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On 20 April ISHM‐Benelux held its 1988 Spring meeting at the Grand Hotel Heerlen. This meeting was totally devoted to implantable devices, in particular to the technologies used for these high reliability, extremely demanding devices. For this meeting ISHM‐Benelux was the guest of the Kerkrade facility of Medtronic. Medtronic (headquartered in Minneapolis, USA) is the world's leading manufacturer of implantable electronic devices. Apart from the assembly of pacemakers and heart‐wires, the Kerkrade facility acts as a manufacturing technology centre for Medtronic's European facilities.

Bryan Pledger, Chairman of the IMF Printed Circuit Group, chaired this meeting, held in London on 26 September, and introduced the panel of speakers, well‐known nationally and internationally, and specialists in the field of surface mounting.

Scandinavia is always one of my favourite destinations for a number of reasons. First of all, I like the cleanliness of the atmosphere which certainly helps to keep one fresh at the end of a long day. Then on some days it gives that incredible clarity and luminosity so admired by artists and which in turn may have led to the clean lines of Scandinavian design. The striking memorial to Sibelius is a tribute to both Finnish design and her most famous musician. In fact, ‘Finlandia’ is the first piece of classical music I can remember and 1 first heard it on earphones using a crystal set. In those days virtually all receivers were hand made, even to hand‐wound coils. Loud‐speakers were an expensive rarity.

We continued our brief visit to Germany with an easy day's drive through the Black Forest to Eastern Bavaria. From a good vantage point one could see the distant Alps with their air of peace and serenity. However, they seemed to represent a different world for we were in the centre of München (I wonder why we call it Munich?) with its complex motorway rings and busy traffic. Close to the inner ring is the Munich Technology Centre, a modern building housing a variety of high tech companies including Munich Laser Systems.

Kulicke and Soffa Industries, Inc. have announced the appointment of Dr Arthur J. Schneider as Vice President of Research and Development. Dr Schneider is based in Willow Grove and reports directly to Donald R. VanLuvanee, K & S President.

Terminal 1 at London's Heathrow Airport is not one of my favourite rendezvous locations, especially before 8.00 a.m. on a Sunday morning. However, Sunday 5th June was an exception; it was during the Anglo‐Italian week for the Abruzzo region and I was one of a mixed party representing industrial, banking, clothing, food and agriculture, tourism and, last but not least, the press. The objective was to learn something of what the region had to offer in preparation for 1992 when there will be free trade throughout Europe.

A special meeting of members was held during the course of the Institute's Northern Printed Circuit Symposium on Tuesday, 20th November. The meeting was held to consider, and if thought fit, to vote on two proposals of the Executive Council which were essentially:‐

A blowhole is a defect in a soldered joint on a printed circuit assembly which incorporates plated through‐hole circuitry. Blowholes are caused by volatiles being generated in the through‐hole during the soldering process and it is often thought that these volatiles originate from the flux. Examination of the problem shows this not to be the case; the most likely cause is bad drilling of the hole and/or poor plating. The construction of the glass fabric used in laminate manufacture may be a contributory factor to bad drilling. The incidence of blowholes can often be reduced by baking the boards immediately prior to soldering. If this treatment is successful in reducing blowholes, it merely confirms that the problem is inherent in the boards themselves and not in the soldering process.

At the Extraordinary General Meeting of the Institute of Circuit Technology held on Tuesday, 20th November 1979, a resolution was passed which allowed companies trading in the circuit technology industry to become affiliated to the Institute. To mark that historical decision the Council decided to organise a trade exhibition to be held concurrently with the Annual Symposium, Brunel 80.

ITS: Intertrade Scientific Ltd, the UK based manufacturer of the MCT/Browne InfraRed Reflow Soldering Systems for SMT and Hybrid applications, as part of their aggressive drive into Europe, has announced the signing of a distributor agreement with Maquinaria Suiza SA of Spain. Under the agreement, Maquinaria Suiza will be the sole supplier of the highly successful product range to Spain and Portugal.