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Zoom meeting #8, 8 December 2020. 'Uncle Max Gill and his use of OS maps'

  • Chairperson: Caroline Walker
  • 55 members attended
  • Read the report of the meeting here

Caroline gave us a talk entitled 'Uncle Max Gill and his use of OS maps', with time for Q&As. Gerry Zierler also added to the public transport aspect of Caroline’s talk with examples of use of OS mapping by London’s transport operators in the C20th. Caroline's biography of her great-uncle MacDonald Gill: Charting a Life was published this year, and is available to Charles Close Society members at the special price of £20 (reduced from £30) + UK £3.50 p&p. To buy, go to the publisher's website and use the Promo Code: CCS. The offer runs until 31st December.   

 

Zoom meeting #7, 25 November 2020. 'QUARTER INCH MAPS of the OS'

  • Chairperson: Richard Oliver
  • 52 members attended
  • Read a summary of the meeting here

This talk illustrated some of the maps that will be covered in the forthcoming CCS monograph by Roger Hellyer and Richard Oliver on the Ordnance Survey’s ‘smaller-scale’ maps: mainly the half-inch and quarter-inch families. The talk was given by Richard, with interjections from the viewers. It included the story of how first the ‘true’ quarter-inch (1:253,440) and then the ‘rational’ version (1:250,000) developed in Britain.    

 

Zoom meeting #6, 11 November 2020. 'ERRORS & OMISSIONS'

  • Chairperson: Dave Watt
  • Presenters: Bernard Anderson, Mike Brereton, Ian Byrne, John Davies, Richard Evans, David Fairbairn, Chris Higley, Ken Hollamby, John Telfer, David L Walker, Dave Watt, Rob Wheeler and Richard & Anne Wilson
  • 39 members attended
  • Read the full report of the meeting here

This was chaired by Dave Watt which gained nearly 40 attendees. It was a very interesting, quite humorous evening of concise and precise talks (mostly) with useful observations, corrections to knowledge and information exchange. A fine example shown (see right) was the London Underground diagram that omitted the River Thames, only for the now Prime Minister then Mayor of London to return from holiday and demand its reinstatement. 

 

Zoom Meeting #5, 27 October 2020. 'LAKES & RESERVOIRS'

  • Chairperson: Ian Byrne
  • Presenters: John Davies, Ken Hollamby, Michael Richardson, Rob Wheeler, John Harmer, Ian Byrne and Gerry Zierler
  • Around 50 members attended
  • Read the full report of the meeting here

The fifth CCS Zoom meeting continued the watery theme with discussions and examples around "Lakes & Reservoirs". We had lots of attendees for this one, with lots of content to go through. In a fine example (see right) we saw how a reservoir close to the North Circular Road was depicted, with the Soviet map on the left showing it as open water, but in reality it is completely covered, as shown on the OS extract on the right. Tank commanders planning on turning off the road might also be confused by the fact that neither the slip roads at the intersection nor the accommodation road to its North are marked! 

 

Zoom Meeting #4, 18 August 2020. 'CANALS & RIVERS'

  • Chairperson: Ian Byrne
  • Presenters: Ian Byrne, Chris Dean, Jeremy Harrison, John King, Michiel Rademakers & Gerry Zierler
  • 32 members attended
  • View recording, streaming length: 1hr 48m

The fourth CCS evening Zoom meeting (part of the now snappily called the 'Indoor Leisure' series!) took as its theme "Canals & Rivers". Again hosted by Ian Byrne, we gained a new record of 32 Members to the meeting, with 6 main presenters showing a broad range of maps and charts of various ages, styles and purposes.

 

Zoom Meeting #3, 21 July 2020. 'TRANSPORT INTERCHANGES'

  • Chairperson: John King
  • Presenters: Ian Byrne, John Davies, John Harmer, John King, Michiel Rademakers, Dave Watt & Gerry Zierler
  • 22 members attended
  • View recording, streaming length: 1hr 17m

The third CCS Tuesday evening Zoom meeting took as its theme "Transport Interchanges", although it's not surprising that railways gained more coverage than other forms of transport. For rail, we were taken on a virtual tour along some lines converted to cycle routes (and one cycle route that had a quite different origin), stopping off at stations in Polegate and - on a waistcoat - Newcastle. At a more urban level, we were shown what may be Britain's very first tramway map in South London, as well as looking at the varying ways that London Underground interchanges were shown before Beck reigned supreme. Still in the capital, we also saw how the growth of London Airport in the 50s and 60s required regular updates of even the cheapest of maps. And finally we were whisked across the Atlantic to look at all the rail termini on the West Bank of the Hudson Rover, disgorging their passengers onto ferries to reach New York.

 

Zoom Meeting #2, 16 June 2020. 'A BRITISH ISLAND'

  • Chairperson: Ian Byrne
  • Presenters: Ian Byrne, John Davies, Tim Johnson, John King & Gerry Zierler

This second meeting was another great opportunity to interact with other members, either as a active participant (showing and talking about one of your maps), or as a passive observer. The numbers are limited for practical reasons and preference will be given to those who have not previously taken part in such a session. 

 

Zoom Meeting #1, 19 May 2020. 'MAPS LOCAL TO MEMBERS'

  • Chairperson: Ian Byrne
  • Presenters: Ian Byrne, Graham Collett, John Davies, David Fairbairn, Jim Good, Paul Hardy & Gerry Zierler
  • 9 members attended

Nine members joined in the first Zoom meeting to show and talk about maps of their local area. Most participants were already familiar with Zoom, being used for family and business purposes, and the meeting proceeded smoothly and was judged a success. Onto the next one....