Charnia Editorial - May 2007

From a distance it appears that little changes in the Section over time, but quietly and surreptitiously, it does. This year is a case in point, and for those of you who weren’t at the AGM on March 28^th, we sanctioned several key personnel changes in the Section’s administration. The process actually began last year, when, without fanfare as usual, we acquired a new Field Secretary in Helen Jones. And this year we have a new Chairman, new Secretary and new Publicity Officer, to go with that Field Secretary. Now comes the bit you possibly haven’t noticed – all of these posts are now held by women. This entirely welcome development created an unprecedented demographic for the administration of our venerable society, as far as I’m aware we have never had such a high representation of ladies, particularly in the most senior positions. And that’s not all, we already have a lady Treasurer in Eileen Johnson, and Margaret East serves on the committee! Of the newcomers, Dr Joanne Norris, who takes over the Chair, is well-known to all of us, having already worked most effectively for the Section in the roles of Treasurer, Secretary and Vice-Chairman, and her accession to the Chair is a fitting reward for her hard work. We welcome Fiona Barnaby to the Secretary’s position, and can expect her obvious capabilities and assurance to keep us moving forward. Kay Hawkins has ‘come up through the ranks’ from her beginnings as Student Representative to later serve on the committee, and we can be assured that the Publicity Officer’s role is in good hands. I’m looking forward to committee meetings possibly more than usual, the changes are a shot in the arm that can only benefit the Section.

One other change in the Section’s administration sees me at the helm of Charnia instead of Graham Stocks, and I cannot begin my tenure as Editor without paying tribute to Graham, who edited our newsletter since the early 90’s, and was the longest serving of our officers. Graham is a very busy man these days, and his skills are fully utilised in his chairmanship of the local CPRE, but we will not forget the erudite and perceptive editorials that illuminated the countless editions of Charnia that Graham oversaw. I hope that he will not be lost to us, and will be persuaded to contribute articles to Charnia in the future.

It may occur to some of you that the winter programme of lectures appears by some magical process, familiar only to the initiated. In truth, the choice (the easy bit) and securing (the hard bit) of speakers generally these days devolves to the Chairman with the assistance of the Secretary and to a lesser extent, the committee. However, finding good speakers is not an easy task, and we positively welcome recommendations from the membership. If you know of, or more pertinently, have listened to someone in the geological field who speaks well and has something interesting to say, we would be pleased to hear from you. Or you may feel that your pet aspect of earth science is being overlooked in the programme, if so, let us know.

The female ‘powerbase’ of the new administration. Fiona Barnaby, Margaret East, Joanne Norris, Kay Hawkins & Helen Jones. Inset: Eileen Johnson

It is not my intention to make Charnia the geological equivalent of Hot Rod News, but there are a few innovations I will introduce which hopefully will increase the newsletter’s appeal. For a start, the newsletter has a better quality look and feel, achieved by engaging new printers. Also, I will use illustrations wherever possible to brighten the pages, most will come from my own collection, but if you have any good shots of Section activities you’d like to see in print, let me know. Another new feature will be a letters page, column, or, paragraph, depending on how many of you have something to say. Please feel free to mail me, preferably via e-mail (however, there is still a letter box in my front door), on any topic pertinent to the Section or geology in general, but please keep your letters to the point and brief. Another is a series of articles on prominent members, and in this issue I could do no better than start with Dr Trevor Ford, without question the doyen of the Section, and a geologist of considerable stature. Trevor’s story is a fascinating one, I hope you enjoy it!

Andrew Swift