Mid Norfolk Railway extension from Dereham to County School
Monday February 13th 2012 at Holiday Inn, Ipswich Road
by John Hall, Director responsible for liaison with Permanent Way / Infrastructure department.

Synopsis to follow

The Sheringham Level Crossing Reinstatement
Monday February 27th 2012 at Holiday Inn, Ipswich Road
Stevan Ashling

A gang of volunteers raised £140k and constructed 120m of new railway, bridging the gap for the first time in 43 years. This 120m of railway connected to Network Rail,crossed a car park, a highway, a public garden and then connected to the NNR. It passes over every utility there is. "We even built a bridge and buried it".

Examples of Synergy
Monday March 12th 2012 at Holiday Inn, Ipswich Road
Prof Derek Fray, Material Science and Metallurgy, University of Cambridge

This presentation will illustrate how knowledge of a problem,coupled with an understanding of the requisite science, can lead to innovative solutions associated with the use of renewable energy, its generation and storage,green processing of materials (including recycling) and finally care of an ageing population. These solutions are attracting venture capital leading to successful developments.

Unfortunately the original talk for March 26th on "The development of the Pilatus PC turbo-prop trainer" has had to be postponed. This is because the speaker, Nigel Wainwright, is in the process of taking a new job (one that can't be turned down!) abroad. The NES very much wishes him well in this new venture. His father in law , Arthur Gent, has kindly offered to give a talk in his stead.
Monday March 26th 2012 at Holiday Inn, Ipswich Road
(Joint Meeting with the Norfolk Industrial Archaeological Society.)
The new talk title is "Francis Barnett and the motor cycle - the complete story"
Arthur Gent, an NES Member

The talk will cover the reasons why there was a motorcycle industry in Coventry in the first place; basically from the birth of Francis & Barnett Co. Ltd in 1919 to its demise in 1966 when the then owners, Associated Motor Cycles Ltd., went bankrupt.

Francis-Barnett was central in the two golden eras of the motorcycle industry, the 1930s and 1950s. The company was founded in 1919 by Gordon Francis and Arthur Barnett, and based in Lower Ford Street, Coventry.

The 1930s were certainly the halcyon days of the industry with over eighty marques in production and machines exported to what was then the British Empire as well as the rest of the world. Francis-Barnett played a key role with the production of its "home to work" commuting two-strokes at the peak of the British motorcycles sales.

Francis-Barnett was known mainly for its lightweight two-stroke motorcycles. They were innovative in their approach to design by first using the unique triangulated frame in 1923 and then changing the frame design completely for the 1933 Cruiser. The engines were all bought in, with all the two-strokes being supplied by Villiers, this enabled Francis-Barnett to concentrate its design efforts on the frame. It was not until the late 1950s that parent company AMC (Associated Motor Cycles) decided to design and build their own engines.

AGM
Monday Apr 2nd 2012 at Holiday Inn, Ipswich Road
After the formal business of the Society has been completed it will be followed by Members papers. The presentations will be about 15 to 20 mins long. The following members have kindly volunteered to give a talk:

Presenter	Topic
Dr Steven Temple	Anaerobic Digestion.
Prof Ken Agnew	A Solar House?
Philip Tolley	Why Picture Quality isn't just Pixels.