Humberside Geologist no 18
A History of the Hull Geological Society from 1984 to 2025
by Mike Horne FGS
Appendix 3.
Notes from HGS archives and minutes 2004-2013.
2004
A Microscopy Section was formed and planned to meet monthly at the University.
And the Society agreed at the AGM to support a Yorkshire Geology Month in May
2005 and at a later meeting the Society agreed to pay the organising expenses
for the YGM up to the sum of £20. The aim of YGM was and still is to put on
geological events for the public throughout Yorkshire.
Over the summer there was a landslip at Rifle Butts SSSI and an extra meeting
was arranged so that a work party could remove the fallen material.
The Committee invited members to join them for a glass of wine and piece of cake
at the end of the December meeting after Paul Hildreth had given a talk entitled
“The Confessions of a Chalkoholic”.
New members included Patty McAlpin, Kelly Wang, Tony Barker and Geoff
Featherstone all from Hull, John Prescott of Immingham and Harry Hutchinson of
Norton. Pete Rawson was elected as an honorary member. The new member on the
Committee was Colin Clark. Richard Myerscough and Matt Stephens resigned from
the Committee. Donald Beveridge died in March.
2005
The Brynmor Jones Library was disposing of more runs of geological journals,
including many palaeontological ones.
Humberside Geologist
number 14 was published and numbers 1 to 9 had been scanned and proof read for
publication on the website.
Matt Stephens had left Hull Museums in 2004 and the role of Assistant Keeper of
Natural History had been “deleted”. The geological collection at the museum was
now being managed by an archaeologist.
Yorkshire Geology Month was quite successful: it was supported by 65 groups and
41 events took place, 10 of which were organised by the Society and were
attended by about 550 visitors. The HGS agreed to support Yorkshire Geology
Month in 2006.
There was a research visit to record and sample the Speeton Shell Bed with the
permission of Natural England arranged by Prof Alan Lord.
The joint meeting with the YGS was “Open Questions in East Yorkshire Geology”
trying to answer the questions posed by G W Lamplugh 100 years earlier. The
Secretary recorded the talks and these were issued with the abstracts &c. as
Humberside Geologist Special Publication
number 1 on CD-ROM
New members included Brian Kneller of Haxey, David Mulliner of Bridlington,
David Forth of Hornsea, Nigel Hutchings of Molescroft and Lynda Yorke of Hull
University.The new member on the Committee was Derek Gobbett. Mr A F Clapham of
Lincoln and Matt Stephens, who had moved to Cleethorpes, resigned from the
Society and Hilary Dixon of Withernsea sent her best wishes to the Society
because she had given up driving and could no longer attend meetings.
The Society was also sending representatives to some other groups – this year
they were Derek Gobbett to the Ryedale Vernacular Building Stones Group, Barrie
Heaton to the Humber Business Link Organisations and the East Yorkshire Natural
Environment Trust Group and Ian Heppenstall and Nigel Whittington to the Humber
Management Scheme Advisory Board.
2006.
Nigel Whittington had spotted a fossil dealer plagiarising an article from
Humberside Geologist in an advert.
When contacted the dealer apologised and sent a donation to the Society. As a
result a copyright statement was added to our website to clarify what we
considered to be fair use of our intellectual property.
East Yorkshire museums contacted the Society about the new museum, library and
archives in Beverley to be called the Treasure House. The Society agreed to
provide specimens for a regular temporary geological displays, develop its
geological collection and help with public events. Seven members of the HGS
helped Stefan Ramsden collect some large erratics for the display from Hornsea
and Mappleton. Mike Horne was the scientific advisor for the permanent
geological exhibit, working with local botanical artist Nikki Abramson and a
designer. [The map they created is now in room 041 of the Cohen Building at the
University, where the HGS holds its indoor meetings.]
Humberside Geologist
number 14 was printed and it was also made available as a CD-ROM with additional
material. It again was sponsored by Singleton Birch. Paul Richards and Mike
Horne also produced a CD-ROM containing all back numbers. Lynden Emery had
recorded the lectures from the Centenary meeting and these were also converted
to a digital format and made available on CD-ROM as
Special Publication Number 2.
The Society donated £25 from the Conservation Fund to the East Yorkshire RIGS
Group towards the running costs following a request from its Treasurer Tony
Hibbert. The Society co-operated with Prof Peter Scott of the Cambourne School
of Mines on the “Geovalue Project” by visiting seven local sites and writing
reports of them for the Geovalue handbook (Scott
et al. 2007). Peter Scott gave a
lecture to the Society and the East Yorkshire RIGS Group about the project on
18th May.
There were 58 events for Yorkshire Geology Month 2006, seven of which involved
the HGS which had been attended by about 200 members and visitors.
