Club Meeting 12th February 2024

President Ted welcomed members and today’s speaker Terry Chivers. He then asked members to observe a minute’s silence in memory of long standing member and Past President Tom Potts.

After the completion of the usual club business, The president welcomed Terry Chivers whose talk was entitled “I K Brunel in Gloucestershire – mostly”. Terry started by describing the Brunel family from the time his father Marc arrived in London having left his native France at the time of the Revolution. Isambard was the youngest of three children and at the age of 16 started to work with his father on the Thames Tunnel. He was fortunate to survive a major incident during the excavation of the tunnel but received an award for helping to save many of the workers.

Terry went on to relate many of Brunel’s struggles to get his proposals adopted mainly against sceptical “experts” or in some cases professional jealousy. He also pointed out Brunel’s domineering attitude to contractors and workers which sometimes ended up in court. History shows that, with the sorry exceptions of his atmospheric railway and the Great Eastern steamship, his designs have been successful – the Royal Albert bridge at Saltash and the Maidenhead bridge over the Thames are today carrying traffic heavier and faster than anything he could have envisaged.

Brunel produced designs for the Balmoral Estate (a prefabricated bridge not Gothic enough in style to please Queen Victoria) and Crimea (a design for a wooden field hospital that could be transported in sections and erected on site).

Terry also exposed the myth that Brunel aligned Box Tunnel so that the rising sun might shine through it on his birthday, April 9th. In fact astronomical studies show that the most likely date for this to happen is April 4th – his older sister Emma’s birthday!

Following questions from the floor David Hollister gave the vote of thanks, and members showed their appreciation with a round of applause.