10 members of WGCG joined us for a tour of some of our sites on the hottest, bluest, best June day for many a year.  After a short talk and a walk around our pop-up display at the hall, Ian escorted them to Martley Rock, back over the Nubbins to lunch in his and Pam’s garden.  I took over at 1.30 whence we drove to Penny Hill, searched for fossils, walked to the top to view the 360 degree panorama stretching back over 700 million years and enjoyed the profusion of yellow birds foot trefoil, purply clover and dancing white dog roses.  We think we saw a few Dingy Skippers, butterflies for whom the trefoil is a favourite snack and why we assist the West Midlands Butterfly Conservation Group to clear away tree growth so the flowers may flourish.  Descending to the path around the old quarry, including Stairway to Heaven down which we proceeded to the other place, via the Canyon and out through a green doorway into the spectacular hill and vale scape of the hidden valley.  This lies between the older Much Wenlock to the East and the higher and younger Aymestry limestone to the West with softer lower Ludlow Shales between–hence the valley.  After a vote on which route to take, we decided to trek to the Rodge Hill ridge to view the Clees, Hay Bluff, Bromyard Plateau and South to the Malverns and possibly Forest of Dean.  Always an inspiring place to be.  So there was a good slice of geology intermixed with a ramble of suitable duration for such a hot day, finishing for most at the Crown for a nice cold beer.

South Wales Geological Association visited Martley for a second visit on 28th April.  We met at the Memorial hall, the coincidental charity coffee morning supplying excellent refreshments as the group perused our pop up geology display.  Here is my report of the day that I very much enjoyed escorting around features near Horsham and in the Teme Valley:

An enjoyable and slightly daringly adventurous field trip with South Wales Geological Association, on occasion breaking a few of the rules of the risk assessment, but as experienced adults we considered ourselves capable of making the necessary on the spot decisions in that regard. A little bit of a scramble now and then is good for the soul. Steve Howe, SWGA, genial, knowledgeable leader, only lost one man (found wandering, by others, in Martley at lunchtime), some explaining to do over the border back in West Wales.  No matter. First the Permian, south of the Berrow.  Reached by a stiff climb, the arete of Haffield Breccia, the whole height of the Berrow here, gives a wonderful vantage point over the Teme valley around Knightwick and Whitbourne. A small pit perplexed our experts and in turn their questions flummoxed me:—How do we know it IS Permian? How deep is the bed here? From which mountains do the clasts come? How come there are large rounded clasts abutting and within beds of smaller angled pieces and gravels? What formations are represented here?  Questions notes, answers needed, more exploratory work to be done. The fact of coal measures higher up on the hill also furrowed brows and set the tone for a moderately challenging day both intellectually and at times physically.

Travelling on to Brockhill Court by kind permission of Sir Anthony Winnington to inspect the igneous dyke of putative Carboniferous age, and its heated intrusion, around 300Ma, into the rather moist country rock of Raglan Mudstone.  Averting our eyes, for later enjoyment, from the feature walls flanking the gateway to the parking area, we wandered down the drive to the hidden, unsuspected yet spectacular road stone quarry that is Brockhill Dyke.  Baked country rock with its voids, filled later with zeolites and calcites, crystalline magmatic dyke material and aphanitic (very fine crystals) chilled margin samples, lay in wait for our inspection and speculation.  Intrepid Steve, followed by others, two steps forward, at least one back, up the loose soil slope to the higher faces in order to more closely inspect contact points and spherical weathering.  This latter is sure evidence of the crystalline dyke material.  At the surface the rock takes in moisture that oxidises iron, expanding it, causing shells to break away from the blocks.  Half way up the slope we estimated the width of the magmatic material at around 6-7m.

Back to the cars and the walls—plenty to look at there—collected lunch and up to the lone pine above the dyke where we enjoyed wide ranging views of the valley whilst dining on the delights we had each packed. We wondered how far the dyke extended and whether the BGS geology map is correct (it seems to be not too far out), what all the minor hills and bumps in the valley consist of, whether the dyke shielded land from further erosion and so on.  We fought our way through thick saplings to the top of the quarry and most descended the badger path down the lip of the quarry to the road, wondering if the Lord of the Rings beech contorted tree roots that we used as hand rails en-route, were really an entrance to other worlds.

Into the cars, over New Mill Bridge and further up river so we could find our way to unmatched Southstone Rock, among the largest tufa deposits to be found in England.  One of my ‘Prepare to be Amazed’ moments when out of the trees a giant tufa cliff emerges, complete with rushing water fall, passageways and ferns all set amid primeval woodland   Another of these places is when you round the corner of the shed into Ian’s quarry garden.

