2024 - 25 Gerry's year

7th November 2024 The Pennine Run and coping with Diabetes Dr Chris Cope

Chris explained that he had developed Type 1 diabetes at 14 years old, which gave him an interest in medicine and the rest is history as he is now a 42-year-old GP in East Bridgford. In his 30’s he developed an unhealthy interest in exercise, started on ‘Ironmans’!, A triathlon event with a 2.4 mile swim, a 112 mile cycle ride and a 26.2 mile run, which have to be completed in less than 17 hours, and he’s diabetic?!...and a Doctor! So, he decided to tackle the Montane Spine Race, the most brutal endurance race you could imagine: a 268-mile non-stop race along the iconic Pennine way, from Edale to the remote Scottish Borders village of Kirk Yetholm, climbing 10000m en route. Once entered he had to get to maximum fitness and he put together a suitable plan, culminating in running the London Marathon, where he did a PB. Finally, he completed a 100km night run he designed around Nottingham, taking 10 hours, with sleep deprivation but proving he was ready. You had to be ‘self-sufficient’ for this race, so a bag containing a head torch, spare clothes, goggles, waterproof 1^st Aid Kit, 3 litres of fluid and sustenance (energy bars and gels) Obviously his diabetes was of concern, but the modern digital equipment he can wear, monitoring his sugar levels and pumping insulin as required is invaluable, he could not have completed this event without them. So, on 16 June 150 started the race at Edale, all wearing a 2G tracker to monitor their every movement, including the 5 checkpoints. Hebden Bridge was the 1^st checkpoint where they are able to get hot food. He was really looking forward to seeing Malham Cove and High Cup Nick, but his luck was out arriving at both in darkness hours, but every picture he showed of himself he was always smiling. He did manage to see the Corpse Road and High Force, but traversing the Tan Hill Bog was quite a challenge, but forgotten once tucking in to the best lasagne he ever tasted (5 portions!) at Alston check point, where they were also afforded a shower.

Then Hadrian’s Wall, where his fatigue and massive sugar level variations started to kick in with large bags forming under his eyes, bearing in mind he had managed 1 hour 10 minutes sleep during this race. On to the Cheviots and with 8 miles to go when trying to thank someone for a cup of coffee, he finished with fly spray in his mouth and although he was anticipating hallucinations, it just made him feel nauseous. However, after 79 hours and 10 minutes he reached the finish, in 1^st place, with the second person arriving 21 hours later, so all that preparation had paid off! When you observed his physical state, it was not a pleasant experience, eyes, cracked lips, blistered and fissured feet (despite constant application of Sudocrem).  His father and Uncle were on the finish line to congratulate him and take him back to Newcastle (Uncles) to wash, feed him and start the ‘recovery’, sleeping 2 hours on the way and a further 16 hours on the couch with his poorly feet elevated. Considering this took place in June, it is only the last 4 weeks that he considers his body to be physically recovered. Apparently having entered a triathlon since, when his 15-year-old son beat him!

He raised £2400 for the Guide Dogs Charity and showed us the statistics associated, one questioned why on earth he paid £875 to enter, but he suggests ‘he likes a challenge’, I believe it was more of a medical exercise to find out more about the impact of exercise on people with diabetes and to prove to youngster suffering that it could be done. He’s already decided on his next challenge cycling around Majorca.

Following a number of questions Allen gave the vote of thanks, suggesting that the experience had been very impressive, although we wondered about his ‘state of mind’ to take on such a challenge.  268 miles for pleasure??, No hallucinations, but a completely knackered body (only temporarily) and smiling through it and what a smile! Perhaps he could give Rachel Reeves some lessons. The main message was exercise is good for you, but probably for this audience “Rest is Rust and SLOW motion is lotion’, asking the members to join him in a rousing round of applause.                                AR

