Reports on past meetings

As well as being an author and editor of various polar books and academic papers, Stephen Scott-Fawcett is an adviser to the Scott Polar research Institute in Cambridge. He told us how there is evidence of vegetation in Antarctica’s very distant past when there was apparently a tropical climate, during four ‘green’ periods. However, he… [Continue Reading]

While having worked for very many years as a marine geophysicist (with a background in both geology and botany), in his spare time onshore Francis Farrow has worked on the management of Beeston Common and recording its wildlife. His talk traced the formation of the Common through various periods of human history, and how it… [Continue Reading]

Phyllida Scrivens spoke to us on the subject of “The Lady Lord Mayors of Norwich”, about whom she has recently published a book. Norwich is the first place in Great Britain to have had a lady Lord Mayor – Ethel Mary Colman, from 1923 to 1924. Since then, there have been 16 other lady Lord… [Continue Reading]

This was a talk given by David Morton about a former British aviation project. In 1951 the UK’s economy was in a very poor state, the global political scene was changing, and the government was considering what military threats there were and what steps to take in terms of national defence. It put out a… [Continue Reading]

About 70 members and their guests had an excellent Christmas lunch at the Links Hotel, followed by a talk by Mr Christopher Brooks, entitled “East Coast Evacuees”.  He mentioned that 1990 had seen the 50th anniversary of one of the main evacuations of children from the Norfolk and Suffolk coasts due to fears of possible… [Continue Reading]

Brian Hedge gave us an illustrated, historical talk on Tuesday 6 November. Brian is deeply interested in local history and for the purpose of this presentation he combined the first halves of two separate talks. Beginning with Cromer, he described journalist Clement Scott’s arrival at Cromer, at the behest of the Daily Telegraph. It was… [Continue Reading]

After an excellent lunch, we were treated to a talk by David Morton, about The Tower of London – a journey through its history up to the present. He began with a slide showing the 2014 display, in the grassed-over Moat, of nearly 900,000 ceramic poppies, representing British and Commonwealth military fatalities in WW1. He… [Continue Reading]

After a delicious lunch, we were treated to a very interesting talk about the North Norfolk Railway, by Mr Trevor Eady. After retiring from aviation, he became in 2006 a volunteer guard on the NNR and eventually became General Manager (now retired). Under his watch more trains were added to the timetable as were many more… [Continue Reading]

“Toothache, Saints and Churches” was the intriguing title of the talk by Dr John F Beal, MBE, PhD, Honorary Senior Lecturer at Leeds University. He is also an NHS Consultant and a former Chairman of the Lindsey Society for the History of Dentistry.  He began by asking whether toothache had been a problem in mediaeval England. Letters… [Continue Reading]

With the long hot summer we have been having, it is hard to imagine the bleak and cold Russian Far East.  This however was the subject of a talk given to us on Tuesday 3 July by Mr Roger Townsin.  Roger’s trip was  an “Expedition Cruise” which  began in Japan but which focussed on the… [Continue Reading]