KNYSNA NEWS - On Thursday August 31 the general meeting of the Knysna branch of U3A will be back at the Brenton on Sea Community Hall. 

Doors open at 9:00 when tea, coffee and biscuits will be served. 

The meeting starts at 10:00 when Mike Holland will give us another insight into the popular “Poldark” novels by Winston Graham, recently broadcast as an extended serial on ITV, in which the fortunes and vicissitudes of the main characters are inextricably linked to the fluctuations in the Cornish copper and tin mining industries.

Cornish engineering technology was responsible for many of the fundamental developments which drove the Industrial Revolution of the 18th and 19th centuries, and this presentation will focus on the contributions made by the Cornish engine, the Cornish boiler and the characteristic pumping engine houses that dominate parts of the spectacular Cornish landscapes. 

It will also show how these innovations were successfully exported to “the colonies”, especially to South Africa, Australia and New Zealand.

Mike Holland is a metallurgist by profession and has spent the greater part of his career in the South African synthetic fuels industry where his responsibilities have included failure investigations, consultancy on materials issues, and statutory inspection of pressurized equipment. 

He has operated his own consultancy practice for the past 13 years specializing in Risk Based Inspection and materials degradation mechanisms, and has lectured extensively on these topics internationally. Despite his technical career, however, his passion for the last 60 years (apart from his wife Jill) has been for matters historical, and this presentation offers an interesting blend of both.

All are welcome. Members pay R5 and non-members pay R10 to cover the hire of the Hall. Enquiries Judy Dixon 0723906667.

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