17th January 2023

17th January 2023 - Be careful what you Wish For

With the weather reminding us it was still only mid January a good body of members attended the Club meeting on 17th January. In addition to his other duties as Vice president and Programme Secretary, Neil Ingram took the floor to present a talk with the intriguing title of “Be careful what you wish for”.

Mankind has been its own worst enemy and Neil presented the meeting with some of the evidence. The base metal Lead was always a double edged sword and although widely used by the Romans, even they were aware it could be bad news. Without a good viable alternative lead continued to be used through the ages, and even today is still supplying water to many private dwelling houses. It also had properties enhancing the performance of petrol so was used with abandon up to the 1980s before being withdrawn as unacceptable.

Asbestos, another household material the answer to so many problems has been unmasked as a villain inflicting untold suffering. Chromium, another useful product but with a darker side. Radium, luminous clock and watch dials, carried hidden dangers. The Balance sheet was either not consulted or not understood.

Neil highlighted a number of other examples where we should have heeded the title of his talk. So mankind has now has its latest conundrum, Nuclear Fission . A real Tiger by the tail! A saviour indeed but the destructive ability on one hand and the Commercial Waste presenting mankind with a 10,000 year half life on the other.

Neil felt a degree of optimism for the future of mankind and our ability to meet the problems has to be the way forward.

On that upbeat note President Alistair Pate noted the next meeting would be on 7th February , the subject being “Twinning”. 10 for 10.30 am in the Municipal Hall.

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