At the ‘rock’, the spring gushing from the hillside in its grotto, perhaps a remnant of a once sacred site where on stood a church and later a cottage (see a picture in Cliff Barnard’s Book ‘A Tale of Two Villages’), the top of the waterfall with its giant coppiced yew, (is this another sign of a sacred site) and the precipitous view down valley from tufa cliffs.  Most of the huge deposit seems to have formed around a particular moss that likes the limey, alkaline waters and for its appetite becomes petrified.  In turn though, there are good examples of drip tufa where carbonate saturated water has run down over the mossy substrate and formed laminates of a more solid, less vesicular material. Finally to view an outcropping of an important, but not the only, source of the lime, a continuous covering of Bishops Frome that drapes the Silurian Raglan mudstone and underlies Lower Devonian deposits of St Maughans formation.  This is a calcareous sandstone often in a marly matrix, much used where it occurs, for building. The Bishops Frome is a calcrete, a type of chemical soil formed in this case, in a dry climate where occasional, slightly acidic rain seeps quickly down, takes some of the carbonate out and is later drawn to the surface by capillary action. There are other ways in which calcrete forms.  In the Teme valley where it underlies many square miles of the Bromyard Plateau, it is layer up to a few metres thick, sitting on top of the impervious Raglan Mudstone, giving rise to a line of springs.

Lastly we drove to Shelsley Walsh church, one example of a building made from local tufa, though possibly not from Southstone, rather from now hidden quarries above the church alongside the famous Shelsley Walsh hill climb.  A site worth visiting whatever your interest is, a magical and ancient place of worship in a quiet spot (except on race days of course).

Thanks for your second visit SWGA, your interest in our area and the questions you raised.

Ref HERE from Murchison

HERE for some very interesting references in a book from the late 19^th century, copied by Google.  Conjectures about flow rates, the original course of the stream as well as passages and caves in the rock, now collapsed.  Also the thousands of tons of tufa taken away from the site.

HERE from disappointingly, a climbing blog, reference to the church that used to be on top. Personally having done some climbing, I am appalled that ‘rock climbers’; should even think about this as a climbing venue given the fragility rock and the damage that could be caused.

Herefordshire’s Rocks and Scenery
A Geology of the County ISBN 978 1 9010839 16 4

Friday 21st April, the above book was launched at a short, friendly ceremony at the Shire Hall, Hereford. The purpose of the book is to explain in readable, accessible text the varied geology of the county of Herefordshire and to remind that the county was at the forefront in the mid 1800s when geology was a young science. In my opinion it fully achieves its brief with wonderful perspective drawings, maps, photographs and text uncluttered by Greek or Latin–definitely a book for anyone who wishes to understand the landscape and for whom Herefordshire is a very special county.  The several authors are to be warmly congratulated for completing an epic work commenced ten years ago.  Hilary purchased several for our library and we heartily recommend that at £15, this is a book that should sit on the bookshelf of anyone interested in local natural history.

The team met on 9th February–Mike, Hilary, Kay, John, Alan, Ian and self–to tackle over and undergrowth at Lower Farm quarry and do a litter pick at the Canyon.  Weren’t out too long and my photos don’t do justice to the dramatic improvement at Lower House.  See too, the bags of litter we collected at the Canyon.  Good to have a coffee after with those who had the time.  Thanks so much really worthwhile.  Next month tackle Penny Hill.

Later on I met with Christine Rudall, Head of Geography at Chantry School to see if it would be worthwhile resurrecting courses and other activities for young people.   Julie Harrald and Mike Brooks have been very busy working on the Deep Time Project and Chantry children have been helping with this, testing Mike’s apps. Christine asked for an update on the project and I was able to pass this on from Julie after our meeting.  She also asked to be on our email database so she can stay abreast of what the Society is up to. I told her that working with young people is high on our list of objectives but that we need the right person in post to move this forward. In geology things move slowly but I am ever hopeful that each new contact can inch us forward.

Hello everyone, this year the message has a particular significance as you probably know. Three hours ago I closed the doors of the museum to the public for the last time, and I’m feeling a bit emotional as I’m sure that you will appreciate.

The End of A Chapter

As things stand, this will be my 16^th and final annual Christmas Message of thanks to you all from Dudley Museum and Art Gallery here in St James Road, Dudley. This place has been serving the public and the town since 1883. Since then, many individuals have been involved and steered it’s development to this moment in time, and it feels very strange to be the last one in that chain of history. Together I guess we have slowly built, nurtured and protected the heritage collections and ushered in new interpretive ideas and themes along all those years. Looking back at all those achievements over decades, I consider myself to be very blessed to have had the opportunity to become one of those privileged few and to be part of the story of this wonderful place and its historic collections. Whatever the future brings I know they will continue to inspire down the ages and far beyond my personal link in this particular Black Country chain.

