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2006/7 Programme
Come back to this page from time to time to check for amendments to the programme and more details on some of the sessions
as they become available.
Programme Summary
We hope that you will enjoy the range of topics to be covered. If there are other subjects you'd like to hear about, it's
never too soon to start thinking about next year. Just drop us a note using the contact form.
Following our usual practice, we will send email reminders to each branch member of record between one and two weeks before
each meeting.
Any unavoidable changes to the programme will be advertised on this page and notified to members by email.
We reviewed the wording of our meeting reminders in the light of the EU Directive on Electronic Communications (which came
into force in the UK on 11 December 2003) and now include a clear explanation of why individuals are receiving the message
and how to unsubscribe.
Programme details are posted to branch members in mid-August. If, after allowing for postal delays, you didn't receive yours,
please let us know using the contact form.
Programme Detail
The disappearance of cash - advances in payment technology
| Date |
21 September 2006
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| Time |
19:30 (Tea and Coffee from 19:00) |
| Location |
Computing Lab, Wolfson Building, Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3QG ..Directions and Map |
| Calendar Entry |
Download  this iCal file: depending on your browser settings, your calendar may launch automatically, otherwise double click to add the meeting to
your Outlook diary. Procedure may differ for other Calendar tools.
|
| Meeting Summary |
On the reports page |
| Speaker |
Tim Lambertstock, Technology Strategy Manager, Voca Tim joined Voca (then BACS) in 1999 to lead the development of the vision and architecture for a major programme to upgrade
the BACS payment service. The first phase BACSTEL-IP - went live in late 2002 and migration of customers from BACSTEL was
completed at the end of 2005 with the core mainframe systems shut down in July 2006. For the last three years, he has been
mostly involved in developing new products and services that leverage Voca's trusted but bank-neutral market position and
technology. This has included work on innovative payment methods, the financial supply chain and security. Prior to joining
Voca, Tim spent over 20 years in various IT strategy and management roles. He is a member of the BCS and sits on the Oxfordshire
Branch Committee.
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Abstract: The ever increasing use of cards and electronic payments has done little to reduce the use of cash, particularly for low-value
payments. This talk will discuss how some recent and forthcoming advances in technology could change this. Topics covered
will include contactless and mobile payments enabled by near field communications (NFC) and the UK faster payments scheme
aimed at internet bank payments.
hideDescription: Low-value payments usually refers to retail transactions which would normally be made in cash, typically for amounts less
than £10. The recent agreement on standards for near field communications (NFC) technology - a specific type of RFID - may
revolutionise the way in which such payments are made. NFC chips can be embedded in credit, debit and pre-pay payment cards
as well as mobile phones and can communicate with readers in shops, vending machines and entrance gates. This talk will describe
the current state of deployment of this technology and the impact that it may have on consumer behaviour. This talk will also
look at the way in which the UK Faster Payments service, that will be introduced during 2007, has been used to overcome limitations
in legacy bank systems to enable Internet bank customers and businneses to be able to make immediate payments.
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Climate Prediction and Digital Preservation: Predicting the Future and Preserving the Past
| Date |
Thursday 26 October 2006
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| Time |
19:00 (Tea and Coffee from 18:15)
Note earlier start than usual
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| Location |
Pickavance Lecture Theatre, Building R22, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Chilton, Didcot, Oxon, OX11 OQX
..Directions and Map
As it's a large site, you should allow some time to find the lecture theatre.
Security: There is no charge for this meeting but we need to know the names of people who will be coming.
Please use the contact us form to tell us that you will be coming. You will need to bring some form of identification.
If you are attending the event at the Daresbury lab, please go to the Chester & North Wales branch website and follow the instructions there.
Once on site, the Pickavance Lecture Theatre is in Road 13, just off Road 6 which you can see in this detailed view from Google maps.
The JSOC website has a site map showing the roads, but the neighbouring buildings and car parks are now different, presumably affected by the huge Diamond
project construction just behind Building R22.
