Chairman’s Report for the session 2004-5

Presented at the Annual General Meeting on March 23rd 2005

At the risk of sounding annually repetitive, I have to report that 2004-5 was another very successful year for the Section. We had our problems but nothing that wasn’t overcome, and again we enjoyed excellent summer and winter programmes. Beginning the field programme in May we visited two sand and gravel quarries in Oxfordshire with Neville Hollingworth, where the worked deposits were underlain by Oxford Clay and older Jurassic beds. I recall that the pub at lunchtime was particularly enjoyable. Our weekend trip, this session to Builth Wells, was another great success and as ever when the time came to break up on the Sunday, much regret was felt – a sure sign of a good trip. On June 13th we visited Slip Inn Quarry near Dunton Bassett with Jan Zalasiewicz to inspect Wolstonian glacial related deposits, and also to observe auguring at first hand. In July we mixed a little archaeology and architecture with our geology on a trip to Northamptonshire with Diana Sutherland to view Jurassic building stones, from point of extraction to finished (and unfinished) buildings. At that point in the season I bowed out for a while and missed the rest of the programme, but was told that the trip to Blockley in August was well run and enjoyed by the party.

The Wolstonian outwash sands and gravels, and overlying till, at Slip Inn Quarry, Dunton Bassett, 13 June 2004 (photo Andrew Swift)

The evocative shell of the unfinished Lyveden New Bield, seen on our Northamptonshire excursion on July 11th 2004 (photo Andrew Swift)

A view of the lecture theatre in our new home for the winter lecture season - the Ken Edwards building. Taken during the Saturday School on March 5th 2005. (photo Andrew Swift)

As regards the winter programme, the big change for the Section in 2004-5 was our enforced departure from the Geology Department of Leicester University after eight happy years. At first sight that looked like a serious blow for the Section and I made strenuous efforts to reverse the university’s decision to remove us, but in the end we were obliged to decamp to the University’s Ken Edwards Building for our lecture programme as required by the university. And a very pleasant surprise that was, instead of it being a retrograde step I soon appreciated that the facilities there were excellent and indeed superior to those in the Geology Department. As the indoor programme proceeded we appreciated more and more that the move was not in any way detrimental to the Section but indeed the very opposite. We have come out on the other side of the problem with more independence and a stronger base than ever. Sadly I was still otherwise engaged for the beginning of the lecture season and missed the first three talks, but am pleased to report that Secretary Joanne Norris and Vice-Chairman Mark Evans filled the breach admirably. The talks as usual ranged all over the geological column and through several disciplines, from mantle plumes to the Pleistocene of the Midlands via American dinosaurs, the nature of caves, the geology of New Zealand, Carboniferous coal swamps, the problems of building stones, interaction of clay minerals and the earth’s crust, and the causes of mass extinctions. The standard throughout the indoor season was very high, and several talks ranked with the best we’ve heard, but undoubtedly the highlight of the season was the Saturday School on March 5th. After many years of niggling setbacks regarding our liaison with the Institute of Lifelong Learning, we finally severed ties with that institution and went it alone for the 2005 seminar. The university were happy for us to hold the meeting in our new home in the Ken Edwards Building and we booked a 250 seater lecture theatre. It was very much a plunge into the unknown but the efforts of the organising sub-committee led by Mark Purnell and Joanne Norris ensured that the day went (almost) like clockwork and was supported by over 100 participants. The talks on the theme of earth and life interactions were of a quality that few meetings, professional or otherwise, could match. It will indeed be difficult to live up to such a standard in 2006.

We enjoyed a first class Parent Body lecture in February and were fortunate to secure the services of the UK’s leading hominid researcher Professor Chris Stringer as speaker. I believe that again we broke attendance records for his excellent discourse on early hominids in Britain. The other two meetings which we base at the Museum were also very successful, and a healthy throng again supported the Member’s Evening in February. However, the Christmas Meeting on December 15th was not quite so well attended despite an excellent spread donated by members, and a diverting series of entertainments. I believe we will always struggle to attract a large audience to that meeting unless we move it to earlier in December.

Our newsletter Charnia ran to its normal three issues and contained many interesting articles and editorials, and I hope that the future will see it continuing to flourish and indeed evolve into an even better production. Our internet website www.charnia.org.uk continues to be the great undiscovered jewel in Section C’s crown. I believe it to be as good a website as any geological society in the country and much better than most. But for all its excellence and the dedication of webmaster Dennis McVey it seems to pass almost unremarked upon by members. The archive alone has assumed historical proportions and would reward anyone’s study, so I urge all of you with internet access to log in and enjoy!

In closing I must thank the officers and committee for their support and their efforts on behalf of the Section.

Andrew Swift