MEMBERS stood to observe a minutes silence at our meeting on April 28 in memory of fellow-member David Lee who passed away on Monday April 25. David was well respected and regarded for his wit and dry good humour and we shall miss his contribution to our discussions. We extend our sincere condolences to Jean and the whole family.

We then welcomed a guest, Christian Lang, who has applied for membership of our club. Any others interested in applying are very welcome to attend as a guest to see what we get up to.

Our speaker this week was John Mason of Worcester whose talk was entitled Nocturnal Starfish. However, instead of starfish of the marine variety, John surprised us with a fascinating and detailed account of the decoys used during the Second World War which were codenamed Starfish. A variety of materials were used to transform aerodromes, planes, guns and tanks to confuse the enemy and to encourage them to bomb and destroy fakes.

He described how these decoys had been set up all over the country as well as throughout North Africa and Italy and emphasised how the empty countryside of Hayling Island had attracted 45 per cent of the bombing intended for Portsmouth.

He concluded with a description of the decoys in place today in the various war zones throughout the world. Following a number of questions, Steve Swarbrick thanked John profusely for his intriguing and in-depth account of these little known actions.

On May 5 we shall be regaled with an account of the Great Escape followed on May 12 with Trekking in the Himalayas.

CHRIS DONOUGH