21st April 2021 - Phil Judkins

Science, Theft and Treachery

The stories of the Bruneval Raid to capture Hitler's radar, and of the parallel story of spies and agents on the Russian Front.

During the 20th century, scientific advances applied to military use could win or lose wars, and so were the subject both of espionage and of direct assault.  Dr Phil Judkins scrutinises two classic examples, one of assault and theft, one of treachery.

During the Second World War, Britain at first thought that it alone had the secret of radar, until increasing evidence showed that Germany had equipment equally as advanced – if not better! The Bruneval Raid, subject of a recent book by local author Damien Lewis, was mounted to steal a German radar – but how did reality match the bold plan?

On the Eastern Front, Russia and Germany were locked in a titanic struggle whose scale dwarfs conflict in Western Europe – but what is the almost unknown story of German spying on Russia, and of the German spy codenamed ‘Klatt’, Germany’s primary source of information on Russia. Why was he of such interest to the British at Bletchley Park? Was Klatt in fact a Russian double agent? A true story to match the fiction of John le Carré, with a stomach-wrenching final twist!

19th May 2021 - Will Bond

Ecological Restoration

In the early decades of the growth of nature conservation NGOs understandably focussed on acquiring important reserves before they were lost to agricultural improvement or development. As time went by, the importance of management made itself apparent, some of which was seriously in arrears.

Will Bond and his team became experts in the sphere of what might be termed ‘makeovers’ of nature reserves to bring them back up to scratch, using big construction, quarrying and agricultural equipment to deliver large scale results within constrained timescales - while avoiding damage to the plants, animals and birds for which these areas are protected.

The talk will use examples to illustrate some of the conflicts and compromises necessary to preserve the best of our wildlife sites.

Will Bond is an ecological contractor based at Wareham in Dorset. His company Alaska Ecological Contracting is a known innovator and leader of best practise in the use of modern equipment applied to ecological management and restoration. He is a previous recipient of the Society for Ecological Restoration’s John Rieger Award, and the Chartered Institute of Ecological and Environmental Management’s Outstanding Professional Award. He denies being professional, just enthusiastic!