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Friends of Catalyst

A friends organisation was formed in 1987 to support Catalyst and now has more than fifty members. Its aims include:

  • Supporting the Museum by giving money for the purchase of artefacts, equipment or facilities.

  • Providing voluntary help when needed.

  • Encouraging others to visit the Museum to enjoy its displays and facilities.

The Museum is continually expanding its activities and needs more support from its Friends to help it achieve this growth.

Please help us to help the Museum by joining the Friends today.

 

BENEFITS OF MEMBERSHIP

  • A lively programme of talks and activities throughout the year

  • Information about the progress and development of Catalyst

  • Invitations to special events

  • Private views of all major new Museum exhibitions

  • Regular issues of the Friends newsletter

  • Opportunities to participate in a range of voluntary work at the Museum

Download an application form

HELPING HANDS

Friends can make a valuable contribution to the practical work of Catalyst by helping in a range of interesting Museum activities.

These currently include:-

  • Assisting with the cataloguing of books and photographic archives.

  • Acting as guides for visitors

  • Helping to staff Special Events for schools

  • Helping with the maintenance of the Museum's artefacts and exhibits

 

There are two categories of membership, category a (membership only) and category b (membership PLUS annual admission to the museum)

Subscription rates are currently as follows:

Type A membership 

 

Type B membership (inc. entrance to Catalyst)

  

Individual membership           

£12  / year

Individual membership          

£18 / year

Retired member                     

£ 10 / year

 Retired member                     

£15 / year

Joint members (couple)             

£ 17 / year   

Joint members (couple)          

£28 / year

Joint (pensionable couple)    

£14 / year 

Joint (pensionable couple)      

£23 / year

Students (single membership subscription)       £ 13 / year



 

 

Friends Lectures 2009-10

All meetings at 7.30 in Catalyst except where indicated

Everybody Welcome, small charge for non-members

Free parking

 

Thursday October 8th 2009

Cleaning up the Mersey Basin: Where have we come from, where are we going? – Diane Kitcher, United Utilities

In 1985, the Mersey Estuary was the most polluted estuary in the UK, receiving up to 60% of the mainland pollution generated by industry and the 5 million population. Come and hear about the transformation brought about since then, and the continuing improvement efforts needed by UU and others to meet long-term Water Quality targets.

 

 

Thursday November 12th 2009

Industrial symbiosis: Where there's muck... – Ewan Macdonald, National Industrial Symbiosis Programme (NISP)Industrial symbiosis is good for all of us – it’s about maximising the value of scarce resources through innovation in recycling, material recovery, product development and energy recovery.  NISP is a national programme set up to help industry exploit opportunities for collaboration to reduce waste and thus enhance a sustainable business model.

 

 

Thursday January 14th 2010

Degradation of Plastics in Museums – Colin Williamson (MD, Smile Plastics)

People often think of plastics as cheap and disposable, but some types have now been with us for well over 100 years, and some objects made from them are now, perhaps unexpectedly, highly valued. How do we preserve such objects, well beyond the horizon envisaged by their creators?

 

Thursday February 11th 2009

Stories from My Life in Science: Developing Products and Business in chemical and allied industries – Chris Pickles (General Manager, Ceram Surface and Materials Analysis)

This talk will draw on the speaker’s >35 years experience of working in industrial R&D and related business functions.  During this period the rôle of industrial R&D has changed dramatically. He will offer first hand perspectives on this evolution from his own career in the consumer goods, chemicals and automotive industries, as well as in government science and technology transfer/ spin-out.

 

Thursday March 11th 2009

The Large Hadron Collider – Sandy Donnachie (Manchester University)

The world’s largest and highest-energy particle accelerator was built to do four major experiments addressing answer key questions concerning the nature of matter. Come and hear what these are, why we need this huge apparatus, and the very latest results and progress.

 

 

 

All lectures begin at 7:30 pm in the Catalyst Science Discovery Centre, Mersey Road, Widnes WA8 0DF. Refreshments are provided. All are welcome: attendance is free to Friends of Catalyst, and open to others for a small charge of £2 to help cover costs.

 

 

Bill Sanderson

Programme Secretary