24th October 2024 EGM & Doug's Quiz

The EGM was called to discuss the need for a method of collecting digital payments during our Christmas collections at EBGC and the Float. David V opened the discussion followed by Rob outlining the possibilities of making use of our existing 'Sum Up' unit, together with a mobile phone as a trial this year to judge the effectiveness of card collections of donations. Several points were made for 'pros and cons' in a healthy discussion, to which Steve C made a number of points, in particular "what is a good result?" Chris S had made some enquiries at Rotary GB & I head office and was told the financial department was investigating and when concluded, because of their purchasing power, they may offer a good alternative. Eventually Rob put a proposal forward to do this trial, seconded by David V and unanimously voted through, with the conditions, that members need to be properly briefed, an improved stand to put the device on (BN) and some good marketing of the fact that this card payment method could be used including a clear notice adjacent to it.

As Doug was unable to attend being unwell, Rob presented the Alphabetical general knowledge quiz with table 1 beating  David V's table 22 to 20. The second half of the quiz followed with a Rob Music twist having to guess the name of the lady in the title and the singer/group who performed it. Again table 1 with David E, Duncan, Adrian, Steve C and Allen came out on top with 24 out of 30, but they did share the chocolates around all present.  A good evening of fun and camaraderie and good business sense in what could have proved a sensitive subject for the EGM.    AR

17th October 2024 PINKERTON and Anti-counterfeit operation – Rotarian Tom Moloney - Matlock  

Tom explained that he had been working as an Associate Director for a security company in London that were taken over in 1992 by the American Pinkerton Detective Agency (origin of the term ‘Private eye’ and the motto “We Never Sleep”). This company is known as ‘Pinkerton Consulting and Investigations’ in the UK.

This private Detective organisation was started by Allan Pinkerton, a Glaswegian, who was involved in the Chartist movement (against reform) who moved to Canada, then Illinois and Chicago and worked with Abraham Lincoln. There was a plot to assassinate Lincoln in 1861 which Pinkerton thwarted and then along came the American Civil War, all about the fight against Slavery, the Confederates against the Union, a bitter 4-year conflict and when the South retreated battlefields they killed horses so that their opponents couldn’t use them!  The Civil War left behind 620 000 dead soldiers from both sides (215,000 greater than the USA lost in WW2)

Pinkerton Detective Agency were then chasing criminals. Tom showing posters about the Pony Express, Jesse and Frank James, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (who were eventually shot in 1908 by the Bolivian Army). Pinkerton created the term ‘The Rogues Gallery’ as they were the first to do ‘Mug Shots’. In 1871 they were deployed to help in the aftermath of the Great Fire in Chicago, preventing much looting; then, standing guard around Marilyn Monroe’s coffin at her funeral in 1962 and in 1968, safely guarding the ‘Mona Lisa’ to and from the USA to France on board ship.  

Then, on to modern times with electronic surveillance counter-measures to check for ‘bugs’ in offices and homes. He gave a number of examples that he was involved in doing this ‘de-bugging’ including being involved in the 1993 Bishopsgate IRA Bomb. At the time of the explosion, he was on the 10^th Floor of an adjacent building carrying out this search. In August 1977, he managed the Close Protection Team for the 50^th Anniversary of Indian Independence with the India High Commissioner at the Hilton Hotel, Park Lane.

Other involvement including working for Lockheed Martin in Dubai to protect their secrecy in aircraft sales negotiations; Confidential undercover operation of The Ryder Cup; The Home Office and HMP searching for weapons, ammunition and drugs; the huge market in counterfeit Hewlett Packard ink cartridges and toners in EMEA and his work searching for these items in Saudi Arabia and then, securing tower cranes in London from would-be dare-devil climbers.

In the late 1990’s to the mid 2000’s he was ‘seconded’ to British Telecom for a few years as Head of Security for Yellow Pages in the UK and he was part of the BT Security Management Board, before retuning to Pinkerton as the Director for Ant-Counterfeit Operations throughout EMEA.

