Surrey Industrial History Group

William Blake famously wrote about the 'dark satanic mills'of Victorian Britain, but was this really the case? In this talk we will explore what it was like to work in Victorian factories and the relationship between the workers and the factory owners. We will discover why trade unions were formed and what they achieved. Find out more as we go through the Victorian factory gates with Richard Mark, freelance professional historian.

A talk about the history of Superguns and Gerald Bull, the designer of the ultimate Supergun for Saddam Hussein and Iraq. I spent some time in the arms industry and  became unwittingly involved in the Supergun project. This eventually led to me giving evidence to the Government enquiry into 'Arms to Iraq', as well as several other enquiries including 'Arms to Iran'.

The talk examines why the Wey & Arun Canal was built and traces the route from Shalford to Pulborough and beyond.  Facts and figures about the infrastructure (locks, bridges and aqueducts) are given. The decline, fall and restoration; together with plans for the future are also discussed. The talk will be given by Simon Knapman of the Wey and Arun Canal Trust.

Farnborough Air Sciences Trust (FAST) was founded in 1993 to safeguard Farnborough's aeronautical heritage. This talk reviews Farnborough aviation history, including the RAE buildings and airfield from 1910. The talk will be give by Graham Rood, Curator FAST.

A talk about the world's fastest conventional cargo liner, her buiding and operation, with special reference to the development of passenger accommodation and facilities on ocean liners. The talk will be given by Richard Mellors, ex Union-Castle Line and P & O.

The story of the project to restore and return to mainline service the world's only Pullmam EMU (electrical multiple unit). The talk will cover the origins of the Brighton Belle , its time in service, and what happened to the rolling stock when the service ended in 1972. It will also cover the restoration of four cars and plans to operate the train in the future. The talk will be given by Stuart Wilkinson from the  Brighton Belle Trust.

The talk will show how detailed computer models were used to reconstruct the history of the airport from archive maps and photographs. The development of Croydon Airport will be covered from the RFC airfield on Plough Lane, the RAF development in 1918, the Civil airport in 1920 and finally the new airport in 1928. A selection of aircraft and airline history will be included, and also the development of facilities such as Radio, Air Traffic Control, the Met Office and Customs.   The talk will be given by Roger Potten, Historic Croydon Airport Trust.

The lecture covers an Industrial Archaeology trip to the Parys Mountain mine in Anglesey in 2012 and to a large mine in Arizona in 2013.  The refining processes are covered as are the multitude of applications for copper, stressing the importance of the metal. Copper is widely recycled and the talk will touch on personal involvement, making a contribution to a charity and the recovery of copper.    The talk will be given by Doug Bateman, Farnborough RAE and U3A speaker.

For about 2000 years there has been a bridge at the site of the present London Bridge and during that time London has grown from a small Roman bridge head and camp to be a world megalopolis. Until 1750 it was the only bridge in London and the next bridge over the Thames  was  upstream at Kingston. In fact , there have been a number of different structures on the site, each called London Bridge, and the talk will outline their story over two millannia.  The talk will be given by Doug Irvine, CivilEngineer.