Business at the 28th November meeting (which was also the SGM) included final details for this year’s ‘Christmas Postal Service’, the club’s Christmas Meal plus an update on the money raised for charities by the Coastal Path Walk in September. A tentative date for another Walk was suggested as 3rd September 2023.

Following business our speaker was club member Derek Mathie, who gave a very interesting illustrated talk on the history and development of ploughs. this covered the period from, literally, a two horse powered single tine plough, through to today’s reversible eight bladed plough pulled by a 200 horsepower tractor - and often controlled via satellite navigation.

It was impressive to see close-up photographs showing the size and weight of modern equipment - with a price tag to match: for a plough, around £5000 per furrow!

Derek’s interest and enthusiasm was contagious. His business is in agricultural supplies and we learned that, in earlier days, he had himself spent many happy hours as a ploughman. Perhaps the thing that came across most strongly was the impressive level of sophisticated engineering that now goes into the manufacture of agricultural equipment - and especially the extensive and growing use that is made of advanced modern communication technology.

Following many questions an appreciative vote of thanks was proposed by David Mann.