Tom’s view is that generally, security in the UK could be improved by a bit more thought and better supervision, and the industry should take heed of Pinkerton’s motto that ‘We Never Sleep’ and be constantly on the lookout for improvements and better performance.

Various questions followed, regarding staffing numbers, prison access, Hewlett Packard in China, all dealt with by Tom. Peter gave the vote of thanks, mentioning his work on education in prisons and how astounded he was by some of the examples that Tom had given and delivered with some panache, a captivating presentation, then asking members to join him with a warm round of applause.                                           AR

10 October 2024

15 members attended at this event organised by Denis and Bill to 'bring their own drinks' and partake of Chicken Balti or Lamb Korma (sweet semolina?) accompanied by the usual poppadoms, pickles, mango chutney, Peshwari Naans. An enjoyable evening of camaraderie.    AR

03 October 2024

Due to the closure of Ashmore’s Jim arranged for a walk through Rotary Wood at Ollerton with a meal at the Alders pub adjacent to the roundabout. 8 members attend starting in the pub car park at 4.30pm. The walk traversed the Sherwood Heath SSSI which is a very rare lowland heath with many species of flora and fauna specific to this landscape. It then went through an area know as Cockglode Wood being the remnants of the gardens of Cockglode House built in the 19th century but demolished in the 1950s to make way for the spoil heaps for Thorseby Colliery the last deep coal mine to close in Britain just a few years ago. We then ascended the spoil heap of which 25acres had been planted by Rotary as a Millennium project for the District and which received the RIBI award for Environmental projects in 2003 following a visit from the President who unveiled the plinth at the summit topped with a plate engraved with the Rotary wheel and marking the direction of several locations such as Southwell. Non of these are now visible as the 25cm trees are now up to 10 m high. Special amongst these is a Sherwood Oak planted by the Sheriff of Nottingham in 2000. Several members of the Club did some of the planting in 1997/8 and Jim was very involved throughout including the raising of the £58,000 for the project. The Wood is now linked to the rest of the spoil heap that is being restored as a country park covering over 1000 acres and makes a very interesting walk. Following the walk we had a meal at the Alders pub that was interesting as they had run out of the special beers, the carvery looked at least 2 days old and they had run out of eggs to go with the gammon steak however we all found something on the menu that was good and we all had an enjoyable evening.     JG

Thu, Sep 26th 2024 7:00 pm - Social Meeting at the Nags Head, Harby

Thu, Sep 19th 2024 7:00 pm - Business Meeting

Thu, Sep 12th 2024 7:00 pm - Rotary Foundation and Grant System

5th September 2024 InterCare- Medical Aid for Africa – John Winter     

John explained that InterCare’s purpose was to: reduce UK medical waste and save lives in Africa. They celebrate 50 years in operation since their founder Dr. Rosenburg recognised how much medical waste there was and thought he could do something useful with it. They have no external funding, but have sent about £19million worth of medical aid to sub – Saharan Africa. They are now based in Syston, Leicestershire, having acquired the MHRA wholesaler’s licence (Medical Healthcare Regulatory Authority) which enables them to acquire and export medicines. They are not aware of any other charity or organisation who do such work.  They have 71 Heath units in Sierra Leone, Malawi and Tanzania to whom they have regular contact sending consignments of medical aid; these include hospitals, dispensaries, orphanages, schools for the disabled, with the main focus out in the rural areas, rather than the cities. They are dedicated to ‘responsible’ aid with regular contact, including visits by their trustees and monitoring of activity.

