Events Programme

All of the talks in the 2024-25 season will be hosted in the Hub at the Pavilion on Park Drive, Hethersett where members can enjoy a cup of tea/coffee & biscuits and have a chat before the meeting starts. Since the first Covid lockdown, when we started to hold virtual meetings, meetings have been published live using Zoom and can be watched afterwards on Youtube using the links in Past Events.

For all meetings, a link to the Zoom meeting will be emailed out in advance of the meeting, to members for whom we have current email addresses.

Any member wishing to take part in a talk via Zoom is advised to download the 'Zoom' client, if they don't already have the app, onto their computer/tablet/phone. If you don't have one it takes much longer to join a meeting!

Mon 16th December 2024 at 19:30, Hethersett Hub + zoom
Talk: Time - What is Time?
by Richard Aldridge, NES Member

Summary: Time is an important component in many aspects of engineering. This talk will give a brief history of how the concept of time and its measurement has evolved. It will then look at some of the challenges the early ideas had to face and to review the efforts made to resolve these difficulties.

Mon 13th January 2025 at 19:30, Zoom
Council: Council Meeting
by The President,
Mon 20th January 2025 at 19:30, Zoom+
Talk: Autonomous Ships
by Andy Stanford-Clark, IBM

Summary: Andy was heavily involved in the Autonomous Ship Project run by IBM. His talk will look at the design and implementation of such projects and discuss whether this particular project met the design specifications.

Mon 10th February 2025 at 19:30, Zoom+
Talk: AI, the new normal
by Giancarlo Erra,

Summary: Coming soon

Mon 24th February 2025 at 19:30, Hethersett Hub + zoom
Talk: Technical Innovations on the Bure Valley Railway (BVR)
by Andrew Barnes, General Manager, Bure Valley Railway

Summary: Andrew will provide us with a brief history of the BVR and explain how he has been able to greatly improve the efficiency of the BVR steam Motive Power, the ride and crash worthiness of the passenger stock and introduce the first battery locomotive for passenger haulage of any statutory regulated railway in the UK.

Mon 10th March 2025 at 19:30, Hethersett Hub + Zoom
Talk: Space Topics
by Stuart Catchpole, Space East

Summary: Coming Shortly

Mon 24th March 2025 at 19:30, Hethersett Hub + Zoom
Talk: History & Engineering of Ice production
by David Forster,

Summary: David is the owner of a company which goes back to his grandfather in 1898 in Lowestoft that started the industrial production of ice. His talk will include an original film video of how the ice was made, the American use of compressed ammonia, shipping of ice from Norwegian glaciers and the provision of ice to cool Wimbledon tennis balls and for ice statues at the wedding of Princess Diana.

Mon 31st March 2025 at 19:30, zoom
Council: Council Meeting
by The President,
Mon 7th April 2025 at 00:00, Zoom+
AGM: AGM 2024-2025
by The President,
Mon 5th May 2025 at 19:30, zoom
Council: Council Meeting
by The President,