Devon members had a most interesting morning on a guided tour of a combined heat and power plant. It takes all the waste from Plymouth, Devon and Torbay councils that is not recycled or composted and burns it at 1000 degrees centigrade (hotter than volcanic lava). The energy produced powers a turbine generating electricity which is supplied to the neighbouring dockyard and to the National Grid.

Our wonderful guide welcomed us before the obligatory raid on the dressing up box to be kitted out with high visibility jackets, hard hats and goggles.

A comprehensive site tour followed. The plant is highly automated (only 25 employees) and controlled from a space age control room where similarities to something out of 'Star Trek' were not lost on the assembled group. We were shown an observation porthole where flames in the furnace could be clearly seen and we could get an impression of the intense heat inside.

Afterwards we crossed the Tamar bridge into Cornwall for a great lunch at a garden centre.