This year’s programme – a wide-ranging one that should have something to suit most people’s tastes – comprises twelve papers which range in topic from geological maps, through Antarctic exploration and geophysics to fossil vertebrates, early geological collections and the birth of plate tectonics. This promises to be an interesting and stimulating day.

The programme consists of nine papers illustrating the wide range of the Society of Arts’ influence on the earth sciences. This foray into a little known area of history of geology promises to be interesting day and alert you to new research possibilities.

This summer, Lyme Regis Museum opens its new extension, the Mary Anning Wing, and to mark the occasion HOGG is holding a weekend meeting based at the museum to discuss the remarkable contribution made by geologists associated with Lyme Regis.

This one-day meeting has been convened under the auspices of Geological Society and History of Geology Group (HOGG) inassociation with the Geologists’ Association, The Ussher Society, The Russell Society and The Harrow and Hillingdon Geological Society.

Iron has been mined in the Forest of Dean since prehistoric times, and coal since at least Roman times, but how and when did an understanding of its geology evolve? This two-day field trip will explore the unique history of ‘free’ mining in the Forest of Dean, and how a gradual understanding of its geology facilitated exploration for these resources.

A whole-day meeting at the Geological Society, Burlington House, Piccadilly, London, is being convened under the auspices of the Society’s ‘History of Geology’ and ‘Engineering’ Groups, potentially also the Institution of Royal Engineers.