Old news items – STL QCC

25 April ’18 – Save the date – the 2018 reunion dinner will be Friday 2nd November – watch this space for more info.

20th Nov 2017 – – The presentations shown at this years reunion on the continuing theme of ‘Life After The Labs’ are now available via the link on the ‘Meetings’ page.

28th Sep 2017 – – An interesting and nostalgic pamphlet describing the many research activities on display at the 1967 Open Days is now available via the link on the ‘History’ page.

23rd Apr 2017 — Two new items by Richard Epworth and Bindi Bhumbra on the history of Optical Fibres have been added to the Memories page

18th Dec 2016 – – The presentations shown at this years reunion on the theme ‘Life After The Labs’ are now available via the link on the ‘Meetings’ page.

13th October 2016 – – REAL PROGRESS FOR NORTEL UK PENSIONERS. The long running dispute over the distribution of the remaining Nortel assets may at last be approaching its conclusion. Visit our Pension page to see a statement from the Nortel Pension UK Trustees.

13th May 2016 – – GOOD NEWS FOR NORTEL UK PENSIONERS. It appears that the long running dispute over the distribution of the remaining Nortel assets is finally reaching its end. See our Pension page to see the full statement from Nortel Pensions Uk

13th Apr 2016 – – Richard Epworth has produced a web site of his recollection of the early days of fibre optic communications. Follow the link in our ‘Memories’ area.

20th May 2016 – – MORE NEWS FOR NORTEL UK PENSIONERS. It appears that the long running dispute over the distribution of the remaining Nortel assets has taken another step towards its conclusion. Visit our Pension page to see a statement from the USA Appeal Judge

13th Apr 2016 – – Richard Epworth has produced a web site of his recollection of the early days of fibre optic communications. Follow the link in our ‘Memories’ area.

8th Apr 2016 – – Sadly we report the passing of Eric Rogers and Ken Ellington who have been added to our obituary page.

6th Feb 2016 – – Sadly we report the passing of Martin Lawn and Sir Kenneth Corfield who have been added to our obituary page.

14th Jan 2016 – – The problems with the listserver have been fixed. All those members who were unsubscribed have now been resubscribed.

1st Jan 2016 – – A number of members subscribed to the QCC listserver have recently been unsubscribed by the system. This appears to affect mostly (but not exclusively) those members with BT email addresses. This is currently under investigation but may take a while to resolve. In the meantime please check this page for updates or for other announcements for QCC members. Alternatively messages may also be posted via our Guestbook page.

25th Nov 2015 – – The presentation panels on liquid crystal displays shown at this years’ reunion are now available to view via the Memories or Meetings pages

25th Oct 2015 – Vi Maile – A eulogy on the late Vi Maile has been added to the obituary page.

29th Sept 2015 – LISTSERVER ISSUES – We have just learned that some subscribers to the QCC Listserver have been unsubscribed by the system. It appears that the QCC Listserver has been placed on a blacklist by some internet service providers. This is currently being investigated and hopefully will soon be restored.

2nd July 2015 –
Subject: Talk by Gwen Kao on Monday, July 13th

Gwen Kao, Charles’ wife, will be giving a talk at the Bishop’s Stortford Café Scientifique a week on Monday, July 13th. Gwen is hoping to meet old friends at the event, though Charles will not be with her due to his deteriorating health.If you wish to attend, please email Chris Hockley at booking@cafesci-stortford.co.uk Details of the event are not yet on the website: https://cafesci-stortford.co.uk/ But will be soon. Doors open 6.45, for a 7.15 start.Most important: Note that the venue is not our regular one, but will be at:The Charis Centre, Water Ln, Bishop’s Stortford CM23 2JZ https://goo.gl/hZzclw
Convenient free parking is available in the adjacent Waitrose supermarket car park.

Richard Epworth

Abstract: “A journey with light”

Fifty years ago the vision of optical fibre communication was born at Standard Telecommunications Laboratories (STL) in nearby Harlow. The technology that emerged has annihilated the cost of communicating over distance, shrinking our world. Sir Charles Kao pioneered the idea in the face of much opposition, and in 2009 was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics. He was supported by a team of scientists, and notably by his wife Gwen Kao, who incidentally wrote many of the Fortran software programs for the project at the time (a fact she never mentions!).
Gwen is making a special visit to our Cafe Scientifique to share her story of life with Charles who is now suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. She will describe her personal journey: the excitement of the early pioneering days of optical fibre communication, adapting to living on three Continents with different cultures, and coping with the progression of Charles’ illness. Though he can no longer contribute as a scientist, he has become the “Face of Alzheimer’s” in Hong Kong. His Charles Kao Foundation for Alzheimer’s Disease now educates and raises awareness in the community about this hitherto-hidden disease.