If you have the time, Google Earth has a great view of the lecture theatre and the Diamond Project which you can find if you
search for Chilton, Oxfordshire and zoom in.
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| Meeting poster |
 meeting poster(88KB)
|
| Calendar Entry |
Download this iCal file (updated October 2006): depending on your browser settings, your calendar may launch automatically, otherwise double click
to add the meeting to your Outlook diary. Procedure may differ for other Calendar tools.
|
| Meeting Summary |
On the reports page |
| Speakers |
Keith Norman & Peter Lloyd, Tessella Support Services |
 Abstract: Two of the biggest problems facing society could be Global Warming and Loss of Digital Data. This presentation will address
some of the issues involved, and potential solutions.
This is a Joint Session with Chester & North Wales branch, with presentations given at Rutherford Appleton Laboratory and Daresbury Laboratory, brought together using a video conference
link. The presentations will be given by senior consultants from Tessella, who use a blend of scientific, engineering and
IT skills to solve the most complex technical and business problems.
hideOne presentation will review the climateprediction.net project; the world's largest experiment to try to produce a forecast of the climate in the 21st century. To do this, people
around the world give time on their computers - time when they have their computers switched on, but are not using them to
their full capacity.
Keith Norman will look at the background to the experiment, and how software is helping scientists to understand the global
climate.
The second presentation will consider some of the issues surrounding Digital Preservation: ensuring that the digital information
we create and store today will continue to be accessible for as long as we may need it. Industry commentators have raised
the prospect of a 'digital dark age' stretching from the late 20th to the early 21st century, as huge amounts of digital information
are at risk of being lost.
Mark Claxton will discuss the problems and some of the solutions based on experience assisting a number of clients throughout
the world.
Further background on Digital Preservation is summarised at Preserving Access to Digital Information.
Press release
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Extending existing applications for secure mobile use - how tough can that be?
| Date |
Thursday 16 November 2006
|
| Time |
19:30 (Tea and Coffee from 19:00) |
| Location |
Computing Lab, Wolfson Building, Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3QG ..Directions and Map |
| Calendar Entry |
Download this iCal file: depending on your browser settings, your calendar may launch automatically, otherwise double click to add the meeting to
your Outlook diary. Procedure may differ for other Calendar tools.
|
| Meeting Summary |
On the reports page |
| Speaker |
Stef Coetzee, Senior VP International, NetMotion Wireless Stef has a breadth of experience in the value, and inherent challenges of exchanging business critical information with mobile
workers and on-line consumers.
Stef has, since the early 1990s, been helping corporate customers in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, the USA and Australia
plan and deploy mobile and wireless data architectures. Stef started in IT in the 1970s with Anglo American/de Beers as a
systems programmer working on operating systems, database, telecommunications and online database systems.
He relocated from his native Africa to Europe, where he planned, designed and established the technology infrastructure for
Dun & Bradstreet's European Information Centre, reaching out to 35,000 online customers across Europe. He became Group Director
Information Services and subsequently reorganised the Systems Development organization, reengineering processes to align the
IT organization more closely with business operations and strategy.
In 1992 Stef 'crossed the floor' and in the role of Senior Vice President established the international operation for XcelleNet,
a US company whose RemoteWare and Afaria products focus on systems management for remote and mobile workers (now part of iAnywhere).
After XcelleNet was acquired, he founded Wheatstone Consulting, continuing to support the growth of the mobile data industry;
helping suppliers expand to the UK and Europe as well as offering enterprise IT mobile data support. During this time Stef
helped set up and was Director of the Mobile Management Forum, a consortium of 62 government and global blue chip organisations
focussed on driving the definition of a Secure Mobile Architecture.
For the last year he has been working to expand the reach of NetMotion Mobility XE to global markets. (Mobility XE has been
voted the best-in-class mobile.)
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Life gets turbulent for users when coupling the need for a VPN with wanting to use wireless connections. Stef's talk focuses
on the technology challenges facing IT when taking into account the demands of wireless, such as application performance and
reliability, network coverage issues, limited network speeds, traversing multiple networks - and making those corporate bean-counters
happy.
