Lockington Meeting
Saturday 4th April 2026
This colourful spring planting welcomed around a dozen microscopists and partners to Lockington Village Hall in the East Midlands near M1 J24 on Saturday 4th April 2026. First arrivals were a bit disconcerted by the appearance of an overnight burglary, but investigation proved that the culprit was an errant football from the Recreation ground alongside the Hall.
The morning was spent in studying displays, catching up on gossip and advice – always a major pleasure of the in-person meetings – and studying the items for sale.
Steve Gill had brought a selection of attachments for sale from Frank Oldacre’s collection (above). The tin held an attachment to fit a camera on a microscope, but sadly this did not fit the Brunel compound in search of one. A meeting in person however offers the opportunity to try it out without obligation and to receive plenty of advice on possible alternatives.
A Nikon Eclipse TS100 Inverted Microscope with phase contrast objectives was on offer. Colin Brook is trying out with the vendor Phil Haith (on right) looking on.
The selection of objectives led to a discussion in which those involved agreed that this combination of objectives including x20 can be much more useful than the conventional x10, x40 and x100. More than one present lamented the shortage of x20 phase objectives to fit certain sets.
Phil generously provided the plastic crate and wrapping for the safe transport of the Nikon in its purchaser’s car en route to its new home.
The main theme of the day was water life. Terry Hope had provided a selection of samples from his garden (below), and surroundings to enjoy under our own microscope or through his setup.
Cynthia Edge with Terry’s table showing a blue cube camera through the larger monitor and a second sample under the school type Philip Harris compound and laptop.
Terry showing one of several local visitors the wonders to be found in the local garden ponds and ditches.
A shot of Terry’s screen showing two species of hydra side by side, one brown and one green.
Enjoying some of the samples from Terry’s collecting: Stewart Bradshaw using his Vickers with phase contrast and Colin Brook with his Motic, watched by Phil Haith.
Joan Bingley repeated her display (above) from Cobham in February, celebrating 150 years of marine research with information on the Challenger expedition and slides of soundings from 140 years ago off South West Ireland and almost exactly 100 years ago in Antarctica.
A display of diatom slides from collections in Terry’s garden in January this year.
Another display promoted the PMS. Visitors who had little knowledge of microscopes were fascinated by the variety of information available and the enthusiasm of the members for our hobby.
After a lunch of soup and sandwiches organised by Alexandra Hope, the room was organised to invite some 20 or so more microscopists from around Europe and beyond to join the event on line. Projector problems meant those present in person had to crowd around but everyone found a seat with a view of either laptop or monitor.
After some preliminary chatter, Terry Hope entertained and informed us with a talk on Spirogyra – What I Did Not Know. He covered its basic biology, and its various methods of reproduction. He then expanded from its historic role as a cause of problems clogging waterways and machinery to its newer roles in carbon capture, rice culture, fish farming and research into future uses in a surprising variety of ways.
Carel Sartory followed telling us of his successful efforts to build a ring light (below) using polarising filters to reduce, indeed almost eliminate, reflections and glare.
Acknowledgements
Many thanks to Terry and Alexandra Hope for the organisation of the hall, the refreshments and lunch and providing a most enjoyable day.
Report and photographs by Joan Bingley