LAPIS - Blackpool, Preston, Lancashire UFO and Paranormal Group

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The LAPIS Group

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JOESEPH DORMER: Joe is one of the founders of the group who, along with his wife June and friend Hazel, started investigations way back in the mid 1980s. He is a recognised philosopher and was co-editor of the popular quarterly magazine 'The New Ufologist' which was the most respected journal of its genre during the 1990s. He now lives near sunny Scarborough but keeps a keen interest in events on the Fylde Coast.

JOHN NUTTALL: John is the group's current head honcho, the group's webmaster and also the technical geezer at our conferences - so you know who to blame when things go wrong! He is the group's longest serving regular member having joined way back in 1989 when he was just a lad. [COMMENT FROM JANET: Yeh, and that's about when the above picture was taken - he's no probs buying booze at Tesco Express!]

JANET WALKEY: Janet is our events organiser and also our club treasurer despite the fact she's no good at maths! She joined the group after coming to our 1996 conference and has stayed ever since. She is our media star, having recently appeared on SKY TV discussing one of our famous cases for a documentary called 'The Real 4400s'. She is currently busy planning our 2010 conference which will be our best yet!

BRIAN FRISBEE: Brian joined the group back in 1989, a few weeks after John. Brian is an electronics and engineering wizbo with a keen interest in anything that flies. He left the group during the early 1990s before returning in 2006. Local historians looked back on his first stint with the group as a golden period packed full of action and adventure and tagged it 'The Frisbee Era'. And, yes, his surname really is Frisbee!

LIZZY ROE: Lizzy is relatively new to the Group having first come along to one of our monthly meetings with her partner in early 2009. They have had a hectic and exciting first year in LAPIS having gone camping in Rendlesham Forest whilst studying the famous 1980 Incident, big cat hunting whilst on holiday in Devon, overnight skywatching in Longdendale and are now veterans of paranormal conferences!

MAUREEN RODWELL: Maureen is one of the group's longest serving members having joined the group in 1990 due to an interest in crop circles. She thinks there might be a paranormal explanation for the unusual phenomena sometimes witnessed by the circle making team. Her name is sometimes mistaken for Roswell when she is on her travels. Quite appropriate for a member of a UFO and paranormal group!

KEN MOODY: Ken is a tax consultant (CTA) and technical author. He became interested in the paranormal when he was a teenager and joined LAPIS after attending the 2008 conference partly because of the upsurge in reports of UFO and other paranormal sightings and experiences over the past year or so, although he has never seen or experienced anything other than a couple of odd childhood memories.

SAM SHEARON: Sam joined the group in 2008 after coming to our conference. Sam is an internationally renouned artist who counts Iron Maiden amongst his impressive client list. He is best known locally for his scary sketch of the 'Beast of Lytham' which terrorised the locals back in 2005. He has a great interest in cryptozoology and in 2009 spent a month in a remote Californian forest searching for Bigfoot!

MARK WILLIAMS: Mark joined the group in 2008 after coming with Sam to our critically acclaimed paranormal conference. His main interest is in cryptozoology but is also an expert on everything 1980s and can regularly be seen in the clubs and pubs of St Annes as his incomparable alter ego, Mr Rubik's. [NOTE: Mr Rubik's has asked us to point out that he is in no way connected with the flat earth society!]

ROB WHITEHEAD: Rob was the head honcho of LAPIS before heading back to his native homeland of sunny County Durham back in 2007. Rob keeps a keen interest in events on the Fylde Coast and gives us regular updates on the many paranormal events from the north eastern stretch of the coast up in Geordie Land. [NOTE: We have been asked to point out that people from County Durham are NOT Geordies! Alright?!]

THE MAN IN BLACK: We don't know when the man in black joined the group because we don't know who he (she?) is! He could be the man with a radar key from Hutton who didn't want his piccy shown. Or how about the ex RAF man with an interest in sheds?! The geocacher who lives near the Ribble asks a lot of questions - but hang on wasn't John accused of being an MI5 agent whilst down in Wiltshire recently?!

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The Lancashire Anomalous Phenomena Investigation Society (LAPIS) is a Blackpool based group of like minded individuals whose mission is to investigate ufological, paranormal and anomalous phenomena using the scientific method. LAPIS was founded in the mid 1980s by Joseph & June Dormer who were among the leading UK investigators of their day.

The group has been involved with many exciting cases over the years, some of which have attracted the attention of the national media. Since 1989, we have held a series of highly acclaimed conferences putting on many respected speakers including a former NASA astronaut. We're holding our 2010 UFO conference on 22 May 2010 and we've got our usual great line up of speakers talking about Colombia's Roswell, the Rendlesham Forest Incident (Britain's Roswell), real life UK alien abductions and the relationship between UFOs and US presidents. Make sure to check it out and have an enjoyable day out at the seaside in May!

The group holds a formal public meeting on the 1st Thursday of every month at The Guards Club, 37E Whitegate Drive, Blackpool, FY3 9DG. We also meet informally on the other Thursdays at the same venue (except the last Thursday when we usually have a pub crawl or a curry in St Annes) but we tend not to be as sober or as on topic as we are at the formal meeting! Everyone is welcome to attend any meeting whatever their views on ufology or the paranormal. Come along and relax in like-minded company. Check out the right hand column for the date of our next meeting and the map at the bottom of the page for directions.

The group is very active and holds regular skywatches throughout the year. We also travel to lots of exciting places and during 2009 we went looking for big cats in Devon, spent a long weekend camping in Rendlesham Forest studying the scene of the famous 1980 Incident, enjoyed a weekend down in crop circle country admiring the artistry of the circle making teams, camped for an overnight skywatch in the Peak District and, to cap it all, one fortunate member spent a month in a remote Californian forest searching for the legendary Bigfoot!

We can't wait for the summer!

Meanwhile, here's some photos from our 2009 Rendlesham Forest Expedition which took place down in darkest Suffolk.