Chapter 11.

Some Conclusions.

It has been a pleasure looking through the archives again to compile this history. It has made me quite nostalgic reading about the meetings and remembering members who are no longer with us. Thinking about it I don’t remember there being any really bad meetings, apart from two or three when the field trip leader cancelled the event at short notice and we were not able inform members or the guest speaker never showed up. On the whole though our members have always stepped up to fill any gaps that appeared in our Programmes at short notice.

The Society has flourished for 147 years and over the last forty years the number of activities has more than doubled from 12 meetings in 1985 to 40 events in 2024. There are some recurring themes that are evident with hindsight. Trying to defend our science, the Society wrote protest letters about cuts to museums, libraries and universities, both local and national. We objected to the filling of significant quarries in the hope that the exposures would be available to future field geologists. We have shown a commitment to geoconservation by supporting the East Yorkshire RIGS Group and the active maintenance of Rifle Butts SSSI. We have tried to fill the gaps in adult education with our microscopy evenings and informal Club Nights. We have tried to popularise our science through Yorkshire Geology Month, Roadshows, public lectures and walks. I am always impressed by the talent and knowledge we have within the Society. We have done some good quality scientific research and published it in our journal and on our website. We have been lucky that we have been able to afford to do this through the generosity of the members and good book-keeping of our Treasurers. We are fortunate that the staff at the University and Museums continue to support and host our meetings. I say this at every Annual General Meeting and I mean it every time.

From a personal point of view it has been a pleasure to act as the Secretary of the HGS and be re-elected each year; I must have been doing something right. I have been very much aware of the need for our meetings to be as inclusive as possible; some members cannot travel to the University for our lectures, some do not use e-mail and social media, some have difficulties in participating in fieldwork and some may have other pressing alternatives on a particular day and time. We have always encouraged members to take part in the research projects, suggest ideas for meetings, volunteer to lead field trips and submit articles for publication. So, I hope that we continue to offer a varied and blended program in the future. At the end of the day though our events have to be convenient for our volunteers also.

It is the Society’s volunteers of the past, present and future who are the true local geological heroes. Studying geology together and sharing our knowledge is fun, and may it continue to remain so!

Notes –

There are some sources of bias in this history. It is largely based on the minutes of meetings, so to an extent if it was not in the Minute Book it did not happen. As technology improved, passing news to members became easier and so the available archives have increased. This is also true for the move from a printed journal to the website being the main vehicle for publishing.

There is also the problem of memory and hindsight. We all remember our first experiences and changes to the routine, the everyday becomes a blur. I have tried to pick out events that changed the way the Society does things and highlight the geological activists. Recent events are fresher in the memory but I don’t have yet know how significant they will become.

Acknowledgments – I thank the editors of Humberside Geologist for their corrections and contributions: Anne Horne, David Hill, Jane Ibrahim, Mary Howard, Paul Hildreth, Rodger Connell and Tracy Marsters.

Dedication – I dedicate this volume to Annie: without her help and support none of this would be possible.

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