22nd March 2015 – Richard Swann has written an account about his life with ITT (STC, STL, ITT Shockley Labs, ITT West Palm Beach etc) and his involvement in the field of Glow Discharge Chemistry. See the link on the Meetings page.

4th Nov 2014 – The displays on the theme of “Materials” shown at this years reunion have been placed on the website. See the link on the Meetings page.

5th Nov 2012 – a page highlighting STL’s many contributions to the Bombe rebuild at Bletchley Park has been added. See the link on the Memories page.

23rd Sept 2012 – Some photos taken in the old Enfield Labs have been added to the Picture Gallery

12th April 2012 – The Judge responsible for mediating a £2.1bn UK pension claim on bankrupt firm Nortel Network’s assets has launched a website to keep people up to date with developments. See the link on our Pensions page.

17th March 2012 – A Guestbook facility has been added to let people add their comments about the website.

17th January 2012 – CLICK HERE for a report of the 2011 reunion of the STL Quarter Century Club

13th Sept 2011 – The invitations for this years reunion are currently being distributed. Ifyou have not received your copy, the invitations are available from this website at the links below.

30th June 2011 – There are currently some issues with the Listserver for some subscribers. CLICK HERE for further details.

12th December 2010 – CLICK HERE for a report of the 2010 reunion of the STL Quarter Century Club

11th July 2010 – two new articles concerning the NNUK pension fund have been added. See the Pension Page

17th June 2010 – An item on a musical Trimphone has been added. See Archive section

29th March 2010 – Chris Tarry tells of an interesting clock. See Archive section

28th January 2010 – CLICK HERE for a report of the 2009 reunion of the STL Quarter Century Club

October 15th 2009 – Fred Howett remembers a flight in the STC aircraft. See the Archive section

September 15th 2009 – CLICK HERE for details of the 2009 STL QCC reunion

August 17th 2009 – some photos of the 50 years of STL at Harlow event have been posted. Click here to view them.

April 6th 2009 – news of a forthcoming IET/Essex lecture on Alex Reeve has been added to to the Meetings section

March 19th 2009 – a new postscript from Martin Iles has been added to the article on “STL at Frogmore Hall” in the Archive section

January 17th 2009 – an updated document giving response to questions which are being asked about the Nortel Pension Plan in view of Nortel filing for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Protection has been placed on this website for your information. See “Pensions” section

December 19th 2008 – Apologies for the non availability of this website during the past 2 days. This was because we were required to transfer the stlqcc domain registration to a new registrar, and the DNS (domain name system) database entry needed updating.

December 14th 2008 – a document giving response to questions which are being asked about the Nortel Pension Plan in view of the difficulties Nortel is facing in the market place has been placed on this website for your information. See “Pensions” section

December 3rd 2008 – Report and photos of the November 2008 reunion meeting added. See “Meeting Reports” section

23rd September 2008 – CLICK HERE for details of the 2008 reunion of the STL Quarter Century Club

15th July 2008
– The 2008 reunion has ben confirmed for Friday 7th November at the Nortel Harlow site. More details to follow nearer the date.

If you are enrolled on the listserver, but have NOT received an email from Brian Edwards about the 2008 reunion, please email the webmaster and let him know so this can be investigated.

23rd April 2008
– Copy of Finagle’s Laws on R & D added. See “Archive” page

6th April 2008
– New section on STL at Frogmore Hall added. See “Archive” page

10th February 2008
– The listserver has been restarted

5th February 2008
– The listserver has been shut down for 3 days for essential maintenance

January 5th 2008
– Report and photos of the November 2007 meeting added. See “Meeting Reports” section
– Information about Chris Carter added. See Archive/Miscellaneous
– Aerial photos of STL site added. See Picture Gallery
– Photo of STL Stantec Zebra added. See Archive/Computer memories

January 3rd 2007 – the listserver is still not fully functioning. The problem is that messages posted to it are not always forwarded to all members on the list. The company which hosts our web domain is still investigating, but intermittent problems are notoriously difficult to trace.

October 29th 2007 – the listserver (members@stlqcc.org.uk) is temporarily out of action

October 4th 2007 – CLICK HERE for details of the November 2007 reunion.

September 2007 – Some members recollections on early involvement with computers added. See links on the Archive page. (More contributions would be appreciated)

January 1st 2007 – Report and photos of the November 2006 meeting added. See “Meeting Reports” section