Bairnsdale Probus Club had a successful April meeting at the Bairnsdale Bowls Club with a good attendance of members.
The profile speaker was Malcolm Coppock who gave a very interesting talk.
Malcolm was born in the 1940s in England and grew up in Oxford where he did mechanical engineering.
He first started work with Grove Cranes designing a telescopic boom crane seen on all building sites today.
Before computers the calculations took three months using slide rule and log tables.
Today it would take three hours on
a computer.
He met his wife Angela in France 61 years ago. For a time, they lived in Long Crendon where the first series of Midsomer Murders was filmed.
They left for Australia in 1982.
In Australia Malcolm continued working with Ford New Holland managing a new manufacturing plant that was later sold to Fiat.
He then went to Bayswater to manage the Kenworth Trucks plant and designing and manufacturing trucks designed for Australian conditions working there for 10 years where 20 trucks a day are still being produced.
Retiring in 2000 Angela and Malcolm travelled extensively both overseas and around Australia before moving to Metung.
He started sailing at age nine and enjoyed many years of racing and sailing holidays.
Malcolm has restored a Manx Norton motor cycle which he rode around Phillip Island at the first Australian Grand Prix.
Malcolm now enjoys wood carving and brought along examples of his work and has assisted in two Men’s Sheds, including a new one at Johnsonville.
The guest speaker for the meeting was David Holding, executive manager Maritime Services for Gippsland Ports.
David gave an informative talk on the work of Gippsland Ports.
He is a sixth generation Gippslander and had worked for Telstra Laboratory in Melbourne and in 2002 was involved in the Over the Horizon Radar project.
Davids responsibilities cover an area from Andersons Inlet to Mallacoota with the focus of Gippsland Ports being to provide safe passage for mariners in those waterways for now and the future including dredging the entrance at Lakes Entrance to prevent sand build up.
Much work is centred around Ports infrastructure, berthing and moorings, navigation management, emergency response, oil spills, dredging and boatyards.
There are 100 wharves and piers with 900 berths and moorings and 840 navigation aids.
It is difficult now to get suitable timber for repairs.
Buoys are now being constructed with plastic.
David spoke about the problem of shifting sands blocking the Entrance at Lakes Entrance dredging to 5.5 metres depth.
Dredging first started in 1889 with over $100 million allocated by the State Government to operate dredging for 20 years.
Many Probus members who were keen sailors were very keen to listen and talk to David.
In all David’s talk about the work of Gippsland Ports interested all who were present.
