The 2022 BMS Symposium has now been and gone and planning underway for 2023. Save the dates! 15th, 16th and 17th September. The venue is different – the Salwarpe Village Hall. Salwarpe is just off the M5 to the south of Droitwich. Please contact Roy with any questions.
Read More16th, 17th and 18th September 2022. Everything is in place for our Forty First BMS Symposium to take place at the College Court Conference Centre, Knighton Road, Leicester. It will be great to get back to a real event meeting friends in person and talking about minerals which we can share and enjoy together. Everyone is looking forward to the weekend. For those wanting the extra day of mineral chat and socialising, we will start to assemble at the Conference Centre on the afternoon of Thursday 16th September and there will be the opportunity to join other delegates for an evening meal. The Symposium will officially start first thing on the Friday morning as further delegates arrive. We have the usual Oak Room booked where we can set up our microscopes and put out material for viewing and sharing with the other members. Ample space will allow for the usual range of micros and hand specimens to be displayed, exchanged and sold. After two years of Covid it is likely that the traditional “Grab Table” of “excess to requirements minerals” will be more than usually laden. Buffet lunches and evening meals will be available on the Friday and Saturday. As usual, a range of experts will be on hand to identify minerals or give advice on almost any mineralogical subject from UK locations to specimen photography. A number of talks are planned. As always, Nigel Hoppe will provide a microscope cleaning service. And of course there will be the usual […]
Read MoreFrom David Ifold… I am writing my first letter to outline our plans for the 41st BMS Symposium which takes place as a real event in Leicester at The College Court Conference Centre this September starting 9.00AM on Friday 16th September and finishing lunchtime Sunday 18th September. Since the outbreak of Covid 19, the world of Conference Centres and Hotels has changed. College Court has now re-opened but is run directly by the owners Leicester University through their own conference business. The original staff that we once knew at College Court have long since gone. Booking a conference venue this year has not been easy. A number of members including Jeanette Inkin and Martin Stolworthy have kindly made enquiries on our behalf but the main stumbling block has been that most conference venues today have very strict contracts with penalty clauses that can apply even twelve months before the event! We have decided to go back to College Court as they have offered us the most favourable terms. The Russell Society have used College Court for their ASM the first weekend of April and a number of us attended that function and so we will be able to judge how well they have restarted their business. Our booking gives members a number of options with the possibility of delegates joining or leaving us at their convenience. We of course hope you will be with us for the whole weekend! The Symposium will officially start Friday 16th September at 9.00AM with […]
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The 40th Annual Symposium of the British Micromount Society has just finished, this year totally on the Zoom platform. The last talk was “John Ruskin and his mineral collection”, presented by Roy Starkey. Roy made mention of the extensive published works of John Rankin, some of which relates to rocks and minerals, and it is available as scanned pdf versions here.
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The British Micromount Society’s 2021 Symposium is on this month. This one is the 40th and once again will be held on the Zoom platform due to Covid. The program is as follows: Friday 17th September.18.45 ‘Doors’ Open.19.00 -20.00 ‘Microminerals of Mont St. Hilaire’, Quintin Wight.20.00 -21.00 ’40 years of the BMS’, Roy Starkey.21.00 Social Evening – an invitation to show and tell – what have you been doing over the last year? Let other members know and see where you have been or what you’ve been up to. Saturday 18th September.08.30 Doors Open.09.00 -09.45 ‘Tsumeb’, Phil. Taylor.09.45- 10.30 ‘Broken Hill under the Microscope’, Steve Sorrell.10.30-10.50 Break.10.50 – 11.35 ‘Aris Quarry’, Michael Doel11.35 – 12.20 ‘The Chemistry of Lead and Copper Secondary Mineral Formation’, Frank Ince.12.20- 12.40 ‘Ten specimens that mean something to me’, David Ifold.12.40 – 13.00 ‘Ten specimens that mean something to me’, Susan Tyzack.13.00- 14.00 Lunch Break.14.00- 14.45 ‘Contemporary Fluorite Locations of Weardale’, Peter Briscoe.15.15-15.30 Break.15.30 – 16.30 ‘Michigan’s Keweenaw – Where Copper was King’, Paul Brandes.16.30- 17.30 ‘The Journey from an Unknown to a new Mineral’, Tony Kampf.17.30-19.00 Break.19.00 – 20.00 Quiz – Roy Starkey.20.00 -21.30 Social Evening. Sunday 19th September.08.45 Doors Open.09.00 – 10.00 ‘Devon Gems’, David Roe.10.00 -11.00 ‘John Ruskin and his mineral collection’, Roy Starkey.11.00-11.15 Coffee Break.11.15 British Micromount Society AGM followed by the results of the Photographic Competition and Society Awards. Photo: Scorodite from the Hemerdon Ball Mine, Plympton, Devon. Width of view 3.5mm. Steve Sorrell photo and specimen. Click on the […]
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