He posed the question as to “Why is it needed?” The simple answer is that they have such poor resources, for example a dispensary may look fine from the outside, but inside it will be clean, but with very little or no funding; there might be just 3 metal beds, no water, no blankets or pillows, no electricity. He gave examples of virtually empty pharmacy shelves, little medicine or equipment to service the demands of vulnerable people and children. They send medicines (purchased or donated by healthcare companies), which have to be new or unused; healthcare goods, such as scissors, bandages, needles, instruments, stethoscopes, blood pressure machines, pulse oximeters. Larger equipment such as wheelchairs, crutches, walking frames/sticks in the last 4 years have been sent in ‘containers’, with NO plastic packaging. John gave examples of their work: such as antibiotics sent to Malawi treating 16 800 patients.  They have developed a “One Wish” initiative, posing the question: “If you could have just one thing, what would it be?” Some of the responses were: an ECG machine, an oxygen concentrator, even a dentist’s chair, theatre lamps (which stops the staff using torches in theatre!)  Another example was ophthalmic testing equipment for Kilema Health Centre in Tanzania, the only one in the country, now attracting many patients.  InterCare are a recycling charity and he pointed out our many UK households contain items of unused medical equipment (e.g. crutches and bandages) that could be put to good use in Africa. They also raise money by recycling unwanted household items and will be happy to receive any jewellery, mobile phones, iPads, Printer Inkjets, stamps and, naturally money; contributions are always welcome.  He left leaflets detailing the items they would like to collect for recycling.

In the 12 months ‘22 to’ 23 they did an exercise to monitor their contributions: Enough medicine for 76400 patients, worming tablets for 44800 patients; 500 instruments for diagnosis, 1000 dental and surgical instruments; 81500 items of PPE; 27500 syringes, 150 mobility items; 5000 bandages and 8000 dressings.  So they know they are doing GOOD and helping very large numbers of vulnerable people

A few questions followed, which John easily dealt with and Mary proposed the vote of thanks, thanking John for an amazing presentation, admitting like most of the members, she had not heard of InterCare before, and John had clearly demonstrated what a worthwhile charity it is, reducing medical waste and helping people and children in Africa, then asking members to join him with a warm round of applause.                                                 AR

22^nd August 2024 Personality Types – Deborah Wylie     

Deb started by asking if any of us had used any personality profiling techniques in our work, such as Myers-Briggs or DiSC.  She went on to explain that William Moulton Marston, an American psychologist had, with the help of his wife, invented DiSC in the early 1900’s, a simple polygraph tool that has been used widely ever since. The four elements of which are: 1. Dominance 2. Influence 3. Stability and 4. Conformity.  She outlined that everyone is different, but predictably different; some people need to control, others need nurturing; some are outgoing others reserved, some ‘people’ focused others ‘task’ focused.  She then began to elaborate by using different hats to indicate which category people fall into.

1. She donned a golf/baseball type hat which she said was a Formula 1 hat belonging to her partner Kim. So, “get it done” attitude; on a good day: in control and making things happen.  On a bad day: aggressive and saying it as it is, without taking peoples feelings into account.  Typically, their fear is of failure or being taken advantage of.  Generally, they are extrovert and act fast. (eg’s Donald Trump, Margaret Thatcher, Sylvester Stallone)
2. Next came a wide brimmed red hat with a black rose adorning it, suggesting the ‘storytellers of the world’ with a desire to be popular, ‘people’ rather than ‘task’ oriented, but good at starting projects. On a good day: positive enthusiasts, on a bad day: superficial, overly optimistic, promises rather than delivers, not a ‘finisher’, with a fear of being ‘unpopular’ or ‘rejected’. They have a short attention span, but are good talkers and presenters. (eg’s Boris Johnson, Barak Obama)
3. Next a pink ‘hard hat’ indicating requiring security, the good collaborator, ensuring everyone is ‘on side’, but very bad at saying ‘no’.  On a good day: the glue that holds the team together, on a bad day: resistant to ‘change’ with a fear of ‘loss of security’ and wariness of change. (eg’s Princess Diana, Paul McCartney, Michael Parkinson, Terry Wogan)
4. Finally, a black bowler hat, for those that insist ‘it’s got to be right!’, although they tend to work at a slower pace, creating rules that stop things going wrong.  On a good day: task based and ensure no mistakes, on a bad day: paralysis of analysis, they need to remember that it doesn’t need to be ‘perfect’, just good enough. (eg’s Steve Jobs, Mr Spock, Tiger Woods and the Queen)