The ink cartridge recycling company went out of business and the cheque they had
sent the Society bounced.
The joint meeting with the YGS was dedicated to the late John Neale and the HGS
organised a microfossils workshop for the Saturday morning. Patti Neale donated
some of John Neale’s books to the HGS Library.
Barrie Heaton and Paul Hildreth recorded the geology of a pipeline trench that
was being dug through the Yorkshire Wolds. Members of the Society helped the
Friends of the Humber Bridge Country Park clean one of the faces of the former
quarry and the Ranger added geoconservation to the site management plan.
New members included Keith Britton of Barnsley, John Catt of St Albans, Paul
Hardy of Brough, Noel Rudsdale of Hull, Barbara and Dennis Haughey of
Cottingham, David Baker of Withernsea, Brenda and Jack Almond of Leeds and
Withernsea, and Peter Clisby of Cottingham. Pattie McAlpin was the new member on
the Committee. Don Berry resigned from the Society.
2007
At the request of the Geological Society in London to celebrate their 200th
Anniversary the joint meeting with the YGS was about ‘Local Heroes’ and we chose
to concentrate on the Quaternary Geology of Yorkshire. The indoor meeting was
followed by a field trip led by John Catt. Mike Horne handed over the organising
of Yorkshire Geology Month to the North East Yorkshire Geology Trust.
It was agreed that the website should be moved from the free hosting to create a
more professional advert free site. It was agreed that the website editor should
have a budget to pay for the web hosting and domain name.
Half of the stock of the Society’s publications got destroyed in the flooding of
25th June. GeoSupplies replaced the copies of
Down to Earth free of charge and the
Society received a grant from the Humber and Wolds Rural Community Council to
pay for the reprinting of Humberside
Geologist no 15.
New members included Pam Hopkins of Beverley, the Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust
RIGS Team, Tracy Marsters of Hull, Ros Perry of South Cave, Rod Towse of
Beverley, Helen Kitson of Beverley, Ian and Nina Scott of Walkington and Stephen
Lee of Hull. Nigel Whittington, Derek Gobbett and Felix Whitham retired from the
Committee. The new member of the Committee was Geoff Featherstone. David Baker
became the Website Editor and Chris Blackhurst the Publicity Officer.
2008
The Committee was discussing how to improve the Risk assessment forms and agreed
to merge it with the one Mike Horne had used for the Yorkshire Geology Month.
There was a workshop on planning and leading field trips; the outcomes were
later published on our website.
There had been some vandalism at Rifle Butts by a geologist who had been digging
along the line of the Unconformity.
The theme for the joint meeting with the YGS had to be changed eight weeks
before the date from Petroleum Geology of the North Sea to the Geology of
Lincolnshire and Paul Hildreth found four speakers at short notice. Mike Horne
gave a talk about the February 2008 earthquake and June 2007 floods at the
December meeting, when the original speaker cancelled.
New members included Mary Barton of Grantham, Rodger Connell of Driffield and
Sonja Boehmer-Christenson of Hull. Tony Baker was the new member of the
Committee and Stuart Jones became the President. The deaths of Tony Hibbert and
Lynden Emery were noted.
2009
The geological boat trip from North Landing organised by Stuart Jones was
postponed twice due to bad weather and rough seas before taking place in August.
Ann Emery attended the Lynden Emery memorial meeting which was introduced by
Mike Horne and the main lecture was by Pete Rawson.
In October members signed a framed photograph of the contorted Chalk at Old Dor
on Flamborough Head from our boat trip to be presented to Felix Whitham to mark
his 90th birthday at a special dinner with the Officers planned for
November. Sadly Felix had become unwell and passed away on 21st
November and the HGS President presented the photograph to Felix’s daughter
Maggie Evans at the funeral. Mike Horne gave a short talk about Felix at the
Members’ Evening in December.
New members included Susan Kirkwood of Hull, Kathryn Turrell of Driffield,
Philip Vixsebroxse of Walkington and Bethan Davies of Durham. Patty McAlpin
resigned from the Committee and the new Committee member was Rod Towse. Dick
Middleton resigned as the University Representative on the Committee and was
replaced by Mike Rogerson.
2010
Mike Horne was liaising with the Treasure House over a protocol for temporary
displays and an acquisitions policy that included categorising the significance
of specimens. The Yorkshire Geological Society was organising Yorkshire Geology
Month.
Significant amounts of the Red Chalk had been removed from Rifle Butts SSSI by a
geologist ignoring the “no collecting” sign. At a later site meeting evidence of
recent hammering was observed. It was suggested that putting netting over the
exposure would stop the geo-vandalism. Other repair work was required to the
shelter and that was reported to the owners. HGS members repainted the notice
board stand.
