20th century

The Annual Symposium of the Society will take place in East Horsley Village Hall. Online booking via PayPal at £12 per person is now available by clicking on the BOOK tab above. Due to difficulty in paying them in cheques cannot now be accepted. Online booking enables us to assess the catering requirements and streamlines the administration process.

Payment by cash on the day is discouraged but will be possible and exact change would be appreciated. Tickets cost £12 per person.

The talk covers the history of motoring in general and UK vehicle registration in particular. Based on the book Car Number Classics, all aspects of registration are investigated up to the introduction of the present system in 2001. The talk will be given by Nicholas Young, author of Car Number Classics.

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'.

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 talk looks at the invention of linoleum by Frederick Walton in 1864 and his establishment of a factory to produce it in Staines. The different production processes and uses of this once universal floor covering are explained.

Looks at the disaster itself and its aftermath on the environment.