Masonry Fin Walls

The following is the text of the ‘Toast to the Institution’ made by Lord Flowers, FRS, Rector of Imperial College, on the occasion of the 75th Anniversary Banquet at the Guildhall in the City of London on 1O May 1984. President, My Lords, Your Munificence - I mean the Chairman of the University Grants Committee - Ladies and Gentlemen: We all like to celebrate anniversaries, and as many of them as possible, preferably all at once. If my calculations serve me well, I make out that this is the 75th anniversary of the founding of the Concrete Institute, the 62nd anniversary of its first calling itself The Institution of Structural Engineers, the 60th anniversary of the first publication of The Structural Engineer, and the 50th anniversary of the granting of the Royal Charter.

I read Professor MacLeod’s ‘Viewpoint’ with great interest and, while agreeing generally with his views, would like to add one or two comments concerning the causes of cracking in masonry. Mr. William Skinner

Author’s introduction: I think that the Institution is to be congratulated on its choice of subject for discussion in January 1984. (At the same time I apologise for my crack in the last line of the introductory note; I had no idea that the BBC would go overboard with their programmes about George Orwell.)