Readers may be aware that the Royal Cornwall Museum is facing a reduction in its funding, and is looking to update its offering, in order to give the museum a more robust future.

Following the ASM at Buckfast Roy Starkey arranged to meet with the two directors at the RCM to discuss the current situation and future plans for the museum.

You can read some notes of the meeting here https://www.mindat.org/mesg-620971.html 

Please note that the views expressed in the article are entirely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of The Russell Society.

The Russell Society carried out an excavation of the mine dumps at Penberthy Croft Mine over two days in July 2021 to ascertain the state of the minerals within the dumps and to enhance the mineralogical knowledge of the complex suite of minerals from this site.

A series of twelve trenches were dug using an excavator to a depth of approx. 1-1.5m and a comprehensive search made of the material to identify any minerals exposed. Conditions within the dump were noted as it is well known that deterioration of minerals occurs where sulphides are present due to acid leaching.

A full scientific report on the results of the excavation including the minerals that were found can now be found in the members area of the website.

The field trip programme organised by the SW Branch has just been released and is given on the members page. Places are allocated on a “first come first served” basis. The first trip is on Sunday 19th March so do not delay.

Members who have had problems receiving their electronic newsletter can now read it on line. Go to the members page and scroll down to near the bottom where you will find a link to the latest newsletter -March 2023. It is a pdf so you can read it online or download it to your computer. You will also find links to earlier newsletters

8pm Wednesday 19th April via Zoom

A question that is starting to come up more and more often in conversations is “What should I do with my collection?” Today’s mineral collecting community is increasingly grey-haired and perhaps dominated by people who began collecting in the 1960s and 1970s. As such, this population of collectors and collections represents a considerable and potentially important mineralogical resource.

In a special event hosted by The Russell Society, and chaired by Roy Starkey, we will present an overview of the key factors to be considered, some of the constraints and hurdles to be overcome, as well as opportunities and threats which may confront us.

We owe it to the specimens, and to those who came before us from whom we have benefited so much, to ensure that our collections are handled in a suitably responsible and satisfactory manner, and that important pieces are curated and preserved together with as much curatorial data and specimen history as possible.

Is your collection properly labelled and organised such that someone coming to it ‘cold’ would be able to understand what is what, and to be confident in dispersing it appropriately? Do you have a catalogue? If so, is it on paper or in electronic form? If electronic, is it regularly backed-up and in a format likely to be machine readable in the future? Does someone else know how to access it, where to find passwords etc.? Do your family members understand the importance (and perhaps financial value) of your collection? Do they know who to contact and what to do in the event of your unexpected demise? Should the collection go to a museum or university (either in its entirety or segments of it)? Is the best route to return the specimens to the collecting fraternity via a sale or auction, or is sale to a dealer a better option.

We’ll be addressing these questions, and a whole lot more, in discussion with a panel of experts from the Natural History Museum (London), National Museum Wales, National Museums Northern Ireland, BGS, The Geological Curators’ Group and National Museums Scotland.

Please make a note of the date and join us for what is perhaps a unique opportunity to assess and to learn what you need to do to put your mineral (or fossil) collection in order whilst there is still time.

Members will find the link to the meeting on the members page, but all are welcome to attend. Just contact [email protected] to be put into contact with Roy Starkey

Roy Starkey

The ASM weekend, 31st March – 2nd April, is at Buckfast, on the fringes of the Dartmoor National Park. It is proving very popular with 60 delegates booked by the start of 2023. Members are urged to book up quickly particularly if they wish to secure a place on the associated field trips.

Please join us for an evening of reminiscences, happy memories and funny stories. We’ll be looking back over a fantastic fifty years of mineral collecting, sharing photos and testing your knowledge of the history of The Russell Society and the people that make it special. There will be plenty of opportunity to chip in with your own contributions. If you have any photos you would like to share please send them to Roy Starkey ASAP.

The zoom login will be posted on the members’ page a couple of days before. See you there!

Provisional Programme

19:45 Doors open

20:00 David Aubrey Jones Hon. President – Welcome, opening remarks and a toast to The Russell Society

20:05 Nigel Moreton – The Early Years

20:15 Paul Monk – Reminiscences from the Far North

20:25 Frank Ince – Central Branch Projects

20:35 Marashean Parker – Maisemore and Other Memories

20:45 Sheila Harper – South West Memories

20:55 Owen Baker – Looking Back in Cornwall and Devon

21:05 David Ifold – Excursions to Lundy Island

21:15 Tom Cotterell – The importance of JRS

21:25 Roy Starkey – Quiz (30 mins)

22:05 Finale and a few nostalgia photos – for maybe 15 minutes – aiming to wrap up before 22:30

Earlier that year, Britain had joined the European Community and President Nixon famously met the Chinese leader Chairman Mao.

The crew of Apollo 17 took the famous ‘Blue Marble’ photograph of the Earth from a distance of about 18,000 miles.

On 27 October 1972 the number one record in the UK charts was Mouldy Old Dough by Lieutenant Pigeon  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64VvUVLl7W0 but more importantly a group of people met at a pub in Leicester to form The Russell Society!

We plan to celebrate the 50^th Anniversary of the formation of the Society exactly fifty years to the day, possibly almost to the hour!

Join us from 8:00 pm on Thursday 27 October to raise a glass to the Society, contribute your memories and reminiscences and hear those of others. Participate in a light-hearted quiz loosely linked to the Russell Society, and share any funny stories that come to mind.

We’ll be online via Zoom with the doors opening at 7:45 pm.

If you would like to give a short presentation, contribute photos to show, or have a story that you’d like to share, please contact Roy Starkey ASAP.

Further details will be circulated nearer the date.

Charge your glasses, dig out your old photos and memories and get ready for a fun-filled evening of nostalgia.

See you there!

The Society will not be holding a meeting at Maisemore this autumn, but is is hoped that this very successful annual event will resume next year.

Our programme of monthly zoom talks starts in September. All talks start at 8pm with the waiting room open from 7.45pm. As usual log-in details will be given on the members’ page. Non-members are welcome to join us subject to there being places as there is a limit on numbers. If you would like to attend any lecture but are not a member, please contact the webmaster about a week before: 

 

21 September – Roy Starkey – Philip Rashleigh’s Mineral Collection at the Royal Cornwall Museum and Why It Is Important.        Joint meeting with the Royal Geological Society of Cornwall (see http://geologycornwall788.bravesites.com/2021-lectures-and-events for full details and the log-in link)  Note: The waiting room for this talk will open at 7.50pm

19 October – Shane Webb – Loch Tay, Scotland: a mineralogical overview of some of the highest-grade gold deposits in Britain.

16 November – Ollie O’Reilly, Cornish Lithium – The Geology and Mineralogy of the Trelavour Deposit: a Lithium-Rich Granite Resource

21 December Rachel Walcott – Data-capturing history, mysteries, and the emergence of Robert Jameson’s systematic mineral collection.

18 January – Michael Doel – The Uranium Mine at Menzenschwand.

15 February – David Aubrey-Jones – Last Season’s Russell Society Trips.

15 March – Woody Thompson – Maine Pegmatites.

19 April – Speaker and topic awaiting confirmation.

17 May – Speaker and topic awaiting confirmation.