Our last Wednesday talk this season will be on 18 May when Roy Starkey will give us a look at the research behind his recently published book Making it Mine – Sir Arthur Russell and his Mineral Collection.

A new programme will start in September.

The Australasian Mining History Association, are inviting Russell Society members to join its series of Zoom lectures.  The first two are on Cornish Technology in Australia and New Zealand, on Sunday 13th March and Sunday 24th April.  Titles and global times are as follows (unfortunately in the early hours in the UK) :

Dates	13-Mar	24-Apr
	Sunday, 13 March 2022	Sunday, 24 April 2022
Speaker	John Taylor NZ Cornish Mining Technology	John Taylor NZ Cornish Mining Pump Houses
Brisbane	Sun 12:00 noon	Sun 1:00 pm
Sydney	Sun 1:00 pm *	Sun 1:00 pm
Canberra	Sun 1:00 pm *	Sun 1:00 pm
Melbourne	Sun 1:00 pm *	Sun 1:00 pm
Hobart	Sun 1:00 pm *	Sun 1:00 pm
Adelaide	Sun 12:30 pm *	Sun 12:30 pm
Darwin	Sun 11:30 am	Sun 12:30 pm
Perth	Sun 10:00 am	Sun 11:00 am
Auckland	Sun 3:00 pm *	Sun 3:00 pm
Fairbank, Alaska	Sat 5:00 pm	Sat 7:00 pm *
New York	Sat 9:00 pm	Sat 11:00 pm *
London	Sun 2:00 am	Sun 4:00 am *

Registration is open for the 13^th March Session via the event manager EVENTBRIGHT and is open to the public. Use the following link to REGISTER.

EVENTBRITE REGISTRATION LINK to Cornish Mining Technology.

On registering, there will be a link to automatically place an appointment in your calendar.

If you live in the South West you may be interested in a travelling art exhibition called Artificialia: Fake Minerals & Fancy Plinths by  Bridgette Ashton. Three wooden cabinets house what appear to be elaborately presented geological specimens hinting at the desire for discovery and wonder, yet on closer inspection the contents reveal themselves as appropriations of mineral-like objects. Predominantly modelled from ceramics, the sculptures also employ cardboard and plywood with embellishments of beading, flocking and fake gold leaf . Elements of the works directly reference JH Collins’ 1871 ‘Handbook to the Mineralogy of Cornwall and Devon’ in which the author methodically describes and lists a lexicon of rocks and minerals found in the region. 

If you cannot get to  see the exhibition in person you may like to view the objects on-line

The work is being supported by two events which are are free to attend and can be booked through Eventbrite

• an on-line talk by Tom Cotterell, Senior Curator of Mineralogy at the National Museum Wales, at 4pm on Sunday 13th March  tickets
• a trip to Herodsfoot Mine Liskeard on Saturday 19th March  tickets

Further information about the aims of the exhibition can be found on the artist’s website

At our annual meeting this year, we will be celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the founding of the Society. This will  be held the weekend 1st-3rd April in Leicester. Further details and the booking form can be found on the member’s page, but members should already have received these by email. It promises to be a great event so do not delay, bookings must be in by 28th February.

An electronic version of Journal 23 published in 2020, is now available on the The Journal web page

Spectacular 3D images of some of the specimens featured in Volume 24 of the Journal of the Russell Society, can be found by following this link. The anaglyph images must be viewed through red-cyan spectacles. These are inexpensive to obtain; an internet search will show multiple suppliers.

The Southern Branch has organised another one day symposium which is open to all members. It is to be held on Saturday 12 February at the Somerset Earth Science Centre. Visit the members page to see the programme and how to reserve your place.

The GA Annual Conference will be in Edinburgh on Friday 15 to Sunday 17 October 2021. Further information and booking details can be found at www.geologistsassociation.org.uk

We are sorry to report that Alan Dyer died on 7th September after a long illness. Alan was President of the Society 2005-2009 and will be remembered particularly for his expertise in the fields of natural and synthetic zeolites. A full tribute will appear in the next newsletter and a brief obituary can be found in Mindat.