Visit to Springfields Nuclear Fuels

Thursday, 11th September 2014 – visit to Springfields Nuclear Fuel Manufacturing site, organised by Jack Brettle. A fascinating tour of the nuclear fuel plant near Preston, the visit gave us an insight into the complex and highly technical aspects of manufacturing fuel rods for various British nuclear power stations. Precision is important, as you might imagine, but the process still relies on people to correct any bends in the rods and make sure they are actually straight!

The visit was also notable for the extent of the security checks made by the operators of the site – we had to register with our passports or photo driving licences, and while we were having our bags searched, a security team was sweeping the coach to check for bad things – concealed weapons, I guess!

Farington Waste Recovery Park visit

On a hot summer’s day in late July, a waste recovery centre is the last place you’d wish to visit – yes?
Well, not everyone would agree, especially the two dozen or more who made their way to Farington, near Leyland, last week, and enjoyed a truly educational tour of the facility that processes nearly all of Lancashire’s domestic waste.

The Farington Waste Recovery Park is operated by Global Renewables Lancashire Ltd, under a 25-year PFI contract with Lancashire County Council and Blackpool Council. When built, it was the second fully enclosed waste treatment facility in the UK.

We followed the progress of household waste as it arrived from one of the waste collection centres in Lancashire (our nearest is in Skelmersdale), and then passed through a series of separation stages to recover as much material as possible, and minimise the amount that has to be sent to landfill.

More photos in the gallery.

Materials, Minerals and Mining

Wednesday, 5th September 2012 – Dr. Diane Aston, the Education Co-ordinator for the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining kicked off our new autumn programme with a talk on “Materials in Action” – and what a talk it was! Laced with fascinating facts about how the properties of various materials determine both the method of extraction/creation and the uses to which they are put, Diane engaged and entertained us in equal measure. Armed with lots of samples to illustrate her talk, her enthusiasm for her subject couldn’t help but spread to the whole audience. A great afternoon!

Crash Helmets for Eggs – results

Well, what a cracking afternoon we had. No sun to be seen in the sky, but Christine P, Sue W and Chris P reminded us it was the middle of summer by serving up delicious strawberry cream teas.

Twelve teams entered the contest, with many of them using the “egg” theme for their name: Eggsacting, Eggstatic, Eggythump, Eggcentric, Eggbound, Ovum and Lincolnshire Poachers. After Patsy had explained the rules (see the other post), the teams chose their eggstraordinary names and selected their numbered eggs. With only 30 minutes to complete their designs, there

Scramble for materials

was a bit of a scramble for materials before they could set to work.

it’s all about cooperation!

It was clear that some teams had given serious thought to the task, and had even eggsperimented at home; they finished well within the allotted time.

One they prepared earlier???

Others were making full use of the time to perfect their construction.

Finally, the egg-timer ran out and all the packaged eggs were re-weighed.

Patsy then called the teams to order for the judging.

Tension mounts as the eggs are tested

The audience was getting eggstremely eggscited by now, as Patsy took each packaged egg in turn and dropped it from a standard height onto the hard floor.

Testing the “crash helmets”

The packages were then carefully unwrapped and eggsamined to check for broken eggs and, amazingly, 9 out of the 12 eggs were unbroken. As tensions rose to an eggscruciating level, the unbroken eggs were ranked in order of package weight…

…and the winners were… Sputnik!

Sputnik being weighed

Sputnik by name, and sputnik by design: of all the eggs which stayed intact after being dropped, the one protected by the lightest weight of packaging (just 10.62 grams) was that of Sydney May, Vera Horsley and Ann Parker. Their minimalist packaging was very effective, and the projecting straws certainly gave it the look of a satellite.

For the most artistic appearance, team Eggstatic, comprising Sue Abbott and Derrick Fewings and egged-on by Alf Rubery, came up with an almost eggstra-terrestrial sputnik-like design to beat the rest.

