Review of Branch Meetings 1998 - 1999
August 26th Wednesday
PUB SPORTS NIGHT at the Gayton Hotel Social night with many activities.
September 29th Tuesday
Pottery Decorating Techniques by Jeff Tunnicliffe of RT Ceramics
The first official meeting of the branch took place at the North Staffs Medical Institute on 29th September under the Chairmanship of Mr. David Baggaley.
A good turnout of 29 members were present . Preliminary business included a report on the education trust fund in which the branch overwhelmingly voted to donate £300.00 to the trust, an ICT council member is to be invited to our next meeting at the North Staffs Medical Institute to receive the cheque (Preferably Peter Betts : National Chairman).
David then introduced the speaker for the evening Mr. Jeff Tunnicliffe of R. J. Ceramics, and invited him to give his talk on Ceramic Colours, Innovation and Applications. Mr. Tunnicliffe began by saying how the heavy clay industry have it easy compared with its neighbouring potters who have the problems with under glaze, body stains, in glaze, slip stains, gold and platinum. Mr. Tunnicliffe gave us a very enjoyable and interesting talk through the years of glazes and colour applications.
Mr M. Churchill proposed a vote of thanks to Jeff, which was heartily approved. The evening concluded with usual delicious buffet, generously sponsored by Castle Colours Limited.
The next event is a visit to Radway Green on Tuesday 27th October 1998 and the next Branch Meeting will be a paper on Characterisation of Clay used in brick making by Dr. Stuart Barlow of Diamond Gimson on Wednesday 25th November 1998.
Information about the North Staffordshire Branch can be found on the Internet;-
www.ict-ns.com
Dave Cooper
October 27th Tuesday
Radway Green Ammunitions Manufacture Visit to the works
On the afternoon of Tuesday 27th October 1998 a small party of members paid a visit to the Royal Ordinance Factory at Radway Green Alsager Staffordshire currently owned by British Aerospace.
A warm welcome to the small arms ammunition business unit was given by Manager John Mathews. John gave us a introductory talk with the aid of slides before the tour. Royal ordinance currently employ's just under 5,000 people on ten site’s around the UK.
The site at Radway Green is a self contained business unit which produces the largest amount of small arms ammunition in Europe. The unit literally starts off with the raw material Zinc/Copper to make brass which is melted in the site’s own foundry, right through to the finished ammunition that is issued to the customer.
All the design / development and testing is done on site and Radway Green is renowned for its very high standard of quality. John then went on to talk about the history of Radway Green, opened in December 1940, employing 15,000 people producing small arms ammunition and shell casings for the famous spitfire.
After the 2rd World war the work force was reduced to 1,500 employees and at that time there was a great demand for domestic appliances, which the Royal Ordinance factories started to produce because of the reduced demand for ammunition.
By 1948 they went back to producing small arms ammunition with the outbreak of the Korean war. In the mid 60s they got into making coin blanks for the Royal Mint in preparation for the change to decimalisation, so all the early coins that were minted were actually made at Radway Green, the first was the 50 pence coin which was made in 1969, the face was not put on the coin that was done at the Royal Mint.
Then we went on to tour the units to see the ammunition being manufactured. We were amazed at the speed at which the ammunition was being made. First impressions of the unit’s was how very clean it was; slightly noisy but you would expect that in an engineering environment, so there was plenty of ear protection to go around.
Finally the branch secretary give his thanks on behalf of the branch for an excellent tour, to the manager of Radway Green Mr John Mathews.
Dave Cooper
November 25th Wednesday
Characterisation of Clay used in Brick Making by Dr. Stuart Barlow
A meeting of the branch took place at the North Staffs Medical Institute on Wednesday 25th November under the chairmanship of David Baggaley.
Thirteen members and four guests were present. Preliminary business included the welcome of Mr. Keith Morton who was presented with a cheque for the sum of £300.00 in aid of the Education Trust by the branch chairman, Keith gave is thanks to branch for there support to the Trust.