Industry analyst research reflects that mobile working is a key priority for European enterprises this year. Large enterprise
firms are planning to spend the most on mobile data services, including email, remote access/mobile VPN technology and field
force automation applications. Trying to use an application developed to run in a wired LAN environment on a wireless network
has causes many mobile projects to stall. Stef's talk will focus on how to provide enterprise class security for mobile and
wireless connections, whilst taking into account the demands of wireless, such as application performance & reliability,
network coverage issues and limited network speeds, traversing multiple networks and still meeting the corporate demand for
cost benefits and positive ROI on the project.
hideSignificant gains are being promised to businesses by extending the reach of an enterprise and providing wireless access to
applications that were previously available only via internal LAN access or occasional dial-up by mobile field workers, telecommuters,
and business partners. However, as with most technology advances, remote access via wireless networks also creates substantial
security risks for those who are unprepared - whether using wide area wireless (provided by wireless carriers such as Orange,
O2, Vodafone or T-Mobile) and/or wireless LANs (either installed and operated by an enterprise or in hot-spots).
When enterprises add mobile access via wireless networks (Wireless LAN or Wireless WAN (Wide-Area Networks) to their remote
access methods, user authentication and data security become significantly more complex and challenging than they are on wired
or tethered networks. Data traversing a wireless environment is vulnerable to corruption, eavesdropping, and unauthorized
access. Traditional VPN (Virtual Private Network) technologies such as IPSec and SSL may seem to solve the security problems,
but they are not designed to work over wireless networks. They are slow and crash frequently - if they work at all.
This talk takes a look at the issues against a backdrop of industry trends and business drivers. It explores traditional approaches
to offering secure remote access solutions and evaluates them against the criteria for a mobile, secure, remote access solution
that provides strong encryption and industrial-strength security specifically for mobile workers using wireless networks.
It will look at the balance between a user-transparent solution that does not deomand user training, distraction or intervention
together with the facilities required to lower IT support and management costs. It will conclude with a shopping-list of required
features needed to offer a mobile VPN that is optimised for WWAN, WLAN or any other IP-based network mobile workers use for
remote access, including home networks, dial-up, and public and private hotspots.
top
BCS Oxfordshire Branch Christmas Lecture 2006: The Machine That Enjoys Christmas: Whither Machine Consciousness?
| Date |
Thursday 7 December 2006 |
| Time |
19:30 (Tea and Coffee from 19:00)
Mulled wine and mince pies will be served at the Lamb and Flag after the meeting.
|
| Location |
Computing Lab, Wolfson Building, Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3QG ..Directions and Map |
| Calendar Entry |
Download this iCal file: depending on your browser settings, your calendar may launch automatically, otherwise double click to add the meeting to
your Outlook diary. Procedure may differ for other Calendar tools.
|
| Meeting Summary |
On the reports page |
| Speaker |
Igor Aleksander FREng, Professor of Neural System Engineering, Imperial College
Igor Aleksander has been researching Artificial Intelligence for over 30 years. He is currently working on neural models of the brain that
might explain what it is to be conscious. He has published over 200 papers and 13 books (including the most recent: "The World
In My Mind, My Mind In The World" - Imprint Academic). In the year 2000 he was awarded the Outstanding Achievement Medal for
Informatics by the Institution of Electrical Engineers.
hideBorn in Zagreb, Yugoslavia, educated in Italy and South Africa, Igor Aleksander came to the UK in the late 50s. He first joined
STC as a graduate engineer and then entered the academic world as Lecturer (at Queen Mary College, London, 1961), Reader in
Electronics (University of Kent, 1968), Professor of Electronics (Brunel University, 1974), Professor of the Management of
Information Technology (Imperial College, 1984), Head of Electrical Engineering and Gabor Professor of Neural Systems Engineering
(Imperial College, 1988), Pro-Rector (External Relations) (Imperial College, 1997). He is now Emeritus Professor.
