Chairman’s Report for the Session 2002-2003

2002–2003 was another very successful year for the Section which, encouragingly, saw a steady increase in membership numbers, which now stand at 137. The officers and committee showed their commitment to the cause by regular attendance at committee meetings and by willingly undertaking duties which have kept the wheels turning smoothly. Both winter and summer programmes ran very successfully, and the standards we are setting must be the envy of many other groups. We are proving that you don’t need a big bank balance or high subscriptions to manage an effective geological society. One of our greatest strengths is our friendliness and closeness, and that can take you a long way.

The summer programme saw us ranging the country as usual. In a departure from normal procedure, we began the season in mid-May with the weekend field trip, which was based in Lyme Regis for excursions to the Dorset Coast, led by myself. It was a marvellous weekend, and we saw more excellent geology in our other trips. The next one on June 23^rd saw us re-visiting one of our favourite haunts at Blockley Quarry, led by Mike Howe and Pete Blake. The evening excursion of July 24^th was rather unusual, and involved a geological ramble around Welford Road cemetery led by Helen Boynton, looking at the geology of the monumental masonry. This one attracted a large turnout and no-one was disappointed. On August 3^rd we visited another of our old haunts, Southam (Long Itchington) Quarry near Rugby, a locality which never disappoints, and on this occasion the visit attracted a recent record one day attendance of 27. I again led that one. In early September we had a special treat, when Roger Mason, who first reported Charnian fossils from Charnwood as a schoolboy in 1957, returned to Leicester from China to lead (with Helen Boynton) a commemorative field trip to the scenes of his world famous finds of 45 years earlier. This one was run in conjunction with the British Association Festival of Science week based at the University; the Section was fully involved and received much favourable comment. And finally, our last visit of the season was to Warwick Museum and Edge Hill Quarry with Jon Radley from the Warwickshire Museum, on a beautiful late September day.

Lyme Regis group at Eype Mouth

In the depths of Welford Road cemetery

The winter programme ran without a hitch although we had to do a double shuffle to get a speaker for the Parent Body talk on February 24^th, when we lost not one, but two, previously arranged speakers. In the end we were fortunate to get the services of Julian Andrews from the University of East Anglia, who gave us an excellent talk. Attendances at indoor meetings were very encouraging, and up yet again on previous years. The Saturday School made a very welcome return to the programme this year on March 1^st at Vaughan College, and the topic of hominids and climate proved extremely popular, with applicants for tickets being turned away after we’d sold the permitted 80+ tickets. The Christmas meeting was enjoyed by all, but perhaps the most satisfying event of the winter programme was a very popular Member’s Evening on February 12^th, when we got our best attendance for many years.

Other important landmarks during the year were the long-anticipated launch of the Section C website, Charnia, in December. Great credit must go to Dennis McVey for his exhaustive efforts in putting together a very impressive site. The e-mail circulation list continued to grow in size and importance and has now assumed a major role in the dissemination of information and reminders to members. My usual plea here – please let me know if you go online and then I can add you to the list. These days our newsletter Charnia is almost unrecognisable from its earlier photocopied incarnation, and is a credit to the Section – keep those articles coming!

Finally, I cannot close without mentioning two special occasions for the Section which occurred in this session. First, a happy one, which was the 80^th birthday on March 18^th of Bob King, our Life President, who was so influential in laying the foundations of the successful Section we have today. We wish Bob many more birthdays. The other was rather sadder for the Section, and that was the retirement of Doug Lazenbury from the Treasurer’s post he has occupied with distinction for over 10 years, a retirement which took effect at the AGM. Many thanks Doug!

Andrew Swift