David then introduced the speaker for the evening Dr. Stuart Barlow Product Development Manager for Diamond Gimson, and Invited him to give is talk on Characterisation of Clay used in Brick Making. During the course of the talk Stuart gave an insight into the problems with the raw materials, and also the colour that develops when the material is fired which is the most critical moment of our product.
The branch secretary Damian proposed a vote of thanks to Stuart for is fascinating talk, which was heartily approved. The evening concluded with usual delicious buffet, this time generously sponsored by Castle Clay Sales.
December 8th Tuesday
Diamond Gimson (Refractories) visit to Shelton New Road Works
On the afternoon of Tuesday 8th December ten members visited Diamond Gimson a Division of Dyson Industries Ltd, Hartsill Stoke on Trent.
A friendly welcome by Dr Stuart Barlow and David Fisher who gave us a introduction talk, and later a tour of the factory. Originally the company was named Diamond Clay Company, which brought in fire clay from Scotland around 140 years ago to produce saggar’s.
In the 1960 the company came away from the extrusion of fire clay to dry pressing of mostly cordierite - mullite compositions, which is suitable for use in most kilns operating up to 1300c.
Today Diamond Refractories is an established manufacturer and supplier of quality refractory kiln furniture to the ceramic Industry, and has considerable experience in designing and producing lightweight, fuel efficient kiln furniture systems, now utilised by the Industry world wide.
The companies main customers are found within the pottery industry including Wedgwood, Royal Doulton etc, as the company is situated in the heart of the U.K. pottery Industry, but recently the company is supplying kiln furniture to heavy clay Industry Eternit Clay Tiles, Redland.
Dr. Barlow showed our members a new ultra lightweight energy efficient refractory developed by their company used in domestic cooker rings, which may have an application within the ceramic production industries.
Mike Churchill gave a vote of thanks to Stuart and David for an excellent insight into the making of kiln furniture and great tour of the factory and the members responded in the usual manor.
Dave Cooper
January 21st Thursday
ANNUAL DINNER at the Stakis Hotel in Hanley.
Annual Dinner 1999
The North Staffs Annual Dinner took place at the Stakis Hotel, Hanley on Thursday 21st January.
There was an attendance of 218 members and guests. At 7.30pm sharp the Toast Master Mr. Edward Whitfield invited the members and guests to go in for Dinner, Edward then announced the top table in which the Chairman Mr David Baggaley led in his officers and guests to the usual slow hand clap welcome.
An enjoyable meal of Mushroom soup, Sirloin Steak, Chocolate gateau and coffee was then served by the Stakis usual bevy of attractive waitresses!
Edward then introduced Mr. Keith Morton Chairman of Education and Training Trust to explain the roll of the trust and status of current students, which are doing very well.
Keith also appealed for support for the European Study Tour of Germany, which will take place between 18th April and 23rd April.
The Branch Chairman Mr. David Baggaley then took the opportunity to give his thanks to the Toast Master Mr. Edward Whitfield for doing a grand job, well done. Also many thanks to Mr. Tony Fullagar (Ibstock Building Products: Chesterton Works) for giving his full support to the Branch Secretary, Mr. Damian Waghorn, and also many thanks to the Branch Committee for there commitment over the year.
The Chairman's appeal this year was for the Infectious Diseases Unit at the City General Hospital, and our target was for £ 1 000, which would be used to go towards the cost of a Space Laboratory, the space labs are used for monitoring Infectious Diseases such as Meningitis.
As an incentive to dig deep into pockets, the prizes were a colour television,
Which was kindly donated by Etemit Clay Tiles, and numerous other prizes donated by the sponsors listed below.
Bernard Picken, the Immediate past Branch Chairman of the North Staffs Branch
explained that the Branch Chairman’s nominated charity for last year was "The Bradwell Hospital" When £1000 was raised to buy special mattresses.
Photograph by Jon Bartholomew: Evening Sentinel
Later in the proceedings Mr. Edward Whitfield announced that the target had being reached and surpassed to the sum of £ 1,100.
