Hull Geological Society

 Secretary's Annual Report for 2010-2011

Hello All,

It is time for the Annual General Meeting again and time to look back over the last twelve months.

 Simply looking at the records I have can produce some interesting statistics that show that the Society is looking very healthy and active:-

 Our membership stands at 112 members; including three institutional members; four honorary members and ten new members who joined during the year. This is much the same as last year.

 We have held a large number of field meetings - four as a tribute to the late Felix Whitham, two for Yorkshire Geology Month, three Quaternary research meetings, two Roadshows, one workshop, two other field meetings and our annual spring clean of Rifle Butts SSSI. In addition we had a meeting to catalogue the Lewis Penny Collection at the University and another to plan the publication of the Quaternary research. We held our annual joint meeting with the YGS and Geography Department on "New techniques in Geology", at which members displayed specimens and contributed the refreshments. We have had five lectures in our Winter Programme, including three from members of the Society and two in memory of Felix Whitham. We have also had a display of Chalk Fossils at the Treasure House (due to be replaced soon).

 We had to cancel one workshop and research meeting due to lack of interest, one field trip because the leader was ill and one lecture due to bad weather.

 Those statistics in themselves I think show that membership of the Society gives good value for our low subscription rates! But, that is not the full story. It does not really show the amount of voluntary work that members put into the Society to make it run so smoothly and make our meetings so enjoyable. So on behalf of the members I thank all our speakers, organisers and field trip leaders for their efforts. We all thank Stuart for his three-year Presidency of the Society, which ends at the AGM with his "Presidential Address". We also thank Ian Scott for his work as Treasurer and for Barrie for ensuring that the role has been passed on to Ian in a thorough and professional way. The Society is also grateful of the continued hospitality of the Geography Department and the help of the staff. Thank you to all members who have donated to the Society's funds - your generosity helps us fulfil our charitable aims.

 I was pleased that so many members came to the Felix Whitham Memorial Lecture; it was especially pleasing that members of Felix's family attended and that Patrick Boylan was able to attend too. Terry Rockett has spent a lot of time and effort raising funds for Alzheimer's research by selling Felix's duplicate fossils and some books.

  If I have forgotten to thank somebody I do apologise, it is not intentional! I have enjoyed the last year and hope that you did too!

 The AGM is also an opportunity to look ahead. We already have four events planned for Yorkshire Geology Month 2011 and the Summer Programme is taking shape. I hope that we can have a paper about our Flamborough Quaternary research project ready for publication this year. The Committee has some ideas for the Winter Programme - but we really would welcome some more suggestions.

 Looking further ahead there is the 125th Anniversary of the Society in June 2013. I know that it seems to be a long way ahead - but if we want to make it a special occasion we need to start planning now so that we can invite colleagues from other Societies. Rod Towse has done a lot of work on this project already and will be contacting members about the plans soon.

 Many thanks and best wishes,

Mike Horne FGS

Copyright - Hull Geological Society 2023

Registered Educational Charity No. 229147

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