Chairman’s Report for 2003-4, given to the AGM on March 24th 2004

2003-4 was another excellent year for the Section. Both summer and winter programmes proved very successful, and we were blessed with some lovely weather while in the great outdoors. The highlight of the summer programme was undoubtedly the weekend excursion to Suffolk, based in the pleasant town of Woodbridge. We were there over midsummer’s day, and enjoyed quintessentially English weather and landscape, and excellent Tertiary geology. The attendance broke our existing record for a field trip in recent years, at over 30. The newly instigated society meal on the Saturday evening proved very popular, and looks like it may become a regular event on the weekend trip. Our day trips to the Sedgwick Museum, the Triassic rocks of Nottingham, Bradley Fen Quarry and its Oxford Clay, and the Jurassic of Tilton and Holwell also went extremely well, and were well supported in the main, but we could always stand a few extra participants. Many thanks to all the leaders associated with those trips, and to Dennis Gamble for his organisation.

Sunshine and shade in the depths of Tilton Railway Cutting

The winter programme was equally successful, but everything was not without incident, as we were obliged to find a replacement speaker at the last moment on November 19th (many thanks to Section member John Dickinson for stepping into the breach), and the meeting of January 28th very nearly succumbed to the freezing snowy weather on that day. Full marks to Diana Sutherland for battling through to speak to us, and also to the 12 hardy souls who equally bravely managed to get there to form the audience. The greatest shame was that Diana’s excellent talk on the building stones of Northamptonshire was heard by such a small gathering, and we are taking steps to remedy that. Probably the coup of the season was persuading Professor Simon Conway-Morris to travel up from Cambridge to address us. Simon is without doubt one of the highest profile geologists in the country, and is always splendid value for money with his innovative, stimulating and progressive ideas. Fittingly, his talk attracted our highest attendance of the season, 61.

On other nights Jane Francis gave us a splendid virtual excursion to Antarctica, we went mammoth hunting with Neville Hollingworth, grappled with the complexities of orbital forcing with Graham Weedon, revisited East Anglian geology with Jan Zalasiewicz, travelled with Murchison to Russia led by Michael Collie, experienced the difficulties of hominids trying to cope with a world changing around them with Mark Maslin and finally came to rest much nearer home at the AGM with an armchair visit to Southam (Long Itchington) Quarry, one of our local geological highlights.

Section C at Southam (Long Itchington) Quarry, summer 1993

Jane Evans from the British Geological Survey was a splendid speaker for the Parent Body lecture in January and demonstrated convincingly just why isotopes can tell us so much about the life of the past. Vice-chairman Mark Evans took on the onerous task of organising this year’s Saturday School at Vaughan College, and was rewarded by a first class day of very well delivered talks on the subject of Mesozoic swimming and flying reptiles. The Christmas meeting in the Museum was as enjoyable as ever, but sadly, was not quite as well supported as we’d hoped. Perhaps this new season when the date will fall a little further away from Christmas, the meeting will get the attendance it deserves. In contrast, the Member’s Evening in February was well attended and engendered its usual relaxed and friendly atmosphere.

As for your committee, they have all worked hard for the Section’s benefit, but I must single out Joanne Norris for special mention, for as well as continuing her excellent job as Secretary, she also took on the exacting role of Treasurer when it was clear we could not find a replacement for Doug Lazenbury. I think that the fact that hardly anyone commented on the change or noticed what had happened, is a true testament to how well she coped. We now welcome Eileen Johnson as our new treasurer, and wish her all the best in her key role in the Section. Dennis McVey has diligently kept our excellent website updated. Please log on as often as you can (charnia.org.uk), as this may help the search engines prioritise us in searches. We are sad to lose the services of Paul Monk as Publicity Officer, and thank Paul for keeping the events of the Section in the public eye. His successor, Mark Purnell, has wide experience of promotional strategies and should prove an invaluable addition to the officers. Finally we welcome Helen Jones onto the committee for the first time.

Member’s Evening at the New Walk Museum, 12.2.03

I must close on a more serious note, for it has been decreed that we will have to quit the Geology Department for the start of the new winter season in October. We have enjoyed 8 happy years there, but the University is enforcing it’s policy of centralising the meetings of groups around the campus in the Ken Edwards Building, and will no longer provide free portering for other venues. Thus, the Section would have to pay for porters in the Bennett Building, an expense that is beyond our means. The university is not in favour of ‘self-portering’ and it is unreasonable and unwise for us collectively or as individuals to take on responsibility for the security of the building and personal safety. The good news is that the KEB is an excellent venue, is located very close to the Geology Dept, and would be free. I will keep you posted on developments.

Andrew Swift