She commented that couples are generally ‘polar opposites’, but most people are a mix of 2 or 3 of the ‘types’ In her work she produces 3 graphs: 1. Natural personality 2. Work personality and 3. ‘stress’ personality. She used the phrase ‘treat people as you would like to be treated yourself’, but added that sometimes it’s best to tailor it to the person you’re dealing with.  The overall message is that ‘there is no good or bad personality type’!

A few questions followed, which Debs easily dealt with and Alan F proposed the vote of thanks, thanking Debs for a captivating presentation that had our members wrapped into the subject, suggesting that she had covered what could be a dry subject in a thorough, but simple entertaining manner, then asking members to join him with a warm round of applause.                                      AR

15 August '24 a Denis Quiz

Denis entertained members with 3 word games. First game  required members in teams to identify from a list of animals if they made a moo, oink or cluck sound. Second game was a dingbat and the third game required teams to identify the 18 prime ministers since WW2 with an extra point awarded if listed in correct order. The winning team would have won a box of sweets if Denis had not eaten them prior to the event!         GS

8 ^th August 2024 Equine Assisted Therapy - Sally and Ollie Heron     

This Community Interest Company started the business in 2020, using horses to promote mental health and wellbeing.  Sally trained in the USA in ’97 in Equine Assisted Rehabilitation to re-educate “disaffected street kids” in California.  Having been involved with horses all her life she dreamed of setting up this business back in England, but realising that there’s very little money in it, but nevertheless very rewarding!  They bought some land in Fulbeck in 2016 with a derelict barn and have managed to develop it, now having an arena and an American 7 stable barn.  A Welsh pony was offered to them for palliative care having a 2-week life expectancy, but is still with them 9 years later.  Sally specialises in American quarter horses as she is a professional international barrel racer, representing the UK in Germany, France, China and the USA.

They run activities for affected people that are metaphors for the ‘things that are going on in their life’. No phones, no radio, just being in the moment, acknowledging peoples past before you can take them forward.  Find out what they need to talk about, ‘triggering it’ in group or individual therapy.  Why horses? They are large, herd animals, they mirror behaviour (they are sensitive to changes in heart rate, adrenalin and other non-verbal reactions).  But Sally and Ollie needed to be creative to widen their business opportunities.  Inevitably, horses are a female dominated interest, so in comes Ollie to try and attract males.  It all started with him registering and getting a licence for a weekly Lottery with prizes drawn every Friday (now with 2000 regulars).  Being a “LEGO boy”, he noticed that the LEGO prizes were very popular and realised himself returning to the hobby after 40 years he purchased a Titanic Model, noticing that he became totally absorbed in the build process, not thinking about anything else: financial, children worries etc, which link well with the ‘wellbeing concept’.  They now run a weekly programme, generally attended by at least 20 people (they even featured on TV’s Look North) as an alternative to the horse therapy, which is so busy with bookings into April ’25. Ollie offered some amazing statistics: 6 red standard Lego bricks have a combination of 27 million choices of combination, rising to 94 million if multi coloured bricks!

In Ihe future they are looking for grants to expand into Armed Forces Covenant and ‘Line Dancing’ events, recently holding a ‘Honky Tonk’ event attracting 107 people, raising £1k with a raffle and the support of Grantham Rotary Club and locals who volunteer and provide some of the prizes, I believe recognising what a great job Sally and Ollie are doing for their local community. Their current project is turning a grain store into a refreshment area, with outside and inside kitchen areas and a fire pit, which always offers a good ‘bonding’ environment. They have limited parking space (12 to 15 vehicles), which can be a limiting factor at wet times/ in the Winter, so they are looking to put down 1 acre of ‘grass mats’ at a cost of about £15k, and are always looking for sponsorship ideas. Many questions followed covering riding of horses, school referrals, training of the horses, all handled very effectively.

