Quekett Weekend 16th - 18th May, 2003

Buckingham Members and their partners gathered at the Buckingham Beales Hotel on the evening of Friday 16th May. The Hotel proved to be very comfortable and, after a pleasant meal, an enjoyable and relaxed social evening ensued. On the Saturday morning the group travelled the short distance to the Chandos Road Building of Buckingham University where we were made most welcome by Professor Alan Brookes. Mrs Brookes gave an interesting account of the history of this building before it was aquired by the University. The building had been a mill, an iron foundry, the Castle Foundry for the manufacture of steam engines, and a dried milk factory. All this activity was served by a branch line of the railway, with a station nearby, which arrived in 1850 and was closed in 1966. Mr Rickets built the first coal-fired steam car at the foundry and was requested by Queen Victoria to drive it to Windsor Castle for the benefit of the Royal Family.

During the morning the following lectures were given: Miss Kit Brownlee on "Moulds" with a special emphasis on Penicillium, Aspergillus, Mucor and Fusarium. She showed how important some of these fungi are in the industrial production of enzymes and metabolites such as citric and itaconic acid. She also described the role of some of these microfungi in the spoilage of foods. The lecture was illustrated with photomicrographs taken of some of these organisms which illustrated their beauty as objects for the microscope.

Mr Eric Holliday on "A history of the study of rotifers" based on his 1993 paper in Hydrobiologia. He provided the meeting with a wonderful journey covering many of the microscopists who had contributed to our understanding of the nature, behaviour and structure of the rotifers from Antony van Leeuwenhoek and Christian Huygens to Rousselet and De Beauchamp. Professor Alan Brooke on "Meromictic Lakes", an account of those lakes deep enough to undergo partial mixing and stratification, based on his studies in Minnesota, the State of 10,000 lakes. He particularly concentrated on Itasca State Park where Henry Schoocraft discovered the source of the Mississipi and showed how thermal stratification of a lake may be associated with a specific stratification of different species of algae.

The afternoon of the first day was spent pond dipping in the many water ways close to the University buildings followed by an examination of the finds. Rotifers and diatoms featured prominently amongst the finds and there was much excitement as members shared their observations. The Sunday morning was spent as a gossip meeting, the details of which are reported in the Bulletin, after which the group dispersed but not before a unanimous vote of thanks to Allan Brinkworth for organising such a successful weekend and to Professor and Mrs Brooks for their generous hospitality.

[Ed. The above text was supplied by the President; Maurice Moss, to whom my grateful thanks.

The pictures below are by Tony Jarrett, to whom also my thanks. I'm sure most members will be able to identify most of the characters depicted therein!]