Meetings and Events
ISASC(E) also holds regular meetings (about three per year), where talks are given on interesting topics, and scales and weights can be bought and sold. The main reason for going is of course to meet friends old and new!

2010's next meeting will be on

  • Sunday October 10th (East Midlands, England) - the AGM and more!


  • Booking in advance helps our hard-working organisers - members will find details of costs and locations in their mailings.



    Previous meetings:

    Sunday July 4th A full day with an excellent lunch at Sutton Cheney, Leicestershire, England on the topic of 'Non-Metropolitan Scales, Weights and their makers'. Some lovely displays, intriguing items on slides and 'in the flesh'- catch up with the report in the August 2010 edition of Fulcrum

    Sunday April 18th A great meeting near Lydney in beautiful Gloucestershire - see the report and photos in the May 2010 edition of Fulcrum

    2009 Autumn Meeting and AGM
    Sunday 11th October 2009

    Held at the
    Best Western Yew Lodge Hotel
    Packington Hill
    Kegworth DE74 2DT
    Tel 01509 67472

    The theme of the meeting was London Scalemakers. Two main presentations covered aspects of the way the trade altered in the 19th and 20th centuries. During this period the highly-regulated system of master-and-apprentices was transformed into a more diverse system with large and small firms competing in a free market. Barry Oliver gave a most interesting talk on The inter-relationships between De Grave, Oertling and W.A.Webb, and Jenny Hutchinson gave an excellently-researched audiovisual presentation on Thomas Williams and his clan. In addition our Information Officer, Diana Crawforth-Hitchins, presented an exhibition of coin scales from London, and gave a short talk explaining how they can be dated by looking at the trade labels.

    Members also gave 10-minute 'show and tell' presentations related to the general theme of the meeting.

    2009 Spring Meeting
    Sunday 5th April 2009
    Held at the The Charnwood Arms Hotel, Bardon Hill, Coalville LE67 1TB , tel: 01530 30815425. The hotel is situated on Beveridge Lane just off the A511, minutes from Junction 22 on the M1.

    The theme of the meeting was Coin and Bullion scales and weights, and the speakers included Jaap Visser and Howard Simmons.

    2008 Autumn Meeting and AGM
    Sunday 12th October 2008

    Held at the

    Best Western Yew Lodge Hotel
    Packington Hill
    Kegworth DE74 2DT
    Tel 01509 67472


    2008 Spring Meeting
    19th and 20th April 2008 (Liverpool).

    2008 Summer Meeting
    The summer get-together was at The Royal Arms, Sutton Cheney with tea back at Lindridge. The date was Wednesday 15th July.

    2007 Summer Meeting
    Held on Wednesday 11th July 2007, at:
    The Royal Arms
    Sutton Cheney
    CV13 0AG

    2007 Spring Meeting
    Held at the Yew Lodge Hotel, Kegworth on Sunday 22nd April 2007.


    This meeting was in the Yew Tree Lodge - a fine new venue for ISASC. The main theme of the meeting was 'Inspectors' scales and weights'. Many members bought items for display, with a fine assortment of Standard Weights and Measures, and some Inspectors' Balances. Amongst the weights and measures, Yorkshire was well represented, with some exceptional measures (including pre-Imperial ones) from Hang East & West, Lepton, Shepley and Bradford, and a full set of Globe weights from Ossett. The other side of the Pennines was also represented, with an unusual set of Pooley standard weights from Liverpool, measures from Manchester and Blackburn, and some amazing Tombstone measures from 'Hundred of Wirrall' (sic) and Macclesfield. This was much better than a museum, as you could (carefully!) handle the exhibits - indeed there were some for sale, for example a full set standard bell weights from Norfolk, a nice set of bronze measures from Suffolk, and a nice standard bell weight from Bucks. The meeting was treated to an interesting talk by John Knights and John Cheesman, mainly about their memories of their lives as Weights and Measures inspectors, which was very well received. After lunch there was a 'Show and Tell', with the two Johns being reinforced by Norman Biggs and Diana Crawforth-Hitchins. Running through the day was a couple of 'guess the weight' competitions, and a weights & measures quiz, which kept the members entertained. A big thank-you to all the members who made this event possible.
    Autumn Meeting and AGM
    The Autumn meeting was on Sunday 8th October 2006 at:
    The Falcon Hotel, Stratford upon Avon
    Click for map
    Report:
    The W&T Avery Ltd Theme at the 8th Oct 2006 AGM

    Apart from the formalities of the AGM, members presented displays of the more exotic and unusual scales made by that longstanding and prolific scale-maker W & T Avery (later W & T Avery Ltd) of Birmingham. This generated tremendous interest and the meeting literally hummed with chat as experts and novices discussed finer points.

    During a question and answer session Jack White, in his own inimitable way, demonstrated how the positioning of the fulcrum knife-edges and bearings of a Roberval scale determined the accuracy and sensitivity especially where verification was necessary.

    Afterwards, Albert Rangeley spoke to point out how Jack had proved that Mordan scales had a flawed design feature that precluded them being sufficiently accurate and sensitive to pass rigid verification requirements. He referred to them, in a disparaging way, as 'gilt toys' which is the term often used in old trade directories to describe such products.

    Nevertheless Albert exhibited a truly wonderful display of the most attractive and ornate Mordan scales that drew a lot of attention from the ladies present at the meeting. All the examples displayed by Albert were immaculate with original gilding and correct weights.

    Noel Scarratt displayed an immaculate, gleaming, and very rare Avery turret scale together with a pristine set of nine porcelain Avery weights from 7lb down to 1oz. Two Avery bread scales and three elegant globe weights were also included in Noel's display. Gerry Chellingworth had on show a very early Avery Beam Scale and a rare early Avery Stilliard - both were snapped up on the day by eager collectors. Diana Crawforth-Hitchins had extracted some interesting Avery examples from her extensive collection and was busy throughout the day dealing with queries as they arose.

    Altogether an interesting, and often fascinating, day. Rewarding too for the lucky purchasers but for all undoubtedly a memorable day.

    Ken Govier
    January 2007
    ISASC(E) Spring Meeting 2006
    Held on Sunday 2nd April at:
    The Charnwood Arms Hotel
    Coalville
    Leicestershire
    LE67 1TB


    Summer Meeting
    Held on Wednesday 12th July 2006, from 10am onwards, at:
    The Royal Arms
    Sutton Cheney
    CV13 0AG




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