David V proposed the vote of thanks, thanking Sally and Ollie for their very captivating and enthusiastic presentation. He thought he’d been set up having to do a VoT with no knowledge of horses, then additional Lottery, Lego and Line Dancing activities.  However, he was totally engrossed and feels that the excellent work they are doing should be financially supported with National or Local Government initiatives, then asking members to join him with a warm round of applause.        AR

25 ^th July 2024 The Weird World of Wills  Deborah Wylie       

Debs is a member of Grantham Sunrisers; they meet at 07.00 and by 8.30 are off to work.  She’s a qualified Will writer at G&T Wills.  All documents are drafted by the legal team so in an unregulated world, they have chosen to be regulated.  She wanted to be a primary school teacher when she left school, but felt her lack of singing ability put that out of the question.  Her teacher wanted her to go to university to study maths and German, but she opted for a business studies course at a polytechnic. Unfortunately, her second husband was a domestic abuser, so she became homeless and penniless, with two children and got work as a carer, from which she learnt a great deal about families, empathy and care. She then trained in NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming), Coaching and Personality Profiling which certainly comes in handy when dealing with families.  Luckily, she discovered Will writing and this is where she stayed.  The first question she covered was: “Why now?” Generally, it’s about a change of circumstances: buying a house, having a child, divorce, re-marriage or a shock diagnosis.  Youngsters often say “I have nothing, so I don’t need a will”, but Debs would say you need to ensure that what happens is what you want as it can get complicated.  ‘Living together’ is not the same as being married, if one of the pair dies the estate goes to the family, not the partner. Getting married can negate your will, but getting the right documents can protect part of the estate for the children.

She then posed a question that she is often asked “can I leave my money to the dog?” The answer is NO, as animals are classed as chattels, but clauses can be added to make provision for care of the animal, including a “Trust of Imperfect Obligation!”. That’s the ‘cheerful’ bit dealt with, next comes ‘funeral arrangements.’  Many men ask for a ‘Viking Funeral’, the best you could get is your ashes placed in a long boat and sailed out to sea! Direct cremation is currently in vogue, but Debs advice is ‘get the right funeral director first, for your family’s sake’ A few anecdotes followed about asking her Mum about spreading her father’s ashes on Doncaster Race-course, but apparently her father hated his job there as groundsman! Wishes happen like “I want to go on holiday” achieved by taking a few ashes in a Sun-tan lotion bottle!  Also whether to scatter immediately or wait to scatter ‘together’? With Gifts, Jewellery, collections, musical instrument, etc it is best to think about who might benefit most from the gift. What can be protected? People ask about Inheritance tax and care home fees and Debs said always get the correct legal advice as circumstances differ. She offered her 5 KEY Questions, for peace of mind:

1. Where is your original signed Will?
2. Who are your executors, are they still valid
3. Have your circumstances changed since you wrote your Will?
4. Is your LPA (Lasting Power of Attorney in place
5. Do you know where your Deeds to your property are? 

Debs then fielded a number of questions about funeral plans, natural burial grounds, etc.

Bill proposed the vote of thanks, apologising for his phone call during the presentation, but mentioning that it was from one of his sons checking that he’s still alive and well! He felt Debs had made a potentially ‘dry’ subject interesting, informative and entertaining with her many anecdotes and asides.  But there were clear messages and in particular the need to keep things up to date, then asking members to join him with a warm round of applause.                   AR

