| Status: | Active, open to new members |
| Convenor: | |
| When: | Monthly on Wednesdays 2:00 pm-4:00 pm 1st Wednesday |
| Venue: | Napier Hall |
We are a lively and friendly group that either meet at the hall or visit a site of Scientific or Technological interest.
Meetings vary between presentations, workshops and visits, and the occasional fun social event. Members give presentations or lead workshops if they have a particular expertise, but some prefer to listen and learn.
Previous topics have ranged from Antarctica, through a Bat walk, Gunpowder and various Mathematical topics to Systems Engineering and local Environment issues.
Most of the Science and Technology disciplines are represented in the Group.
You do not need to have been a scientist to join us, just possess a lively and enquiring mind.
Visits have included the Atomic Weapons Museum, a Distillery and a Roman Glass Blowing foundry as well as visits to various manufacturers in the area. Many of us remember a glorious day spent surveying the foreshore at Studland.
Recent and Future Events
Members take turns in organising monthly meetings, with more active participation in these meetings from all of us. The roster for the coming months is shown below:
| Date | Topic | Speaker |
| November 6th 2024 | Video about Brian May's investigation into whether badgers are responsible for the spread of TB to farm animals or if there are other causes. | Mike Gledhill |
| December 4th 2024 | Christmas lunch, Juliet investigated the Farmer Inn at Catherington | Juliet Taylor |
| September 3rd 2025 | Ionising Radiation | Richard Veitch |
| October 1st 2025 | Marine engines, seals and propellors | Geoff Dennison |
| November 5th 2025 | The History of Gunpowder - and Fireworks | Geoff Smith |
| December 3rd 2025 | Christmas Lunch - The Farmer Inn, Catherington | Booked with the pub |
| January 7th 2026 | Arab mathematicians - Al-Khwarizmi and Omar Khayyam | Tony Syms |
| February 4th 2026 | The Enigma Machine: history and how it worked | Bob Beveridge |
| March 4th 2026 | Talk on Havant Thicket Reservoir | Juliet Taylor |
| April 1st 2026 | Visit to Havant Thicket Reservoir | Juliet Taylor |
Members can send Penny Knowler any ideas on subjects they would like to see covered or on which they could give a presentation, however short. Tony’s excellent story about Galileo and his discovery of the moons of Jupiter is an example of what can be done in respect of the latter.
Following his decision to step down from the role of Group Convenor, Mike Gledhill liaised with Penny Knowler, Suzy Gardiner and Athol King about booking Napier Hall and unlocking and setting it up for meetings, as well as using and maintaining the members list in Beacon for communicating with the Group.
Currently the Napier Hall is booked on a yearly basis en bloc for the afternoon of the first Wednesday of each month (except December), Mike Gledhill has a key to the Hall and a U3A projector. Juliet supplies teas and biscuits etc. We need about 15 members to attend each meeting at £2 per head to break even on Hall Hire and paying Juliet’s expenses.
Mike Gledhill will circulate a list of what the Group has covered over the past several years after it was set up by Geoff and Carole Smith to the extent that the information was recorded.
Science Symposium
Back in July 2014, the Group organized and hosted a Science Symposium in Merchistoun Hall to which members of similar Interest Groups from the other U3As in Hampshire were invited.
It had been hoped that given the apparent success and popularity of the day, other u3as might organize similar events in the future, however this has not happened.