Appendix 4.

Notes from HGS archives and minutes 2014-2025.

2014

Yorkshire Geology Month was organised by Paul Hildreth for the Yorkshire Geological Society and the Hull Geological Society contributed four events. David Hill became the HGS representative on the newly formed YGS geo-conservation sub-committee.

The annual main Committee meeting was held at the University rather than the Secretary’s house, this has continued in subsequent years.

The Yorkshire Wildlife Trust had installed fencing at Rifle Butts SSSI so that they could graze sheep at the site and there was a second kissing gate now near the exposure but this impeded access to the geological exposure for HGS conservation work parties. Stuart Jones was asked to carry out alterations to the new gate and fencing and buy materials to do remedial work on the netting that had been incorrectly installed the previous year, using money from the Conservation Fund. Members carried out the work on two Saturdays in April. The Society donated £130 from the Conservation Fund and members contributed 85 hours of voluntary labour to the repair work. A partnership agreement between the YWT and HGS was drawn up detailing their geoconservation responsibilities for the site.

There was a Geology and Art joint meeting with the YGS at Hull College organised by David Hill, Mike Horne and Anna Kirk-Smith, and the Society donated prizes for the photographic competition. Associated with the symposium, there was an art exhibition in the Studio Eleven art gallery in Humber Street based on a collaboration between four HGS members, a poet who had already collaborated with some members of the Society (Michael McKimm 2013) and five local artists, a publication entitled “On the Endless Here” (Kirk-Smith & Ray 2014) and a social media page featuring works inspired by the geology of Flamborough Head,

Mike Horne proposed that there should be a Chalk Symposium in 2015 to try to resolve problems with the biostratigraphy that he had identified in his HGS 125^th Anniversary lecture; the Committee agreed to support this.

A new research group was formed (The Bisat Project) to record  and photograph the cliffs of the Holderness coast from Spurn to Sewerby which could be compared with W S  Bisat’s paper (Catt & Madgett 1981) after some 60 years of coastal erosion. Graham Kings was (and still is) the project co-ordinator. The group held planning meetings and field trips throughout the year including a trip to BGS in Keyworth to view archive materials held there. Patrick Boylan presented a lecture about W S Bisat and his survey of the coast in the 1930s and 1950s.

Concerns were raised that the website was not being kept up to date – the list of meetings was still for 2012 and the list of Officers was from 2007, it was felt that viewers might think that the HGS was no longer functioning. The Website Editor had not been in contact with the Society for over a year. Ownership of the website was in the name of the Editor not the Society. Stuart Jones obtained a quotation for a professional redesign of the website. It was agreed that if the Website Editor had not provided the Society with the site password before the AGM we should create a new site.

Humberside Geologist number 15 was published.

New members included Malcolm Fry of Gainsborough and Rob Gill of South Ormsby. Paul Richards resigned as Publicity Officer and Ian Scott stepped down as Treasurer. Rod Towse was elected as Treasurer and joint Publicity Officer and Mike Horne became the Website Editor. Anna Kirk-Smith was the new member of the Committee. Gordon Ostler passed away.

2015

The University of Hull launched a Special Degree in Geology recreating the Geology Department.

Someone in America had stolen David Baker’s fossil identification webpages and was selling it on I-Tunes.  Apple told the Society that they were not responsible for what vendors sell using their App and the vendor said he could not pay our copyright fee because he had just filed for bankruptcy. The Secretary told the Committee that he was making the copyright statement more prominent on the Society’s new website and marking the published images with the HGS name.

The three day Chalk Symposium included contributions from Mike Horne, Paul Hildreth and John Green. 41 delegates attended the symposium including 19 from the HGS. Mike led a field trip to Flamborough on the Sunday.

New members included Andrew Jones of Flamborough, Angela Hodgeson of Beverley, Lewis Rose of Hornsea and John Chapman of Melbourne near York. Ian and Nina Scott stood down from the Committee. Jack and Brenda Almond were the new members of the Committee. Ian Heppenstall was the recipient of the Felix Whitham Memorial Medal for his contributions to the Flamborough Quaternary Research Group.  Patty McAlpin resigned from the Society.

2016.