He has researched Artificial Intelligence, Neural Networks and IT Management. His recent work lies in the area of Artificial
Visual Awareness which arises from a collaboration with the California Institute of Technology. He has published over 200
papers in these fields and 13 books including "Impossible minds: my neurons my consciousness" published by Imperial College
Press 1996 "How to Build a Mind: Machines with Imagination" Weidenfeld and Nicolson (May 2000) and "The World in My Mind ..."
Imprint Academic Press (2005).
In the 1980s he was responsible for the design of the world's first neural pattern recognition system (the WISARD, commercialised
by CRS, Wokingham), and in 1991 he and his students designed the MAGNUS neurocomputational system (now commercialised by NTS
as Neural Representation Modeller). He has consulted for many computer manufacturers and IT providers. In 1988 he was elected
to the Fellowship of the Royal Academy of Engineering. In the year 2000 he was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Medal for
Informatics by the Institution of Electrical Engineers. He is currently prominent in the emerging field of "Machine Models
of Consciousness".
Professor Igor Aleksander was the General Chair of the second International Symposium on Brain-Inspired Cognitive Systems
at Molyvos, Lesvos Island in Greece, 10-13th October 2006.
Igor and Helen Morton took part in a Royal Society exchange mission to Beijing, China, on "Advances in Human-Like Computation",
October 19th - Nov 2nd, 2006; under a grant from the Royal Academy of Engineering they were invited Keynote Speakers at the
International Workshop on Models of Brain and Mind: Physical, Computational and Psychological Approaches, at the Saha Institute
for Nuclear Physics in Calcutta, November 21st to 28th 2006.
He likes talking to general audiences about his work and sometimes appears in BBC TV and radio programmes, e.g. Horizon, The
Late Show, Tomorrow's World, Equinox, Newsnight, Wide World, Eureka, The Big Bang, The Afternoon Shift, Start the Week, Inspiration,
Desert Island Discs, In Our Time, The Network, Letter to the Future. He enjoys tennis, jazz and classical music, plays the
drums, likes cooking and not doing very much in Greek and French villages.
See also Wikipedia
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| Booking |
In some previous years, we have asked anyone planning to attend the Christmas lecture to fill in a form to request a (free)
ticket. This was to help us get the catering right for the mulled wine and mince pies, and to prevent overcrowding. However
for 2006 we have decided to estimate numbers based on previous years so we aren't asking people to register. Just turn up
on the night and enjoy!
|
Professor Aleksander will look at progress in AI and the way in which some recent efforts have turned towards computational
models of consciousness. He will demonstrate some of his own work on visual consciousness based on brain modelling. This includes
a consideration of emotions - so the machine might indeed enjoy Christmas!
Artificial Intelligence is over 40 years old. It has resulted in some smart computation but has revealed very little about
the operation of the brain. In recent years AI researchers have attempted to put this right and have specifically concentrated
on modelling the brain to try to reveal what mechanisms are essential for human and animal consciousness. In our own work
we have discovered that several mechanisms are involved in making us conscious. These computational mechanisms create a 'self'
in a perceived world, ensure internal states as a basis for imagination, attend to important features of our world, plan and
exhibit life-preserving emotions. This leads to a clarification of many issues surrounding consciousness. Are animals conscious?
What is the unconscious? What is free will? Because emotions are present in these computational models, it may well be that
a machine will be built that enjoys Christmas.
top
Viruses and Malware, How many more threats are there?
| Date |
Thursday 18 January 2007
|
| Time |
19:30 (Tea and Coffee from 19:00) |
| Location |
Computing Lab, Wolfson Building, Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3QG ..Directions and Map |
| Calendar Entry |
Download this iCal file: depending on your browser settings, your calendar may launch automatically, otherwise double click to add the meeting to
your Outlook diary. Procedure may differ for other Calendar tools.
|
| Meeting Summary |
On the reports page |
| Speaker |
Stuart Taylor, Manager SophosLabsTM UK.