Some members of the Society visited the Cohen Building to clean and catalogue
the specimens in the Lewis Penny Collection.
A series of meetings were held as a tribute to the late Felix Whitham; these
were a geology walk in the Kiplingcotes area, and field trips to Filey, South
Landing and the Hildenley Quarries. Terry Rockett was helping the family with
the collection which was mostly donated to the British Geological Survey in
Keyworth. Some of Felix’s duplicate fossils were sold at meetings and raised
£280 for Alzheimer’s research at the University of Hull Medical School. Felix’s
family wished to have a medal cast to be offered as a prize to members of the
HGS.
The East Riding County Council introduced a ‘marine no take zone’ at Flamborough
Head between Danes Dyke and Sewerby Steps, the Secretary received clarification
that it did not apply to geological specimens on the beach unless there was
marine life attached (such as barnacles).
New members included Don Bruce of Beverley, Paul Thornton of Great Hatfield and
David Campbell of Market Weighton.
The new member on the Committee was Nina Scott. Chris Blackhurst retired as
Publicity Officer and was replaced by Paul Richards, Barrie Heaton retired as
Treasurer and was replaced by Ian Scott and Gordon Binns resigned from the
Committee. Honorary member Willy Wright died in February; he and his brother Ted
joined the HGS in the 1930s. Eric Chicken passed away; Eric joined the Society
in 1968.
2011
The Centre for Lifelong Learning at the University of Hull closed its library
and geology books were made available at the joint meeting with the YGS in
October which raised £68 in donations for the HGS funds.
New members included Janet Harrison of Driffield, Anna Kirk-Smith of
Bridlington, Brian May of Watton and Robin and Diane Arundale of Driffield.
Rodger Connell was the new member of the Committee. Sheila Rogers and Don
Agerskow resigned from the Society. Local historian Chris Ketchell who
collaborated with the Society on some Cemetery walks passed away in February.
George de Boer passed away in July; George had joined the Society in 1945.
2012
Ian Scott, the Treasurer, moved to Nottinghamshire and Rod Towse agreed to be
Assistant Treasurer to receive subscription payments at our meetings.
The Society contributed to a three day conference at the University on
“Sedimentary Process and Product” by leading field trip on the Sunday to
Barmston, South Landing and Danes Dyke.
The Secretary conveyed the Society’s congratulations to the YGS for their 175th
Anniversary at their Annual Dinner in Wakefield.
The Centre for Life Long Learning at the University of Hull closed at the end of
July and the part-time tutors were made redundant. The Society started to plan
the introduction of Club Nights to the Programme of meetings.
Plans were made for the Felix Whitham Memorial Medal. The Secretary sent a
design for the ‘tails’ side based on Thomas Sheppard’s 1938 medal to Maggie and
Trevor Evans. The medal was to be awarded for new contribution to research or
public understanding of local geology; it was not to be a long service award for
Committee members.
New members included Carol Williamson of Bridlington, Kristian Saether of Hull,
William Woodall of Louth, Graham Kings of Kirkella. John Whittle of Kirkella,
and John Green of Grimsby. Ros Perry was the new member of the Committee.
2013
The first Club Night was held on 9th April and the theme was
“ammonites”. The evenings were described in the Programme as “a sort of book
group with geological specimens”. They were intended to be less formal the
Members’ Evenings.
The netting at Rifle Butts had not been installed correctly to the
specifications at Rifle Butts by the contractors and they had moved the site
information notice board to a new position outside the shelter without
permission, exposing it to the elements and damaging the scientific integrity of
the floor of the SSSI. The Society brought this to the attention of the site
owners.
Ken Dorning of the Sorby Natural History Society and YGS organised Yorkshire
Geology Month and the HGS contributed three events.
The Society celebrated its 125th Anniversary on June 1st at the
University, with nine lectures and 14 displays by Society members. The meetings
was attended by 42 members and guests. Maggie Evans presented Stuart Jones with
the first Felix Whitham Memorial Medal for his contributions to Roadshows.
This was followed by a Dinner in Staff House organised by Rod Towse. Tony
Benfield was the toastmaster at the Dinner which was attended by 32 members and
guests.
New members included Brian Williams of Hull, Alan Mills of Hedon, Bryony Booth of Hull, John Upton of Hedon and Barry Barnes of Guisborough. Ron and Jean Harrison who joined the Society in 1967 were elected as Honorary Members. Ian Heppenstall was the new member of the Committee. Sue Wardell died on Christmas Eve, her partner later donated her books and collection to the Society, the books were added to the Library and the duplicates and specimens offered to members or sold at events raising £80 for funds.
copyright Hull Geological Society 2026