Humberside Geologist no 8
published 1991
The Centenary Summer Programme introduced two new features to the Society's activities. The first of these was two visits to the Rifle Butts Quarry S.S.S.I. at Goodmanham near Market Weighton, to clean this important exposure. Members attending brought buckets, trowels and brushes to sweep up loose rock fragments, remove moss and plants starting to grow and generally keep this small quarry tidy. These spring and autumn visits will become a regular feature of the Society's future Summer Programmes, as part of the Society's informal "adoption agreement" with the Nature Conservancy Council and the owners, the Yorkshire Naturalists' Trust.
Members wishing to visit the quarry independently should obtain the permission of the warden (details from the Secretary). Groups of members and supervised school parties may visit the quarry also but they must not hammer the exposure or collect in situ fossils and if they do find fossils in loose material these should really be donated to a Museum.
The second new type of meeting introduced was special field meetings for beginners, and these were well attended. The first of these was the Family Day held at Hornsea in June, looking at erratic boulders from the Boulder Clay. The leader, Ron Harrison, was able to describe the origin of the Boulder Clay and point out the various erratics in a way which was readily understandable to those members and friends beginning to study geology. This meeting was made even more enjoyable as our packed lunches were supplemented by the wine provided by Felix Whitham and the last pieces of the Centenary Cake which Lynden Emery had brought with him. These additions to our lunch breaks will probably not become regular feature of our Summer Programme!
The second beginners' meeting was a morning walk around the City Centre and Old Town of Hull, led by Ron Harrison and Mike Horne, looking at the building stones and ornamental facing stones used in the City. The leaders pointed out the various fancy facings used on the shop fronts in Whitefriargate, searched for Shap Granite curb stones an led the mixed party into the Gents' Toilet beneath King Billy's Statue to have a close look at the polished crinoidal Carboniferous limestone used in the urinals!
The last of these special meetings was a short walk at North Ferriby when Lynden Emery led 22 member and friends to look at the Red Cliff. Mr. Emery explained that the sediments represented the deposits of an ice-blocked lake. Members also examined a peat bed exposed on the foreshore and erratic pebbles from the Boulder Clay.
In addition to these meetings there were the usual field excursions - the first being an April visit to a variety of chalk exposures, inland and on the coast to illustrate Richard Myerscough's A.G.M. lecture about Yorkshire Wolds Earthquakes. The party examined chalk which bad been faulted and tilted by the earthquakes and the meeting as video-recorded by Mr. Myerscough and assistants from his school. The resulting video was shown at the Centenary Symposium in June.
In May a few members visited Betton Farm Quarry at East Ayton, where Jurassic reef limestones are exposed. Members then joined up with the Yorkshire Geological Society for its 150th Anniversary Field Meeting, which was being led on that Sunday afternoon by Sheila Rogers. The party visited the Rotunda Museum at Scarborough and were shown the William Smith mural of the geology of the Yorkshire coast. Later at Hackness Hall there was a chance to view William Smith's map of the Hackness area and then visit the Hackness Quarries.
In June, the Society visited the Capper Pass smelting works at North Ferriby, where Dr. Richard Smith and his staff explained the processes used to smelt and refine metals there and then took the party on a tour of the works, which was followed by a buffet supper in the works Social Club.
No Summer Programme would be complete without a trip led by Felix Whitham, and 1988 was no exception. In July he led the Society on a visit to Filey Brigg, where the Hambledon Oolite, the Middle Calcareous Grit and the Malton Oolite were examined, and, as usual on Felix's field trips, many fossils were collected.
copyright Hull Geological Society 2021