Last Friday evening, we hosted a talk by Jane Keen on her work as a Civil Engineer on the IJmond sea lock in Holland. The evening started with a tea consisting of sandwiches, cakes, tea and coffee. A magnificent feast was provided by Sylvia, Hattie, Liz and Yuliana for our 40 guests plus various other helpers.
Jane provided an intriguing look into the progress of a female Civil Engineer at a time when women were quite a rarity in this profession. She gave a brief summary of her education and eventual acceptance into the engineering world. Her main theme was around the design and construction of the sea lock and her part in the project. This involved bitterly cold excursions in the winds and weather blowing in off the North Sea. Photos and schematics of the design-phase and build-phase were displayed, together with views of some of the massive machinery required to construct this very ambitious task. Jane spent 7 years on this project and saw it through to implementation.
Jane described many innovative techniques needed to manage the sheer scale of some of the components necessary to progress the project, whilst all the while needing to maintain the integrity of the sea defences. As Jane said, Holland lies 7 metres lower than the height of the North Sea, so requires serious consideration.
The talk was brought to a close after a question and answer session, with various interesting questions raised by the audience and comprehensive answers from Jane. She was warmly thanked by James and given a resounding round of applause by the very appreciative audience. Attendees were invited to stay as long as they wished and help to finish the remaining refreshements.
FCA donate all profits from these occasions to a Charity of the speaker's choice - Jane has nominated REDR UK.
Our next talk is on Friday 2 June and is to be given by Jane and Steve Page who are "Ambassadors" for garden wilding and will give an illustrated talk on what they have experienced in promoting and adopting this much-discussed approach to our gardens and countryside. We need to restrict attendance at these sessions to around 40, so please book early (via the FCA website) to secure your place.
