Our Leader grant claims manager, Andy Palmer, was fortunate enough to be invited to go to Germany recently on a mission to put Martley and the Society on the European map. His short trip was paid for using EU transnational funds administered by Worcestershire County Council and was based in Eichstatt, Germany where representatives from Sentheim, France and Boyabat, Turkey were present. Dr Paul Olver from the Woolhope Society in Herefordshire was also there.

Andy gave an illustrated powerpoint presentation to the delegates on the main business meeting of the first day describing Martley and its beautiful setting and the geological attractions that we all now know so well. He talked about the EU funds that we have received under the Leader programme and progress in developing our “new” geological sites and trails and future plans. By all accounts, his talk was well received and generated much interest. (A copy of his presentation can be found through the link below). The other country delegates also spoke about their communities, their geology and the educational and tourism attractions around their varying geological assets. Eichstatt has very well developed facilities including the JuraMuseum where the famous archaeopteryx fossil is located (www.jura-museum.de) and extensive natural history collections all set in the stunning Bavarian scenery of the Altmuhl Nature Park (www.naturpark-altmuehital.de). Sentheim, in the nearby Alsace region of France also has well developed facilities and trails run from their small museum in the town (www.geologie-alsace.fr). By contrast, the Turkish town of Boyabat’s facilities are much less well developed for visitors but are physically mind blowing ! Their amazing basalt columns, hill top castle and Royal Cemetry are well worth checking out on Google images and Wikipedia.

The remainder of the two day trip was taken up with tours of the town and its civic, religious and cultural attractions and field trips to two of the numerous limestone quarries around Eichstatt where old techniques of producing stone flooring and highly specialised lithographic printing materials were demonstrated.  Again, particularly, the world famous Solnhofen limestone sites are worth a Google search and for those looking for alternative holiday ideas, a must see destination.  Altogether, the trip was very interesting and wholly productive and has given us much to think about and plan for in terms of the future of Martley and the TemeValley geology.

Here is Andy’s Eichstatt Presentation and following that two reels of his pictures