The Officers met to discuss the Society’s rules which were thought to be out of date – for instance they mentioned the Ministry of Education and instructed the Treasurer to invest in shares that returned 4% per year. A rule change was agreed at the AGM to reflect current practice and allow for future changes to the Charities Act.

The Committee agreed that there should be a clear separation between the peer reviewed articles of Humberside Geologist and the rest of the website. They also agreed that Mike Horne could republish his adult education course notes on the website, along with incomplete observations and reports of the HGS research projects. The publishing of Humberside Geologist on CDROM was discontinued, but articles would be published on the website as soon as they had been approved by the editors.

The Secretary unsuccessfully applied for a grant from City of Culture 2017 to publish a booklet about the building stones and architecture of Hull.

The first Quiz Night was held in December as a variation on the Club Night. Members were asked to bring 5 specimens, images or questions to the meeting and there were some seasonal festive refreshments. Cheating was allowed and there were prizes.

New members included Susan Lee of Doncaster, Mick Oates of Barrow on Humber and Arthur Speed of Kirkella.  Alan Mills was the new member of the Committee. The death of Derek Gobbet in November was noted.

2017

Ron Harrison donated his collection to the Society when he entered a care home and sold his house. The Society arranged for Ron‘s collection of bricks and tiles to be donated to Hornsea Museum and Stuart wrote a booklet about the collection. Ron’s books were added to the Society’s Library and some of his geological collection was added to the Lewis Penny Collection at Hull University.

Generic Risk Assessments and other HGS policies had been added to the members’ section of the website.

Due to falling attendance, the Committee agree to stop the Microscopy Evenings and the small cash fund from donations towards the running costs was donated to the HGS general funds.

The East Yorkshire RIGS Group disbanded in 2016 and the HGS agreed to a merger at the AGM. The EYRIGS Group funds were donated to the HGS Conservation Fund and the HGS affiliated to UKRIGS. The Chair of the Group, David Hill, became the HGS RIGS Officer.

Margaret Gobbett donated Derek’s books to the HGS Library and gave permission for his unfinished works about local geology to be published on our website.

New members included Susannah Voke of Molescroft, Elayne and Peter Carpenter of Halsham, Alice Howard and family of Grimsby and Ian Caldwell of Beverley. Tracy Marsters was the new Committee member. Jack and Brenda Almond were the recipients of the Felix Whitham Memorial Medal for their displays at Roadshows. Kenneth Phipps resigned from the Society.

2018

The Data Protection and Safety Policies were updated at the AGM.

Paul Hildreth organised Yorkshire Geology Month and the Society contributed two events. There were Roadshows at Flamborough Village Hall and Hornsea Museum. The Society also contributed to the Yorkshire Fossil Festival held at Hull University.

New members included Cindy Elliot of Kilnsea, Graham Blackmore of Scarborough and Noel Barron of Hull. Mavis May was elected as an Honorary Member. Janet Robson was the new Committee member. The death of Ron Harrison was noted.

2019

There was a new temporary exposure of the Bridlington Crag and Basement Till near the harbour at Bridlington exposed after some storms in 2018. The Society visited the exposure. Fred Nixon of the Harker Geological Society planned to write a report about it for Humberside Geologist based on his undergraduate dissertation.

There were Roadshows at Flamborough Village Hall, Hornsea Museum and the Market House in Driffield.

At the December meeting there was a talk by Graham Kings and Rodger Connell about the progress with the Bisat Project. The research group had taken 1500 photographs of the Holderness cliffs and they told the meeting about the future plans for the project.

New members included Phil Entwistle of Beverley, Peter Crombie of Hedon, Andy Day of Cherry Burton, Graham Evans of Hull, Christine Turley of Preston and Ben and Helen Alexander of Hull. Elayne Carpenter was the new member of the Committee. The Felix Whitham Memorial Medal was presented to Lewis Rose for his curating and displays at Hornsea Museum. The death of Ian Heppenstall was recorded.

