Our next FoWT monthly meeting will take place on Monday 7th August 2023 – 7.00 pm (19.00 hrs) via Zoom.
“Brunel… Father, Son and Grandson.”, by Bill McNaught.
Our guest speaker on the night will be Bill McNaught, who will talk about “Brunel… Father, Son and Grandson.”
Bill started work in 1961 as a Westland Aircraft engineering apprentice, spending 25 years with the company before moving on to manage several other aviation and defence companies. He retired in 2008 and returned to the West Country where he had spent most of his life, but in 2014 decided to move to Saltdean to be close to his grandchildren. Bill has worked for the Prince’s Trust, been Chair of Governors of a local Academy, and sat on numerous committees. Currently he is President of the Probus Club of Seaford, Chairman of the Brighton 5 Deans U3A, and is a member of the Shoreham Airport Society. His other interests include genealogy and preparing talks on ‘fascinating historical characters’.
“The talk explores the lives of three generations of one of the greatest Victorian engineering families, and their remarkable achievements.
The father, Marc Brunel (son of a Normandy farmer), who provided the boots for Wellington’s Army at Waterloo and ship’s blocks for Nelson’s Navy at Trafalgar, and who also built the first tunnel under the Thames.
The son, Isambard Kingdom Brunel, the most famous member of the family, who built the Great Western Railway, and the three largest ships in the world at the time, the SS Great Western, The SS Great Britain and the SS Great Eastern.
The grandson, Henry Brunel, another great engineer, but less well-known today, who helped design Tower Bridge and other structures, as well as designing another ship”
If you would like to take part in this, or any of FoWT’s future monthly meetings, you will need to register your interest. Once registered, we will e-mail you the details you will need to join the meeting on the night.
To register, Fill in the form on our FoWT Monthly Meeting page and we will do the rest. Once you are on our mailing list to take part in our monthly meetings, look out for our e-mail a few days before the meeting, which will give you all the details you will need to join the meeting.
You can see the complete list of the years talks on the 2023 Zoom Meetings page.