The South Thames Meeting - March 2007
 
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Just over twenty members with some partners meet at the Church Hall, Cobham, Surrey, for the annual South Thames meeting.

The meeting started with three excellent talks by Dr Harold Hilman, Dr Louissa Marsh from LGC Forensics and Brian Davidson.

Our thanks, once again, go to Joan Bingley for making all of the arrangements, including the usual excellent lunch and high quality speakers.

Dr Harold Hilman answering questions
following his interesting talk on "Artifacts in Microscopy"
Following Harold's talk we had a visiting speaker - Dr Louissa Marsh from LGC Forensics - with a fascinating talk on the Forensic Aspects of Paint.
One of Louissa's slides showing paint balls recovered from articles of clothing.
Another slide showed the variations in the paint layers that were found on a car that had been re-sprayed many times.
Next we had one of the stalwarts of the Club - Brian Davidson - who gave an extremely well illustrated talk on slides produced (mainly in the Victorian era) from Butterfly scales.
An intricate depiction of a floral arrangement with birds.
Another beautiful floral arrangement
After lunch, the hall was cleared and we set up a number of gossip exhibits, each of which was described by the exhibitor.
Maurice Moss talks about his display of the Red Admiral Butterfly.
Tony Dutton explains the reasons behind his exhibit of 'Dust' and how it tied up with (and was inspired by) one of his other numerous hobbies.
Joan Tubbs exhibited "Nature's shape in the from of Seeds"
The Histology slides of Professor Martin Heidenheim were well displayed by dennis Fullwood.
James Rider used his McArthur portable microscope to show the Proboscis of a Blowfly - Calliphera vomitoria - see enlarged image to right.
Joan with her Butterfly Scale pictures.
Vaughn Dodge explained how he had discovered a small portable television that he has used for easier focusing when taking photographs with his digital camera.

Also exhibited were two Victorian brass instruments - one by Brian Davidson used to show a superb butterfly scale slide - "Bouquet of Flowers and Insects - 400 pieces, by Edward Hinton". This beautifully complimented Brian's earlier talk.

Tony Jarratt exhibited a Ross type brass Wenham binocular microscope by Charles Collins, dated around 1875.

Another excellent meeting.
 
Report and photos by Tony Jarratt