Newsletter

Welcome to our second newsletter. We have been very busy over the last two months. We have been holding and organising more events. The site surveys are well under way, and we have started work on the writing of the draft Geodiversity Action Plan (GAP).

Events

During October and November we held a number of events. The guided walks to Folly Dolly Falls ( a well exposed fault ), around the centre of Wakefield ( some very nice building stones), and around Beaumont Park ( some good examples of river delta sediments ) were very popular. The open day at Cliffe Castle, Keighley, was very well attended with a lot of interest from our younger visitors. Mineral identification and Richard Bell’s drawing classes were very popular.

More events are on the programme for the next three months.

Saturday February 9th at the National Coal Mining Museum, Overton, Wakefield. This is a Rocky Roadshow in the museum from 12 until 4.

Sunday February 10th at the National Coal Mining Museum, Wakefield This is A Dinoday in conjunction with the North East Yorkshire Geology Trust. From 12 until 4.

Wednesday February 13th at the Bracken Hall Countryside Centre. 2 until 4.
This is a Rocky Roadshow in the centre adjacent to Shipley Glen. There will be short guided walks to see the Shipley Glen rocks, in addition to many other activities.

Saturday March 9th at Dimples Quarry. ( SE 025369 ) This is a short guided walk around the quarry on Penistone Hill west of Haworth from 2 until 4, to see rocks, fossils and the landscape of the Haworth area.

There will be further events held during the year.

Geodiversity Action Plan

The work on site surveys is nearing completion. As part of the project we must identify and survey twenty Regionally Important Geological Sites (RIGS). The identification of sites is an ongoing process. We had already listed sixty nine sites within West Yorkshire and some of these justified further investigation. We have also identified new sites for inclusion. To make any surveying meaningful, we have consulted with various interested people, including Countryside Officers in the local authorities, Friends of groups etc. From this consultation, we short listed the twenty sites and got on with the work. It is the job of the Project Officer, Alison Quarterman, to do the bulk of the work, with the members assisting with specific sites.

The culmination of the project will be the publication of a draft GAP for West Yorkshire. Work on this started in December. Tide and printers wait for no man so we had to get on of with it to ensure we have the finished article ready for the launch in March. Much thought and work is going into the document. We have spoken to a lot of people and seen a lot of sites. The finished work must reflect what we have seen and heard, and it must form a foundation for future activities.

Don’t forget that for more up to date information, particularly coming events, go to our website, www.wyorksgeologytrust.org