On a personal historical note, this building and its activities have been part of my life since I was a young child. They went on to become a central part of my life following graduation in 1984. The shy young Earth scientist that I was back then has grown a lot in confidence and ability in the passing years thanks largely to the tolerance and guidance of a lot of great people. I have witnessed amazing work here of many passionate and dedicated people who have inspired and taught me so much over the years. They worked hard and selflessly to protect the geological heritage, making many sacrifices to safeguard the geological collections and get them back into the public realm in the most dynamic and spectacular ways. In these last 31 years as part of this building and its life, I have seen that collective effort reach out to  more than a million people and positively impact many lives (mine included). I have seen what we do really help some of the most vulnerable and disadvantaged amongst us. I think I understand the real power and value of inspiration now and hopefully we can take that forward in the new venue. This building though and its place in the heart of the town’s community has been a big part of that character and service to-date. So this for me is one of those particularly poignant moments, and I’m very aware that It heralds the start of a whole new chapter in our story –  wherever it may lead.

Caught in the winds of Change

It really is a most confusing and scary time if you are working in public service. In our case, with all the impacts and positive stories we generate, I don’t believe that anyone at all  wanted this museum to close and its service to be compromised. I guess that the severity of the situation facing local authority funding simply finds us not ‘up there’ as a political priority in the overall ranking of public service priorities and as a cultural entity we have no legal protection as many other service area’s do. So it would appear that in this iteration of what we are the powers that be have decided that our time has come. It’s time for us now to evolve to survive in a rapidly changing world. Fortunately geology is full of evolutionary successes so I hope that we will go on to be one of them.

I Don’t mean to make light of things, going through this process has been very difficult for everyone here. My heart particularly goes out to so many of you who’ve had to go through this yourselves in recent times or may also be facing this in the future. Everyone here has invested a huge amount of themselves into the service and it’s been very hard to be part of this particular change.

It has however given us the chance to take stock. It’s given the public and colleagues the chance to tell us about lives that we’ve touched and incredible number of friends that we have made across the years and across the world. Hearing about what we have meant to people (often across several generations of a family) and the depth of feelings that they have for us is really moving. So it’s been very special to receive those kind words particularly in our culture where it’s something that seems so often go unspoken in British society. (I’ve heard colleagues say that you never hear from people when you are doing something right but you hear straight away when you got just one little thing wrong!) Well that’s not been the case for us this year so thank you for all the kind thoughts, good wishes and prayers that you have been generous enough to share with us – it means more than you know and particularly to team members who will be leaving us.

Thank you so much

Again speaking personally, I have many emotions running through me at this moment, but I believe that the overwhelming one is gratitude. This is focussed on all of you who have believed in us, helped us in any way, given us opportunities to grow and be more than a little town museum might otherwise expect to be. Also a huge thank you to all who have shared in any part of this truly incredible experience with us  along the way. It is the end of a very special era in our little world. I have a huge array of wonderful memories that I will always treasure and I know that in our time we made a real difference and made things so much richer and better through the things we did. Thank you so much.

So I think it’s time to celebrate all that we have been together as we move into a new chapter for the museum. Despite the sadness that comes with loss and change, I will share, in images in the attached document, the fruits of another incredible year working with such an amazing bunch of people. As ever, it is just a snapshot of the projects for which I have information to hand. Please forgive me if your particular associations with us are not included, ommision was not intended. This year I’ve compressed the images into a PDF year so hopefully despite its 5 pages, it will be a manageable size and get to you with no problems. I hope that you enjoy looking through these memories as much as I did assembling them. If you feel that others would like to see this message and the memories and thank s it contains please feel free to forward onwards and share this message with those you think would welcome it.

The future

Despite the closure of this venue I will still be here and some aspects of our service will move forward. The future lies within the promise of  continuing to work with partners on becoming a UNESCO Global Geopark for the whole of the Black Country and working on some amazing projects together. Here in Dudley it will involve relocating displays, the geopark headquarters and the research work to the new building of Dudley Archives adjacent to the Black Country Living Museum Entrance on Castle Hill. We have ideas and projects in place with all the other Black Country authorities and our surrounding partners so next year will be an amazing, challenging year of change and new direction and I hope that it will be a wonderful one for us all.

