Zoom Talks
The Society has a monthly programme of talks from September to May each year hosted on Zoom. These can be enjoyed by all our members regardless of geographical location and some individuals in Australia regularly get up very early to attend! These are not just lectures but a social occasion with lots of opportunity to talk to fellow attendees before the start of formal proceedings. Occasional evening Zoom meetings are also held by Branches.
Annual Society Meeting (ASM)
Every year in April, members meet for the Annual Society Meeting (and AGM) to enjoy field trips, visits, presentations, social events and conversation.
Annual Society Meeting 2024: Cheltenham, 12th – 14th April
To be hosted by the Wales and West Branch, the 2024 RS Annual Society Meeting (ASM) will be based at the Delta Cheltenham Chase Hotel, Shurdington Road, Brockworth near Cheltenham.
The theme for the meeting will be “Mineralogical Memories”. Talks will centre around the stories behind our members and their memorable moments; how they got into collecting and significant discoveries, mishaps and friendships. We will be inviting members to display self-collected minerals. Specimens will not need to have been collected on Russell Society field trips, but must be self-collected to show the quality and variation in what has been discovered by our members from localities old and new. It will be a celebration of our discoveries.
We plan to have visits to museums and private collections on the Friday and field trips on the Sunday. There will be the usual section for giveaways and trades plus the Society auction on the Saturday evening, so please get started with sorting your duplicates.
If you would like to provide a presentation, put on a display, or help out during the weekend please do get in touch with Tom Cotterell at [email protected]. Full details and the booking form will be circulated early in 2024. Put the dates in your diary now! The RS ASM is an event not to be missed.
Annual Society Meeting 2023
Last year’s ASM was held at Buckfast in South Devon for the weekend of Friday 31st March to Sunday 2nd April. The theme for Saturday’s talks was “Minerals of Britain” with 5 speakers covering the Southern Uplands of Scotland, South East Wales, Northern Ireland, Derbyshire and the Lake District. The programme of field trips extended to include Thursday and Monday. The Society AGM was held after the talks on Saturday with the usual ASM dinner and auction in the evening.
The 50th Anniversary Annual Society Meeting 2022
2022 was the 50th anniversary of the foundation of the Society, and the ASM was held in Leicester, the birthplace of the Society. Our after dinner speaker was Arthur Russell’s son, Christopher Russell who much enjoyed chatting with members of the society. Here he is being shown some of Sir Arthur’s specimens from the NHM, which were brought to the event by Mike Rumsey.
Annual Society Meeting 2021
In 2021 the meeting had to be held virtually so field trips were not possible but members enjoyed two packed evenings and a day of talks, virtual tours and just catching up with friends. The Saturday evening quiz created much hilarity.
Field trips and meetings
All members can participate in an annual calendar of field trips, meetings and presentations that are organised by Branches around the country.
This is a selection of photographs taken by some of our members on field trips.