18 ^th July 2024 Setting up a Nanobrewery  Marc Williamson       

Marc explained that his father was one of 8 children, living in the countryside where everyone made something for trading and he chose brewing his own beer, when old enough! So Marc had a natural interest from an early age, to the extent that for his Duke of Edinburgh ‘skills’ project he chose ‘brewing’. He maintained this and in the shed at the bottom of their garden he managed to get through all the loopholes to brew and sell his beer and named it the Linear Brewery, after the Linear former Railway walk in Bingham. After 23 years as research scientist, he came to the major decision to give up his job and turn his hobby into the family business.  He went to the Brew School in Bakewell and actually did some teaching there, then two months at The Navigation in Meadow Lane. The company decided they could make more money with corporate events, so closed the brewing, which enabled Marc to buy some commercial size brewing equipment. So came the move to Screveton, changing from ‘beer kits’ to brewing from grain, based in a large Farm barn and a great ‘community’ who all work together, helping each other.  However, HMRC have still not organised/approved his move from Bingham to Screveton, so currently he can’t sell his beer. Previously it was all bottled, manually, but now he’s focused on Casks, which he can make 11 or 12 casks on one brew, allowing 7 days for maturity and consumption. He talked about the ABV rates, of which his bottles tended to be 5.4%, but he will probably fix on 3.8%, depending what his customers want, as well as the skimming of their own yeast for re-use.  Within the barn some cider is brewed, which he is likely to get involved in. But basically, he just wants to make beer, to enable him to pay the bills and look after his family.  He encouraged and responded to a number of questions about 0 alcohol beers, lagers, recipes

Gail proposed the vote of thanks, mentioning that he should have the right audience as the majority were beer drinkers, so should get their attention and that she really enjoyed Marc’s talk delivered with enthusiasm, humour and the factor of someone getting out of the ‘rat race’ and turning his hobby into a career, asking members to join her with a warm round of applause.            AR

11 ^th July 2024 Space X- Rockets galore!  Joe Colls       

Joe explained that Space X is an American company, funded by multimillionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, that launches satellites. Apparently, he made his millions by selling PayPal, splitting half his profits between Tesla and Space X. They launch vehicles for putting satellites into orbit or off to the moon, using multi stage rockets, which originally sank back into the sea, but their objective was to be able to re-use the rockets, which fall into 4 categories: 1. Falcon 9 2. Falcon Heavy 3. Dragon 4. Starship.  The plan was to bring them back to a landing pad and also landing back at sea on a drone platform. He then showed a number of videos showing the launch from Cape Canaveral and the landings of the 1^st stage rocket (booster).  To date they have completed 350 launches, with only 2 failures and are operating now at 100 launches per annum, and have used 22 re-launch boosters, so far.  There are about 6000 Starlink satellites in low earth orbit and they launch them multi flat packed, using the Falcon 9.  The Space X Dragon was used to service the International Space Shuttle with both cargo and crew.  The Starship is designed for Moon and Mars exploration, using 33 liquid Methane/liquid Oxygen engines. They have constructed a new production and launch tower at Boca Chica, Texas, just North of the Mexican border.  Joe then showed an animation of the re-landing of the booster back to the launch tower, being ‘caught’ by two arms (chopsticks). He mentioned the heat issue when re-landing as the engines have to be used for the manoeuvre, so after the 1^st landing pad was destroyed, they developed an ‘upside down’ shower unit to deluge the area with water.

Space X has a different strategy to NASA, using ‘iterative engineering’, try it out, then improve it next time which compares to NASA philosophy of taking about 10 years to produce the ‘perfect solution’.  They have completed 4 launches. So far: April and November in’23 and March and April ’24.  The plan is for IFT 5 to launch in August, where they hope to ‘catch’ the booster. They are building a 2^nd launch tower at Boca Chica and a further one at Cape Canaveral. Joe talked about the changes in technology that have affected the costs, originally estimated at 50, 000 $/Kg, 5000 $/Kg to the current price of 50 $ /Kg for Starship.  He concluded his presentation with an historical video of James Burke, showing a rocket launch using liquid Hydrogen/liquid Oxygen engines.