Stuart has spent the last 9 years working in the labs at Sophos Plc. During his time there, he has seen the virus threat
grow from a handful of new viruses each month to approaching 5000 new threats each month. Stuart has been at the forefront
of the fight against an ever increasing range of threats which has necessitated growing SophosLabs from a few people in the
UK to a 24 x 7 operation over 3 continents.
Prior to joining Sophos Plc Stuart graduated from Aston University in Birmingham with a degree in Electrical and Electronic
Engineering. He has worked as a software engineer, mainly working with embedded processors, in industries such as fork lift
truck automation, defence, air traffic control systems and in the music industry, writing software for mixing console for
recording studios.
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In the last ten years the number of threats has increased ten fold with approximately 5,000 new threats being seen every month.
The presentation covers the rapid rise in the number of threats and the changing nature of those threats. It will discuss
the issues faced by both vendors and consumers in protecting themselves against this global problem. The presentation will
look at some of the myths surrounding protection and explore the reality of providing a rapid response against the unknown
threat.
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Towards secure distributed healthcare research and delivery
| Date |
Thursday 22 February 2007
|
| Time |
19:30 (Tea and Coffee from 19:00) |
| Location |
Computing Lab, Wolfson Building, Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3QG ..Directions and Map |
| Calendar Entry |
Download this iCal file: depending on your browser settings, your calendar may launch automatically, otherwise double click to add the meeting to
your Outlook diary. Procedure may differ for other Calendar tools.
|
| Meeting Summary |
On the reports page |
| Speaker |
Dr Andrew Simpson, Oxford University Computing Laboratory
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Over the past few years, members of the Software Engineering group at Oxford have been involved in a number of e-Science projects.
In particular, they have been leading the development of distributed infrastructures to support large-scale research.
Examples of such projects include climateprediction.net, CancerGrid, Integrative Biology, and e-DiaMoND.
The talk will first provide an overview of the activities of the Software Engineering group before describing the DTI-funded project GIMI (Generic Infrastructure for Medical Informatics).
The primary focus of GIMI is the development of dynamic authorisation techniques for the facilitation of secure aggregation
of medical data from disparate sources.
top
Visit to Unipart Advanced Logistics Centre
| Date |
Thursday 22 March 2007
|
| Time |
19:00 for 19:30. |
| Location |
Unipart Logistics, Unipart House, Garsington Rd, Cowley, Oxford OX4 2PG ..Directions and Map |
| Calendar Entry |
Download this iCal file: depending on your browser settings, your calendar may launch automatically, otherwise double click to add the meeting to
your Outlook diary. Procedure may differ for other Calendar tools.
|
| Meeting Summary |
On the reports page |
Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) has attracted huge interest as a technology, particularly within logistics, but suitable
applications and the cost-benefit are only starting to become clear. We have been given the rare opportunity of a hosted tour
of the facility that Unipart has set-up in Oxford to test the impact and benefits of RFID deployment in terms of strategy,
people and process.
hideDescription: Unipart Logistics has set up a dedicated centre to improving business process through the use of RFID technology. The 100,000
sq ft facility, called the Advanced Logistics Centre (ALC), developed and perfected over five years, is a 3D, large-scale
model that replicates the end-to-end supply chain, linking raw material supplier to the final customer. The ALC encompasses
all supply chain business steps and processes, IT functionality, and IT infrastructure. This enables the business community
to simulate new, advanced logistics processes and technology in a real-world but risk-free environment, to test the impact
and benefits of RFID deployment in terms of strategy, people and process. Underpinned by SAP's RFID platform, the system uses
Intermec's RFID readers and printers. The ALC simulates a real-life environment, complete with raw materials, picking systems,
pallets and supermarket shelves complete with real goods, to create a physical representation of the cost benefits of RFID
technology throughout the supply chain.
top
Ruby on Rails
Joint with BCS Open Source and Internet Specialist Groups.
