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The Science & Technology Group
Organising committee: Tanya Dempster, Paul McKay, Bill Devitt, Kurt and Lynda Kovach - science@ashbyu3a.co.uk -
This group is for both people who have a general interest in science as well as those whose careers have been in this area. We meet monthly with talks given mainly by members on a mixture of science/ engineering topics, some science news, information about famous scientists, good YouTube ideas and even the occasional practical activity.
We normally meet in the main hall at Packington Village Hall, High Street, Packington LE65 1WJ on the 2nd Tuesday of the month at 2pm.
Parking is limited, so please try to car-share if possible.
Future programme | ||||
| Date | Time | Venue | Speaker & topic | Details |
| Thu 10th Sep | TBA | A Visit to Woolsthorpe Manor | Sir Isaac Newton's family home and the site of some of his greatest work. See the tree from where the apple fell! Re-create the experiments on gravity, motion and light that helped Sir Isaac understand the principles of modern physics. | |
| Tue 13th Oct | 2:00 pm | Packington Village Hall. | 'Projects that went nowhere' a talk by Adrian Hickson | During my early career with Ashby based company, Transmitton, I installed and commissioned many control projects in different industries across Europe and elsewhere, not all ended up as expected! |
| Tue 10th Nov | 2:00 pm | Packington Village Hall. | 'Humphrey Davy' a talk by Bill Devitt | TBC |
| Tue 8th Dec | 2:00 pm | Packington Village Hall. | Christmas event | |
Tuesday 14th July.
'Submarines' by Paul McKay
For this meeting we planned a virtual talk via Zoom by u3a speaker David Dundas called ‘Why Hydrogen’, however, the IT system had other plans. We connected to the internet and Zoom displayed a video image of David and myself, but with no audio from David. We tried for over 30 minutes, and even with the kind help from our patient members, we could not connect with David.
With time pressing on, David and I agreed to abandon Zoom and to re-arrange for his talk to be given ‘in person’, as he lives in Lichfield, a reasonable travelling distance. To make the best of the situation, I delivered a pre-prepared talk called Submarines, describing my career below and above the waves.
My talk combined basic science, submarine technology and work experience. Inspiration for my lifelong interest in diving and underwater technology stemmed from an ITV programme ‘Sea Hunt,’ aired in the late 1950’s, starring Lloyd Bridges as an intrepid diver (Mike Nelson).
Later, training with submarine builder’s Vickers at Barrow-in-Furness balanced the fiction with the harsh reality of shipyard submarine construction. The relevance of Archimedes Principle and Boyle’s Law to submarine diving operations were explained and demonstrated by diagrams and a video of a military submarine diving by venting ballast tanks.
The structure and operation of commercial mini- submersibles in support of oil and gas production and torpedo recovery was covered. Then, based on my experience as a design engineer at Rolls-Royce Submarines in Derby, the design and operation of Royal Navy nuclear submarines was described. Due to shortage of time, the talk had to be curtailed to make way for a very welcome drink!
For August we take a Summer break, so our next meeting will be a visit on THURSDAY 10th September, to Woolsthorpe Manor, birthplace and residence of Sir Isaac Newton.
Please email science@ashbyu3a.co.uk or pmckay189@gmail.com to register your interest and get further details of the visit.
Photos by 