Eggstatic’s sputnik scored highly for artistic impression

Overall, an eggsellent afternoon!

(Hope you didn’t mind all the corny yolks!)

Crash Helmets for Eggs

Wednesday, 4th July 2012– Patsy Colvin is organising a meeting with a difference!

Egg Drop Fail – courtesy xkcd

For this year’s Summer Spectacular, we are running a special event where everyone can get involved. The general idea is to make some kind of “safety harness” or “crash helmet” using a variety of packaging materials that would allow an egg to be dropped, within its packaging, from a height without breaking on impact. Prizes for the winning pair!

All materials will be provided, but a pair of scissors might be useful 😉

Even if you don’t want to try your hand at this, you can still come along to cheer on the most inventive teams, or just enjoy the strawberry teas on a [hopefully] pleasant summer’s afternoon.

Simplified rules Choose a team name Use only the packaging material provided Packaged egg needs to be weighed before dropping Only one attempt at the drop All packaged eggs dropped from the same height You have 30 minutes to finish your packaging The aim is to use the least weight of packaging

Put it in your diary now, Wednesday, July 4th at 1.55pm – it should be a cracking afternoon!

Medical Scanners

Tuesday, 7th February 2012 – We had yet another good attendance at Tuesday’s meeting, despite the competition from the Local History meeting next door showing films about the Liverpool waterfront.

Janet Custard, recently retired as Head of Physics at Merchant Taylors’ Girls’ School, gave us a captivating talk about the broad field of Medical Imaging. Covering a whole raft of devices, from endoscopes in various orifices to PET scanners (No! Not X-ray machines for your cat or dog – Positron Emission Tomography), Janet’s very well illustrated talk removed much of the mystery (and fear, hopefully) often associated with the phrase “going for a scan”. Thank you Janet.

Circles and Triangles: the Science & Technology of the Bicycle

Tuesday, 1st November, Scout HQ – Dr Dominic Dickson travelled from Formby U3A  (by bike and train) to talk to us about how important circles and triangles are to the humble bicycle. The retired academic from Liverpool University Physics Department demonstrated how a cycle frame consists of many triangles (and circles) for strength and stability – a fascinating talk indeed.

Why on Earth Did They Invent That?

On Tuesday 1st March retired professor Ian Barclay from John Moores University, came along to pose the question, “Why on earth did they invent that?”

Ian gave us a witty and stimulating account of inventions through the ages and the ups and downs of inventing. Interspersed with quiz questions about the most unlikely and bizarre items, he explained why some inventions become world-wide successes or crazes and why others never make it.

Another absorbing afternoon, with 51 people turning up. Methinks our reputation is growing!

Mersey Tunnel Tour – 22nd May 2010

Mersey Tunnel Tour – Due to popular demand, a second group took the Mersey Tunnel Tour on a warm, sunny afternoon in May.

“How is this relevant for an underground tour?” you may well ask. “Doesn’t it get warmer, the deeper underground you go?” Well, down a mineshaft, maybe, but down a ventilation shaft…? The answer is very simple – huge fans below ground draw fresh air in through the sides of the ventilation towers and pump it up through vents at the sides of the roadway, the air then being released through the centre of the towers. The air temperature is therefore the same as the outside, but in winter there is a significant wind-chill factor because the winds underground can reach 30 mph.

Most of us travelled into Liverpool by train and met outside the George’s Dock building – the iconic Grade II listed Art Deco structure between the Port of Liverpool building and the Strand.

The tour cost just £5, and all who went deemed it excellent value for money.

If you are interested, there are public tours on Saturday mornings and some weekday evenings. For more details of the tour you can download the Merseytravel poster (.pdf file).

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Mersey Tunnel Tour – April 17th

Mersey Tunnel Tour – Saturday 17th April

We arranged a Mersey Tunnel Tour on Saturday 17th April, and 20 members thoroughly enjoyed the deep down feeling of being underneath the tunnel.