| Date |
Thursday 26 April 2007
|
| Time |
19:30 (Cheese and Wine buffet from 19:00 courtesy of the Open Source Specialist Group) |
| Location |
Computing Lab, Wolfson Building, Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3QG ..Directions and Map |
| Joint meeting |
This is a joint meeting with the BCS Open Source and Internet Specialist Groups.
|
| Calendar Entry |
Download this iCal file: depending on your browser settings, your calendar may launch automatically, otherwise double click to add the meeting to
your Outlook diary. Procedure may differ for other Calendar tools.
|
| Speaker |
Jonathan Conway is one of the three Directors at New Bamboo Web Development Ltd - a Ruby on Rails consultancy based in London.
After being a staunch Java purist for several years, Jonathan stumbled upon Ruby on Rails in August 2004 and was immediately
impressed by the simplicity and productivity gains offered by this new web development framework.
Before being enamored with Ruby on Rails, Jonathan had worked on several diverse projects ranging from online financial portals,
real-time trading applications for Java enabled mobile devices and even rich user interfaces utilising Javascript and the
DOM years before it became the "in thing".
Currently Jonathan is working hard with a number of startups to help put the United Kingdom firmly on Web 2.0 map.
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Ruby on Rails is the new darling of the web's digerati and has taken the web development world by storm. It can be found to power a large
proportion of the latest and greatest of the Web 2.0 world, but why is this?
The talk will cover the following topics:
- A brief overview of Ruby on Rails
- REST in Rails
- Javascript-less Javascript with RJS
- Beautiful testing with Rails
top
Road user charging and Branch AGM
| Date |
Thursday 24 May 2007
|
| Time |
19:30 (Cheese and Wine buffet from 19:00) |
| Location |
Computing Lab, Wolfson Building, Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3QG ..Directions and Map |
| Joint meeting |
This event is being organised in collaboration with the Oxford Internet Institute |
| Attendance and booking |
This meeting follows our normal practice of being open to members and non-members of the BCS, free of charge. There is no
need to book. Just turn up on the night.
|
| Calendar Entry |
Download this iCal file: depending on your browser settings, your calendar may launch automatically, otherwise double click to add the meeting to
your Outlook diary. Procedure may differ for other Calendar tools.
|
| Speaker |
Derek Turner, CBE Highways Agency National Traffic Director
Derek was Transport for London's Managing Director of Street Management and the chief architect of the Congestion Charge.
He was Chairman of the Institution of Civil Engineers Transport Board from 1999. In June 2003, he was awarded the CBE for
his services to transport in London.
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After the business of the Annual General Meeting, preceded as usual by a light cheese and wine buffet, Derek Turner will talk
about the technical and management challenges of the Transport for London Congestion Charge project.
With the Financial Times reporting in August 2006 that ministers expect powers to be introduced in the next parliamentary session to permit road-tolling across the UK, this should be a highly topical talk.
The congestion charging scheme was first introduced on 17 February 2003 after 75 years of policy work on road use pricing.
Once it was implemented, it took less than 2 weeks for the programme to settle down; the fear factor therefore evaporated
due to the rapid stabilization.
The team showed that "Enthusiasm" and a "can-do attitude" combined with the use of proven and effective, rather than leading
edge, technology can deliver an "impossible" project on time. They created a successful public-private partnership, harnessing
the strengths of both. The provision of many different ways for people to register and pay was important: the most used being
SMS via mobile phones, while payment over the counter is also popular and encourages people to use small shops, often run
by ethnic minorities. The team also learned that it was important to present the project to the public and the politicians
as part of an overall scheme; the public information campaign proved very valuable.
top
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Bookmarking pages
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Other options
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You can also view or download the programme cards as
Use these to update your Mozilla Sunbird, Outlook® or other iCalendar compatible diary.
The links against individual entries are *.ics files. Older versions of Outlook require *.vcs files which you can find in
the combined zip file.
 BCS Oxfordshire events
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