The branch Chairman took great pleasure in introducing the guest speaker for the evening Mr. Zac Stevens. Zak is an up and coming comedian from Yorkshire, whose reputation on the after dinner circuit is rapidly building. Zac captivated his audience for the best part of an hour with a stream of jokes and wisecracks
As an added bonus, Zac read out the raffle ticket numbers, which was very amusing.
The Branch Chairman thanked Churchill Laboratories Ltd for their sponsorship of the guest speaker, Mr. Zac Stevens.
All in all, a very pleasant evening.
Thank you to all sponsors.
A J ENGINEERING
BRICESCO
BCC
CASTLE CLAYSALES
CASTLE COLOURS
CERAM KILNS
CERAM RESEARCH
CHURCHILL HOTELWARE
CHURCHILL LABORATORIES
CRAVEN FAWCETT
ETERNIT CLAY TILES
FASTFIRE
FINNINGS
JOHN TAMS
H & G REWINDS
IBSTOCK
JACK BEAUMONT KILNS
KALLKWIK
LAFARGE PRESTIA
LOWE ENGINEERING
SEANIC SERVICES
STAKIS HOTEL
TAYLOR TUNICLIFFE
TILCON ADVANCED MATERIALS
WEDGWOOD
WHITFIELD MINERALS
WOODSTOCK DEERING
D. Cooper
February 23rd Tuesday
Visit to
Johnson Ceramics (International) H & R Johnson Tileries : Highgate site,
Tunstall,
Stoke on Trent
March 30th Tuesday 7.30pm
TRIPARTITE MEETING to be confirmed, at the North Staffs Medical Institute.
The West Midlands, Wrexham and North Staffs branches participated in their annual Tri - Partite meeting at the North Staffs Medical Institute on Tuesday 30th March, thirty members were present to hear Mr. David Baggaley North Staffs branch chairman, open the proceedings.
The preliminaries completed, David then introduced the speaker for the evening Mr. Bill Boylet Chief Executive For Consultant Gas Engineers, based at Skelmersdale Lancashire, to give his talk on pollution control in the Heavy Clay Industry.
C.G has being associated with the Heavy Clay Industry for Approximately Twenty Eight years, during that time the company has developed a range of combustion equipment designed specifically for the Heavy Clay Industry. Their products cover the range from burner tips to small complete manufacturing carcasses.
For the last two years, C.G has being involved in pollution control, this subject is often brought up when talking to customers, and you hear many conflicting comments, such as very expensive, pain in the neck, unreliable, and very good, now these comments combined with the very high cost burden imposed upon the industry which have being damaged by sales falling from approximately 5 billion units to 3 billion units over the last ten years, has led C.G to investigate the potential market for their own relatively low cost pollution control unit.
Mr Boylet then went on to talk about various systems on the market to control pollution in the industry and gave his personal views as to their strength and weakness.
After a lengthy question and answer session, Mr. Dave Santus proposed a vote of thanks to Mr Bill Boylet for an interesting insight into pollution control systems, which was past in the usual manner, and then invited all to partake of a delicious buffet kindly supplied by Consultant Gas Engineers.
David Cooper
North Staff Branch Press Officer
April 27th Tuesday
Thermal Ceramics - Visit to factory on the Wirral Transport and buffet provided - rescheduled
Thermal Ceramics visit on 4th May 1999
A very interesting tour of the factory followed by a talk on the Health and Safety aspects of ceramic fiber.
The factory tour around the Bromborough plant showed vacuum forming techniques creating the fibers, followed by the forming of different size modules.
David Baggaley
North Staff Branch Chairman 1998-1999
H & R Johnson visit visit on 13th May 1999
A tour around the Queens Award winning Tile Manufacturer H & R Johnson.
The tour started at 16:30 hours at the Highgate reception, where we were met by Mr Stephen Moulton (Technical Manager) and Mr. Mark Thompson (Health & Safety), who gave us a tour around the clay preparation areas and the process through the Vally Site, utilising the once firing technique.
David Baggaley
North Staff Branch Chairman 1998-1999
June 14th
CRICKET
MATCH North Staffs v Wrexham, at Whitchurch C.C.