Christmas Meeting at New Walk Museum December 17^th 2008 (photo Joanne Norris)

Members at the Christmas Meeting

The Christmas Meeting is a long-established tradition in our Winter Programme, and offers the only occasion when members can meet in a convivial social environment, where having fun is more important than listening to, and being informed by, a lecture. In fact it’s the only one where formal talking plays no part, and as ever, the attenders this year enjoyed a lively and stimulating evening. We are indeed fortunate, and must never take for granted, that we enjoy our festivities in the Dinosaur Gallery at New Walk Museum. When we’re in there at Christmas I am always reminded of that famous picture of a dinner party taking place within Benjamin Hawkin’s model of an Iguanodon at the Crystal Palace on New Year’s Eve 1853. We don’t quite seat ourselves inside the Cetiosaurus, but he/she is very close and watches over us solicitously. The New Walk Museum is a very good place to feel Victorian, especially for Geology Section members, as the museum is our birthplace.

This year as well as the customary goodies brought along by members for the buffet, we enjoyed a data presentation celebrating a decade since the re-introduction of the weekend field excursion, and also a quiz where members were invited to identify 25 famous/leading geologists from their photographs. Ron Johnson and Dennis Gamble brought along some highlights from their extensive collections, Ron with minerals and Dennis with examples from his cephalopod collection.

Andrew Swift