Joe fielded a few questions regarding the funding, answering that the launches are quite profitable, use of Methane engines and weather tolerances. Adrian proposed the vote of thanks, mentioning that he might be the right person to do the vote as a ‘space enthusiast’, but he might be biassed. He suggested that we all grew up in the ‘Space Age’, so should have some empathy with the subject matter. He concluded that he really enjoyed Joe’s talk delivered with enthusiasm, humour and many facts, a fascinating subject and amazing technology and asked members to join him with a warm round of applause.          AR

5^th July 2024 Florence Boot  Sian Trafford       

Sian began by commenting that Boots were synonymous with Nottingham. Jesse learnt his trade from his mother who processed herbs in the first shop on Goosegate in 1891 and working there from when he was 13 following his father’s death.

Jesse suffered with his health and whilst convalescing in Jersey he met Florence and despite her being 12 years his junior eventually they quickly married. Florence had worked in her father’s stationers’ shop, giving her excellent grounding in selling and dealing with customers, always with the belief that shop work was a dignified profession. Their ‘flagship’ Boot’s shop opened in1892 in Pelham Street, Nottingham, advancing from a chemists to a department store through Florence's creative and artistic flair, progressing to 7 shops. By 1893 it was 33 shops growing to 250 by 1900. She had travelled the world to source the various items they sold, but in 1899 they had their first son, John, quickly followed by a 2^nd son that unfortunately died, then two girls, Dorothy and Marjorie, but she carried on working. She had a well-developed ‘social conscience’, with a ‘motherly interest’ in “her Boots girls”, introducing the provision of breakfasts and the appointment of a part time welfare officer, eventually becoming full time in 1911, (Eleanor Kelly). She started a range of welfare outings and excursions, including walks, team games, trips to Castleton and culminating in 500 staff being taken to Skegness. The largest ever excursion of 5000 staff being taken to the British Empire Exhibition in Wembley in 1924, and opened by the King and Queen.

Jesse and Florence built a house called Plaisaunce on the Trent embankment with a sports ground. In the first World war they held events there and Flag days to raise funds.  They gifted 36 acres of land on the N. bank for’ people in the City’ and had 11 rent free properties built in Wilford in 1908 (Dorothy Boot Homes).  Various houses were purchased throughout the country for holidays and convalescence for their staff, some catering exclusively for women. (Trusthorpe, Barton, The Knowle at Gt. Missenden.) In 1898 she bought a large collection of second hand books which she sited at the back of the store, creating the Boots Book Lovers’ Library ( A London Librarian called Mercer Stretch was so fascinated by this action, he cycled from London to Nottingham and eventually became her librarian, also establishing libraries in Jersey and Weymouth and Parcel Post Books. She invested in her staff’s education with ½ day study for 14- to 16-year-olds and in 1920 created Boot’s Continuation School and were involved in Highfields Park establishing East Midlands University (Nottingham) in 1919. This had a Women’s Hall of residence for 100 students in 1928 (Florence Boot Hall)

In 1921 they retired to Jersey purchasing Villa Millbrook in St. Helier and built 22 cottages for families there as well as the FB Playing Fields (for Florence and the Governor Frances Bingham). In 1920 Sir Jesse sold Boots to Louis Liggett, from an American Pharmaceutical firm, as Sir John was considered more of a ‘playboy’ than businessman, but Louis made Sir John a director and after Jesse died in 1931, John bought the Boots company back in 1933, the same year the 1000^th Boots store was opened in Galashiels. Florence donated Sir Jesse’s Rolls Royce to the City for use as an ambulance after his death. In 2014 Boots was no longer English ownership, being sold to Walgreens Boots Alliance (US),

Ian Torr proposed the vote of thanks, mentioning that his Father and Mother both worked for Boots all their life and He and his 3 siblings really enjoyed visiting the Pelham Street store, mentioning Boots discount and the Sports events and Social Club He commented that he really enjoyed Sian’s talk delivered with enthusiasm, humour and many facts, providing some of the interesting local history and asked members to join him with a warm round of applause.            AR