Hull Geological Society
Hull Geological Society 135th Anniversary
Mike Horne’s memories
of some Hull Geological Society meetings
I think that the
first Hull Geological Society meeting I attended was a field trip to Melton
Bottoms Quarry led by Felix Whitham. It was a joint meeting with the Harker
Geological Society (for Hull University students) and it was muddy.
I joined the Hull Geological Society
in January 1979 and slowly started
attending meetings. Some of these stand out in my memory.
There was one indoor
meeting where there was a lecture about ‘tunnelling in ancient Rome’ where the
lecturer showed a lot of black and white projector slides. The guest speaker got
to the end of the 80 slide carrousel and there was a collective sigh of relief
from the audience, followed by a groan when he asked for the “next carousel
please”! The Secretary Ken Fenton gave a vote of thanks to the speaker in which
he said it was the best HGS lecture he had attended all Winter; he was being
honest because in reality he had missed the other five due to work commitments
teaching a biology night class!
I remember a field
trip to the Holderness Coast using public transport one autumn. There were just
two of, myself and Ken Fenton who led the trip. We travelled by train to
Bridlington Station and walked down the coast to Hornsea. Ken was an excellent
communicator and passed on his knowledge of the Quaternary geology. At the time
there was a nudist beach at Fraisthorpe and there were some nudists huddled
under the cliff slowly turning blue; we chose not to disturb them. At Hornsea we
went for a pint in a pub before catching the bus back to Hull.
Another field trip
was to Hawsker Bottoms. There is a very steep cliff there and the route down is
a zig-zag path better suited to mountain goats. Not many people or geologists go
there. Ken Fenton found a superb Ichthyosaur skull in a large block, it was too
good to leave for the sea to erode away. Lynden Emery had brought a large frame
rucksack, so we lashed the specimen to the frame of the rucksack and pushed him
back up the cliff. I do wonder what became of the specimen and assume that it is
now a treasured possession of Ken’s family.
My first indoor meeting as Secretary
to the Society will always stick in my mind [10th October 1985]. It
was a bit hectic. Sheila Rogers was President by could not stay for the meeting,
but had given Ken Fenton, then Vic President, a lift to the University. I set
out a display of rocks from my holiday in Jersey. I set up some polarising
microscopes for Roy Thackeray, who had been making thin sections of the Exeter
Volcanics, but he did not actually show up. I dropped my box of projector slides
and had to hurriedly rearrange them
before
I gave a talk. And I ducked out of reading the minutes by asking Ken to read
them for me. After the meeting, as I packed away the microscopes at the end of
the meeting, I noticed through the window some blue flashing lights outside.
Next morning I learnt that Ken had passed away in his sleep. He had been having
heart problems and had refused to get into the ambulance that had been called
for him.
One amazing meeting
was the Rock and Fossil Roadshow that we held in the Ferens Art Gallery. I just
loved the venue and the way that we were displaying the natural art of crystals
and fossils amongst the paintings and statues.
Then there was the
time that we invited Eric Robinson from the Geologists’ Association in London to
speak at an open meeting in the Grammar School Museum in Hull on a weekday
lunchtime. There were not many people in the audience and so, even though he had
never visited Hull before, Eric decided not to give his prepared lecture but to
go for an urban geology walk instead. After about an hour there were about 2
dozen afternoon shoppers following him around looking at the shop fronts and
buildings. Then the impromptu walk ended they were able to identify Ancaster
Stone because of its ‘streaky bacon’ texture.
I am so grateful to
the members of the Society who willingly share their expertise and enthusiasm
for our Science. In particular I benefited from the help of Lynden Emery who
introduced me to the Speeton Clay, Ken Fenton who shared his knowledge of the
Middle Jurassic plants of the Yorkshire coast and the Quaternary of the
Holderness coast, Felix Whitham with his attention to the detail of Chalk
stratigraphy and Ron Harrison’s enthusiasm for erratics and urban geology.
The Society has
changed a bit from my early days as a member; for instance we now have
PowerPoint rather than slide projectors and started to hold a “blended”
programme that includes online meetings which enable distant members to
participate in our meetings. It is still composed of a friendly bunch of
enthusiastic people with a common interest in rocks, fossils and minerals. Long
may it flourish!
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