MEMBERS and guests of MRATHS met at Dyson Perrins school for their latest meeting.

After a few introductions by some of the new faces, we had our customary update on events and acquisitions. Particularly entertaining was a series of photographs from the air shows at Bruntingthorpe and Throckmorton, supported by amusing observations and interspersed with further details provided by those previously involved in the various aircraft and equipment. Photographs from our annual exhibitions at RAF Defford Heritage Weekend at Croome Court and at QinetiQ’s Family Day showed ongoing improvements, and some from the site of the old RSRE club evoked memories.

The main event was a fascinating talk on uncooled thermal imaging (TI) by John Gillham. He gave a personal history of TI and highlighted the key role that Malvern played and the applications such as intruder detectors and seeing-through-smoke used by fire brigades. John added his customary humorous observations to many of the topics and finished with an opportunity to view live TI images and see the equipment. Brian Harper also brought along TI equipment and offered further insights including cameras used to observe the space shuttle thrusters!

As usual, attendees found ample opportunity to reminisce and to catch up with old and new friends.

For further information, or if you wish to join MRATHS, visit our website: http://mraths.org.uk/.

DAVID WHITAKER