2020

The UK went into lockdowns and restrictions due to the Covid epidemic just after the AGM. Indoor meetings and Roadshows had to be cancelled. The University was shut down and teaching went online. Some field meetings took place with the number of people attendance being restricted and social distancing observed. In all eleven events were cancelled plus all in-person Club Nights between March and November Three extra field meetings were added but attendance was restricted to six people. Members were encouraged to receive Society correspondence by e-mail. The Society introduced social media Club Nights for members to share images and comments. Video conferencing replaced in-person meetings for lectures and informal evenings. Committee business was conducted by e-mail and telephone. The Committee decided that the Society should wait until the University re-opened before arranging the Programme for the rest of the year and that annual subscriptions would be waived for 2020-2021. Key computer documents were shared by the Officers on a cloud, just in case they became seriously ill. New pro-forma risk assessments were written for meetings held during the pandemic and the Data Protection Policy was amended slightly to allow the sharing of personal data with the emergency services for contact tracing.

A series of geological “I spy” photo sharing meetings was started in April with the letter A and this continued through the alphabet to Z in September 2024, and a list of the images was also published on the website.

New members included Anne Oey of Hull and Owen Booker of Market Weighton. The new member of the Committee was Arthur Speed.  Mike Rogerson resigned as the Hull University representative on the Committee and was replaced by Dave Bond.

2021

The Covid restrictions continued. The indoor lectures and Club Nights were cancelled from January to March. The Annual General Meeting was held by postal and e-mail ballot to elect the new Officers and Committee as specified in the HGS Rules. The Society authorised the Secretary to restart meetings once restrictions were lifted and Stuart Jones was given a budget for room hire for a Roadshow. As members were no longer collecting printed copies of Humberside Geologist the Secretary was authorised to reduce the stock held at his home. Ten new papers had been published on the Humberside Geologist website and past papers from the Transactions of the Hull Geological Society had also been added to the website, after scanning and proof reading by Mike Horne and Jan Silva.

As the restrictions eased the postponed New Year Picnic was held in August and Yorkshire Geology Month took place in October rather than the normal month of May. There was a members only visit to the Dinostar museum in Humber Street.

In July the Secretary wished to stand down for a year, but no other Committee member volunteered to temporarily take over the role. The post of Membership Secretary was created and Peter Carpenter was co-opted into the role. The Committee agreed that subscriptions should be waived for 2021-2022, but donations were encouraged and the Treasurer said he preferred to receive them by bank transfer rather than cheques.

Arthur Speed sent a questionnaire to members in September to enquire about their wishes for the future direction of the Society after Covid and compiled the results for the Committee. A precis version was published on the website.

GeoSupplies were no longer offering a bulk mailing of the printed Down to Earth magazine and the HGS Committee agreed to subscribe to a digital version that would be forwarded to members who wished to receive it.

New members included Stefan Ramsden and Jan Silva. Peter Carpenter was the new Committee member. Rodger Connell resigned as Vice-President. The Felix Whitham Memorial Medal was awarded to Graham Kings, the convenor of the Bisat Research Group.

2022

Indoor lecture meetings restarted in February with a talk by Bryony Caswell of Hull University. Generally meetings at the University had to begin earlier in the evening because of changes to the access to the building outside normal working hours. The Committee did not wish to use a different venue.

David Hill sold back copies of Humberside Geologist at the Yorkshire Geology Day event at Caphouse Colliery and Mike Horne led a Cemetery walk for Yorkshire Geology Month.

The Society co-hosted the Geologists’ Association Annual Conference at the University in September contributing talks, walks and displays.

Organising the Winter meetings was difficult because the Secretary had been seriously ill since October 2021 and at times he had to self-isolate.  The Winter Programme was suspended by the Committee until the Secretary had recovered. Ten meetings were held online from September until February 2023. John Connor was a regular contributor to the Zoom meetings from California.

New members included Jim Whittaker of Keyingham, Antony Walker of Nafferton, John Waring of the North East Geological Society and Keith Whittle of Hornsea. Stephen Holding, Owen Booker and Jan and Ted Robson resigned from the Society. Mary Howard was the new Committee member and Rodger Connell resigned from the Committee. The death of Mavis May was noted.

2023

Indoor meetings at the University resumed in February with a Club Night on Sedimentary Rocks. At the AGM the members stated that they preferred the indoor meeting to continue to be held at the University on a Thursday evening.