Some words of inspiration

I’ll finish this year with a couple of things that I’ve read in 2016 that have moved or inspired me (and seem fitting as we move ahead into the unknown of the year ahead). The first  is a short poem from a young, Black Country creative writer called Elinor Cole who had a small exhibition with us this summer. She wrote a number of poems that I felt reached into the heart of the Black Country spirit of fortitude and sacrifice in my opinion. In her poem ‘The Colliers Wiife’  using some Black Country dialect, for me she captured the dilemma and angst that must have been a daily routine for many Black Country families during the height of the coalfield’s activity.  It has a warmth and compassion about the real lives involved that I think is fab. I hope you like it.

THE COLLIER’S WIFE

Yoom reckless, I tell him, as I tend to
his wounds – the cuts, the clouts,
limbs battered and bruised.

It ay worth it, I tell him, as he claims
that he’s fine – that he’s at his
happiest when down in the mine.

He makes promises to leave, but I know
that he’ll stay – he loves it down
there, with the soil and the clay.

So I kiss him farewell, but when
I’m alone – I pray to God that
today, he’ll just make it back home.

Elinor Cole

It reminds me that my chosen subject of Earth Science is not a remote or dispassionate entity but its knowledge was hard-won and practical, in the lives of real people and for real people. I hope we can capture some of this soulful human touch in the displays and projects of the Geopark work next year.

The second is taken from the commemorative book produced for the queens 90^th birthday. I believe her to be a lady of great dignity, perception and faith who wrote in her Christmas address to the nation in 2002 about her motivations and hopes within a longer term perspective on troubles of the day or the more distant future. She said;

‘I know how much I rely on my faith to guide me through the good times and the bad. Each day is a new beginning. I know that the only way that I can live my life is to do what is right, to take the long view, to give of my best in all that the day brings, and to put my trust in God’

Both to me speak of abiding hope, courage and strength in facing the future fears and uncertainty. Their themes  resonate with me, particularly at this moment when so much is changing and I take much inspiration from these words and we enter our new chapter.

So despite the changes and uncertainties and the global turmoil, Brexit and all the rest,  it’s been a  year with its fair share of great stuff too that provide a better focus and I’m sure next year will bring many more highlights , come what may.

 

Once again, sincere heartfelt thanks for your support in this and all those other wonderful years.

Very best wishes to you and all those you hold dear for a wonderful Christmastime and new year. Let’s hope it’s a kind one to all of us.

 

On behalf of the Dudley Museum Team for one last time

 

Keep rockin’

Graham W

Graham Worton BSc, FGS, C Geol

Keeper of Geology

Dudley Museum and Art Gallery

St James Road

Dudley

West Midlands DY1 1HP

Bigger crowd this year enjoyed good food (I thought, hopefully you did too) and good company then listened to Haydon’s fascinating tale of micro fossilia, especially useful in the petrochem industry, his area of work. Foraminifera are the main focus with around 50000 species, 40000 or so extinct, offering age horizons in the minerals prospected for oil, in the same way that William Smith deduced the strata of England with the local fossils. Most forams are tiny to extremely small and incredibly difficult to decipher, much work with microscopes and consulting of voluminous indices being the order of the day.  Here are a few pictures:

Your committee had a meeting, most unusual, first real get together for many, many months.  It was a good session where we looked at what we are doing, where we think we do well and where we could do better. Here is a summary.  You might have comments, in which case contact me on [email protected].  Don’t comment from the web site even if you know how because there is so much spam that all comments go to a bin somewhere.

Generally good (we felt)
Evening Meetings–timing, timing, contents, speakers, rock of the month
Library–assistance being sought as standby but library service excellent
Social Events–this year the wine tasting evening a great success, continue with these
Visitors to our area–our tours go down very well, good hosting and itineraries. Expand team of leaders, improve knowledge
Publicity–web site good but needs continual adding to; poster placement needs additional help and place at University too, social media–not started
Visitor Information–good choice of trails with guides and interpretation boards; keep Martley Rock dispenser full, staff in shop need familiarization we felt
Adult education–running at one course per year; is this enough?
Committee–keen team, needs more members co-opted
Displays–generally good but needs gaps filling, there is a separate note about this
Academic–Knighton mapping project very good, missed out on Breccia project, need to work on this

Generally need improvement
Field trips–FT secretary missing from organogram; need a properly set up programme of field trips, can ease this by linking to other societies. Geo-ambles were enjoyed.
Children’s Education–storytelling and courses–none planned but should be, ambassador needed
Work parties–generally poorly attended, same old people though there are enough on the list–schedule once a month might be better

TVGS is busy with the following:

Evening Meetings
Field Trips
Academic Work
Workparties
Displays
Building Stones Project
Mapping Project
Library
Website
Publicity
Trail Guides
Leaflet Dispensers
Education for Adults
Education for Juniors
Social Events
Host Visiting Groups
Apps
Accessibility
Bank Account
Funding Bids
Landowner Links
Outreach