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Satellite imaging isn't just pretty pictures. Robin Wilson. November 2024
Hundreds of satellites orbit the Earth every day, collecting data that is used for monitoring almost all aspects of the environment. This talk introduced to you the world of satellite imaging, taking you beyond the 'pretty pictures' to the scientific data behind them, and showing you how the data can be applied to monitor plant…
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Bees & Honey: Myth, Legend, Tradition and Magic by Peter Smith: October, 2024
Bees and honey have been with us from the earliest times so it's no wonder they appear in many of our oldest myths and legends. We take a light hearted look at some of these stories to influence us and how different aspects of bees and honey permeate our popular culture. We also take a…
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Steaming On! : The best of Britain's heritage railways. Paul Whittle - September, 2024
Speaker : Paul Whittle Train travel from a more leisurely time, featuring many of our 120+ preserved railways. The scenery, the stations, locomotives and carriages lovingly restored, and the many volunteers who give their time and enthusiasm to recreate the ‘romance of the rails’. Major Paul Whittle served in the Royal Corps of Signals, Territorial Army, for 34…
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The 1908 London Olympics - July 2024
Speaker : Ian Porter The 1908 London Olympics was in real terms the first modern Olympics, the previous three Games being very limited in scope. It's a tale of cheating, drug abuse, politics, poor organisation, snobbery, ugly nationalism, aggression and unhealthy rivalry. Not exactly what was envisaged by its founder. No change there then!
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Unnatural selection - May 2024
Katrina van Grouw Katrina van Grouw, author of The Unfeathered Bird and Unnatural Selection, is an experienced and highly qualified artist, a writer, and a self-taught fledgling scientist. A former curator of bird collections at the British Natural History Museum, Katrina is now studying for a PhD in palaeo-ornithology at the University of Cambridge -…
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Volunteering for orangutans - April 2024
Speaker : Tony Buckle Established in 1991, the Borneo Orangutan Survival (BOS) Foundation is the world’s largest orangutan conservation organisation. Through our global partnerships we are changing the downward trajectory for Bornean orangutans and their depleting rainforests. The talk is based on Tony’s experience of volunteering at an orangutan sanctuary in Borneo and his fee…
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Scattered squalor - March 2024
Speaker : Dr Geoffrey Mead Between the wars there was an enormous growth in British suburban housing, but not all were Tudorbethan semis with clipped lawns and an Austin 7 in the drive. Many were what are now termed 'plotlands', but in the past had harsher terms applied- hutments, track and shack or simply shanty…
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Bastard feudalism - February 2024
Speaker : Dr Helen Mathews Helen Matthews writes on history and travel. She has a PhD in medieval history and has written a history of bastards in medieval England for Pen & Sword, as well as co-authoring two guidebooks with her husband, Neil. This talk addresses some common myths about illegitimate children of the nobility…
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Salmo Salar : The atlantic salmon - January 2024
Speaker : John Charlewood Salmo Salar - The Leaper is familiar to most of us in images of the magnificent fish jumping up an apparently unassailable waterfall but we may be less familiar with its fantastic life story. John will tell us all about it in his well-illustrated talk. Sadly this noble species is verging…