Registered Charity No 1075342
John Churchill (Front of House Support)
John is a Founder Member of S&T and joined its Committee in 2011. He retired to Dorset
in 2004 after a career as a chartered mechanical engineer in science based technology
in and around Cambridge.
Nigel Tennant (Refreshments & Support)
Nigel is a Founder Member of the Science and Technology Group and was Chairman of
Purbeck U3A for three years. He has a long time interest in science and computing
and is a keen reader of popular and mainstream science books.
The Science & Technology Committee
There are currently seven S&T Committee Members
John Hale
(Group Leader, Technical Support & Website)
John is a Founder Member of S&T and has been a U3A member since 2007. He was for
six years the Leader of the Intermediate Computing Group. All his working life he
was in TV and radio programme production, mostly for the BBC at their studios in
and around London. For his profile: Click Here
After a long struggle with illness Ian Platt has sadly died.
Ian was a founder member of Science & Technology and a long time member of our group’s Committee. He made a great contribution to the running of our group and also delighted us with a number of interesting presentations on serious scientific subjects, always spiced with his wonderful dry humour. Ian was a thoroughly entertaining speaker and a lovely man.
He will be greatly missed and our thoughts are with his family at this sad time.
David Harris 1943 - 2022
It is with great sadness that we announce that David passed away after a sudden illness
on 16th June 2022. He will be greatly missed by his family, the Committee and all
S&T members. He was 78.
David was a Founder Member of S&T and for many years its Speaker Organiser. Previously
he was employed for 20 years by the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority, after
which he acted as consultant physicist to Dorset Police on road traffic accident
reconstruction plus an independent accident investigator and expert witness. He gave
the S&T Group many interesting talks himself.
Richard Cottrell (Speaker Secretary)
Richard joined Purbeck U3A in 2015 and has spent his entire career in experimental biochemistry and toxicology. He has held senior posts in two Research Associations, was Science Director of the British Nutrition Foundation and Director General of the World Sugar Research Organisation. He has published numerous scientific papers and is a qualified chemist, food scientist and nutritionist. Richard is happy to receive your suggestions for Speakers and topics for our talks at: speakers@greenacre.info
Ian Mogford (Refreshments & General Support)
Ian has been a member of Purbeck U3A since 2015 and for most of the time since then on the Science and Technology Group Committee.
All Committee Members above are happy to hear from S&T Group Members about any ideas
they may have to improve the running of the group. Suggestions you may have for future
meetings - or speakers who would be happy to give a short or full morning presentation
to our group - are particularly welcome.
Please Contact the S&T Group Leader at: s&t@purbecku3a.org.uk
Or our Speaker Secretary at: speakers@greenacre.info
<< Click graphic alongside to see the Annual
S&T Committee Minutes
for our meeting held on 8th November 2023
Nick Burden (Accounts, Admin & Tech Support)
Nick is a retired veterinary surgeon who only recently joined the Purbeck U3A Science and Technology Group in 2021.
He qualified in Bristol in 1978 and spent his whole working life at The Hale Veterinary Group Hospital in Chippenham working as a small animal vet and ophthalmologist. Nick now spends his time pursuing his interests of bird watching and photography.
Chris Morris (Admin & General Support)
Chris has a B.Sc in mechanical engineering from Leeds and a M.Sc in railway engineering from Cranfield. He worked mostly in Canada in the rail industry for Canadian National Railways in Montreal and later for the Urban Transportation Development Corporation in Kingston developing driverless trains. For the last few decades he was involved with the Vancouver Skytrain system, ending up as Director of Engineering. In November 2019 he retired and relocated to Swanage where he was born.