At the April meeting Paul Hildreth presented the Moore Medal of the Yorkshire Geological Society to Mike Horne for “services to the geology of the north of England”. Mike had been unable to attend the YGS AGM in December 2022 for the medal presentation because of ill health. Paul then presented a talk about “the Geology and Birds of Flamborough Head”.

The Gift Aid form used by the Society was updated and members were asked to complete the new form if they wished to continue to Gift Aid their subscriptions and donations.

Four 135^th Anniversary events were held in August: an online talk about East Yorkshire Geology, field trips to Keyingham and Mappleton and a Club Night about memories of previous HGS meetings. Reports of these meetings were published on the website.

The Roadshow at Hornsea Museum was organised by Brenda and Jack Almond because Stuart Jones was ill. It was likely that the Society would have to remove the Society’s Library and other items from Stuart’s house if the room used for the library needed to be cleared. The Committee drew up contingency plans.

New members included Paul Thornton of Withernsea, Karen Philbin of Milton Keynes, Lorraine Behrens of Holmpton, Bente Louden of Preston in Lancashire, Jan and Ted Robson of Driffield and Rosie Barwell and family of Scunthorpe. The new member on the Committee was Graham Kings. The Felix Whitham Memorial Medal was awarded to Patrick Boylan for his research into Kirkdale Cave and the Quaternary of Yorkshire.

2024

In February we discovered that the gates to the geological exposure at Rifle Butts SSSI had been locked by the warden because a roof panel had been damaged by a winter storm before Christmas. It was later reopened after a safety inspection and the HGS was told that the warden was seeking quotations for the repair and a grant to pay for the repair.

Peter and Elayne Carpenter stood down from the Committee because they were going for an extended holiday in Australia. Rich Beck took on the role of Membership Secretary as the new Committee member.

Rod Towse wished to retire as Treasurer before the 2025 AGM after 10 years in the role and he was becoming ill with cancer. It was agreed at the April Club Night that if he needed to retire sooner another officer could take on the role until a new Treasurer was found. Rod resigned in May and Graham Evans was co-opted to be Treasurer until the following AGM. Rod died on 12^th August.

Stuart Jones decided that he needed the space that the library was stored in and the Committee implemented the contingency plan. The books, journals and maps in the HGS library were first offered to members and eventually the remaining ones were donated to the Yorkshire Natural History Museum in Sheffield.

It was also agreed that the Society’s holding of shares in the TSB be sold. The shares were still in the name of Ian Scott, a previous Treasurer, so he had to sell the shares and then donate the proceeds to the Society.

At the Committee meeting in December the subscription rate was raised to £10 for all categories of membership. The Website Editor was given permission to add extra security and protection to the website.

New members included Diane Morris of Ilkley, Shaun Tymon, Andrew Watson, Steven Harris and Paul Hancock of Hull, Lorraine Graham of Cottingham, Mike Scrimshaw of Hull and David Whipp of Goole. The death of Patrick Boylan in February was reported, he had joined the Society in 1956 and was elected as an honorary member in 1967.

2025

The sudden death of the President Stuart Jones in February came as a shock to members. The role of President was left vacant until the AGM. Chris Leach was elected as the new President and David Hill as the Vice-President. Lewis Rose agreed to organise the Roadshow at Hornsea Museum, but the booking for the Roadshow at Flamborough was cancelled. Mary Howard was awarded the Felix Whitham Memorial Medal for her work creating new displays for roadshows and exhibitions.

In February Mike Horne, Graham Kings and Mary Howard attended a site meeting at Rifle Butts SSSI with the warden where concerns were raised about the weathering of the exposure of stromatolites in the Red Chalk due to the hole in the roof of the shelter. In August the Secretary received an e-mail from the warden stating that he was still seeking quotes for the repair and that no grants for the cost of the repair from Natural England were available until 2026.

There were three geological Quiz Nights held during the year and two former members presented lectures about their latest research – Philip Vixsebroxse on his research into the Ediocaran fauna and Kris Saether on editing a new volume of the Treatise on Invertebrate Geology. Members were encouraged to share lifts to field meetings using a new group on a messaging app. Martin Clarke of Leeds joined the Society in 2025 and Mick Oates was the new member of the Committee.

MH December 2025

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