Topographical mineralogy, the conservation of minerals and the preservation of mineralogical sites
The full programme for this season is now listed on the Members’ page.
Our next talk on the 8th January is “Mineral Hunting in the Swiss Alps” by Dr Andreas Stucki of Siber + Siber in Zurich. Members may be familiar with Andreas through BlueCap Production’s many interviews of key people in the mineral world, which can all be found on YouTube.
There are a lot of interesting talks scheduled in the new programme starting on September 11th. Check them out on the members page and put reminders in your diary.
Buxton Museum and Art Gallery is currently closed due to structural problems with the building.
Concern is growing as to whether the Council will be able to find the necessary funds to get the building back into a state where the museum can reopen to the public.
Amongst other things the collections include:
Please register your support for the Museum and its important collections and public displays by signing the petition at chng.it/wTrzLymd and remember to click on the link that you will receive to confirm your email address, otherwise your vote will not count
Please note that the field trip to this quarry will be on Tuesday 23rd April and not as advertised in the first release of the Society’s March Newsletter.
A great number of the safety forms have been revised this month. Could the field trip organisers and coordinators please be aware of this and ensure that they use the latest forms which can be found on the Safety page.
It gives me great pleasure to be able to congratulate Roy Starkey, a past President of the Russell Society (2009-2013), for being awarded the British Empire Medal for services to mineralogy. The award was presented on 20th October at the Guildhall in Worcester by the Lord Lieutenant of Worcestershire, Mrs Beatrice Grant. The ceremony was watched by family, friends, and members of the mineralogy community, including Robin Hansen, Curator, Minerals at the Natural History Museum London and Tom Cotterell, Senior Curator: Mineralogy and Petrology at Amgueddfa Cymru, National Museum Wales.
Roy is well known to most of us and it is wonderful that his invaluable contribution to mineralogy and the mineralogical community has been recognised by the Crown. The award celebrates Roy’s essential role in sustaining the mineralogical community and helping to preserve Britain’s mineral heritage for future generations. His contributions to the Russell Society have been enormous, and I think it no exaggeration to say that if it wasn’t for Roy, the Society would be in a far poorer state than it is today.
Roy was delighted to be given the award, commenting: “I was very surprised, to say the least, when I received the letter notifying me of the award. The study of minerals has been a lifelong passion for me, through which I’ve met many wonderful people. It has been a huge privilege to work with curators and collections in our national museums. I see the award as being good for mineralogy in general and it was great to be able to celebrate this honour with family and friends in Worcester.”
This is not the first time that Roy’s achievements have been recognised. In 2016, Roy was the first recipient of The Marsh Award for Mineralogy, which recognises ‘unsung heroes’ who have made a major contribution to the promotion of palaeontology or mineralogy in the UK and abroad.
Congratulations Roy
David
Dr David Aubrey-Jones, Honorary President of the Russell Society
Our zoom talk on Wednesday 8th November will be Dr Michael J. Simms, Senior Curator of Geology, National Museums Northern Ireland, who will talking to us about “Mineralisation in Triassic caves of southern Britain”
Our previously advertised talk by Jamie Lund of The National Trust on the topic of “The archaeology of the Lake District extractive industries – its legacy, significance and future”, has been rescheduled for the 13th December.
Following on from our highly successful panel discussion about ‘What should we do with our collections’ in April of this year, the Geological Curators Group has picked-up on this theme for their Winter Seminar and AGM ‘Building bridges between collectors and museums’.
Good relationships between collectors and museums are critical for us to curate ethical collections, not just for individual museums but also to the wider geoscience community. These relationships have not always been fully harmonious in the past, so the theme this year is to address current and potential issues through a series of talks and discussions, from both sides. While ‘happy ending’ tales of scientifically important specimens being offered to museums are our desired pathway, these are balanced by other stories of collections being hidden away by disgruntled collectors, discarded by disinterested families, or lost due to lack of knowledge.
There are still a few slots available for talks or presentations Events – The Geological Curators Group (geocurator.org)
If you are interested in contributing in any way, please do get in touch as soon as possible so that the organisers can add you to the programme for the day. We are welcoming talks from all sectors, whether private collectors or curators.
We are really keen to explore this subject and work out how best to go forward to enable museums to work better with collectors.
Do collectors need more advice about how to ensure their collections are protected in perpetuity? What details are needed by museums if they are offered specimens, and why? What will ultimately happen to private collections if museums are unable to take them?
All these questions, and more, are waiting to be answered.
If you know of anyone who could contribute to this discussion then please do spread the word. We are looking for a range of non-confrontational talks and discussions to try to work through these sorts of issues:
Talks should be 15 minutes, including time for questions. They can be pre-recorded if needed, but would ideally be given live to enable Q&A. There is also the possibility of giving a five minute ‘lightning talk’ if that interests you. If you would like to speak at the conference, or discuss an idea with us, please get in touch ASAP at [email protected]
We are pleased to confirm that Jo Battersill of Anglesey Mining will be talking about the mining operations on Parys Mountain. The waiting room will open at 19.45. Log in details are on the member’s page.
The National Museum Cardiff is holding the 13th Unknown Wales conference in the Reardon Smith lecture theatre in the Museum between 10am and 1pm on Saturday 7th October. You can join live or register to watch virtually. It is free to attend but donations are welcome.
During the conference, Senior Curator Tom Cotterell, will be giving a talk on the subject of “Welsh Diamonds”. It will be 20 minutes featuring not just “Merthyr Diamonds”, but others too – but you will have to attend to find out more.
Registration details and the full programme of speakers can be found on this link:
https://amgueddfa.cymru/caerdydd/digwyddiadau/12021/Cynhadledd-Cymru-Anhysbys-2023/