer, MRI scanner and the internet, to name but a few. It goes without saying that we should all be proud of the Society’s long history
Archiving The Council minutes from 2004 and 2005 are being prepared for the Archives. It is anticipated that these will be taken to the Nottingham Archives for safe keeping in October 2007.
Members News and Views Increasing Membership of the Society is of paramount importance if the Society is to continue its long-term existence. There are many small engineering businesses in Nottingham and the Society, utilising its links to schools, colleges, local universities, professional institutions, as well as the Engineering Forum, can make a real contribution to the future of the profession and the industry. Please help to build up our Membership base and thus increase our strength and potential contribution. Don’t forget the member successfully proposing a new Member will receive a cheque for £20 or a bottle of Scotch Whiskey (to value of approximately £20), or theatre vouchers to the value of £20. If you have any information that you feel would interest Members of the Society please send details to Alan Foster or Bob Wharmby.
New Members Two members have joined the Society since News Letter 4 (2006/7).
The Society’s Website This was launched towards the end of 2006. It will shortly be updated to reflect, among other things, the change of President and the new lecture programme.
The web address is:
http://www.nottinghamsocietyofengineers.org.uk
Any Other Business Some of you might recall that member Phil Rosen gave us a lunchtime lecture on 24th October 2005 entitled ‘Those Radio Days’. It appears that Phil and his magnificent collection of early analogue radio sets has come to the attention of Nottinghamshire Today, a monthly glossy publication, owned by The Nottingham Post Group. An article entitled ‘Fine Tuning’ written by Katherine Taylor is featured in the October 2007 issue and includes several photographs of Phil and his radios. Some of Phil’s collection can be seen working on the fourth Sunday of each month at the Wollaton Industrial Museum at Wollaton Park.
Edward Wilson, a student at New College Nottingham has won the ‘Design and Innovation Trophy’ for the 12 to 16 year age group at the 2007 Young Engineer for Britain awards, for his invention relating to road safety. His success was reported in the (Nottingham) Evening Post on 1st October 2007. Edward, a former National school pupil, was this years Nottingham Society of Engineers prize winner. His presentation related to road safety and involved controlling the brightness of a motor vehicle’s brake-lights according to the vehicle’s deceleration (braking). I’m sure you will all agree that it is very gratifying to see the Society’s educational initiative leading to further success.
Vice-President and Treasurer, Andrew Jarratt, formally expressed his profound thanks to the Society for bestowing upon him Honorary Life Membership in recognition of his 40 years as Treasurer of the Society. Andrew became the Society’s Treasurer on 21st April 1967 following Council’s unanimous acceptance of his recommendation by Past-Presidents Robin Stone and Tommy Musson.
Important Notes:
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