Directory of Previous Talks

Bob Cywinski, or to give him his full title, Professor Robert Cywinski’s presentation, entitled “Particle Accelerators: From fundamental physics to cancer therapy” began with a brief history of particle accelerator technology, starting with the pioneering experiments of Rutherford and Cockcroft in the first quarter of the 20th century, leading to Lawrence’s development of the cyclotron, construction of the … Read more

James Cook, RN, FRS never took part in an great battles but is famous for three voyages that solved three major problems of the age. He was able to accurately fix longitude using lunar sightings. (At that time they did not have clocks that were reliable at sea.) There was a strong belief among scientists … Read more

Also known as the Outer Hebrides, the Western Isles are a chain of isles off the NW coast of Scotland, 150 miles long from Barra Head to the Butt of Lewis, 15 of which are inhabited and more than 50 uninhabited.  There is a mild climate and there are large areas set aside to protect … Read more

Noel gave us a definition of pilgrimages which comprised a journey to a shrine for penance and by doing so penitents had an assured fast track to heaven. The Crusaders, who were at that time in the South of France, saw the sign of a scallop shell pointing to North West.  The scallop shell is … Read more

Chris Turk has invested in the Sheffield based Cochabamba Project .  It provides an opportunity to support homeless families from Bolivian slums on small farms and to reforest small parts of these small holdings. Bolivia is located to the west of Brazil with lowlands from 500 feet above sea level to high lands of 27,000 … Read more

Although the title of the talk was ,” A Dental trip through Africa.” the talk was really about the career of Nigel Mallon and his acceptance that although the tasks ahead are often bigger than the available resources, one can always win through by careful planning. As an example of this he sited an occasion … Read more