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20th March 2019 - John Forsdyke

Even Smaller Wonders - Microscopy

[Awaiting Details]

20th February 2019 - John Rowley

Swanage Railway Museums -
Purbeck Mineral and Mining Museum

This is an introduction particularly aimed at members who will be going on the trip to Norden and Corfe for our July meeting but also an interesting introduction to the history of Clay Mining in Purbeck.

John has been involved with the Museum at Norden since 2003 and was at the official opening in 2013.

17th April 2019 - Phil Judkins

Confusion's Masterpiece -

Spies, Science and the Deception masking D-Day

How in Southern England do you hide 160,000 troops and 8,000 ships? How do you deceive almost the entire European continent about where and when you intend to invade? And how do you get the ships to France and the troops safely ashore while delaying the inevitable counter-attack?

Dr Phil Judkins takes us through the deception campaigns surrounding the D-Day landings 75 years ago, a story of spies, double agents, code-breaking, deception and decoy, involving techniques from the most advanced radar science - much invented here in Purbeck - to the simplest deceits, and the coolest of courage.

Look out for Double agents, Bletchley Park's Colossus computer breaking the German super-ciphering machine Geheimschreiber and all the electronic deception tactics devised by the boffins of Worth and Malvern to cover the D-Day landings.

How were those 8,000 ships navigated across the Channel in safety? What went right, and what went wrong - how a woman worried about a dog almost gave the game away, and how the courage of a single German double agent saved countless lives; all these questions and more will be explored in Phil Judkins' talk.

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