News & Events
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ERMS South is moving!
We are moving venue & evening in September
The following two meetings will be the last to be held at HOPWA House, Inskip Drive, Hornchurch, Essex RM11 3UR at 7.30 for 8 p.m:
10th July - A Sceptical Look at the Dino-Bird Controversy by Mike Howgate
&
14th August - Gregory, Bottley & Lloyd - Mineral Dealers by Ivor Thurgood
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All following meetings will be on the FIRST Tuesday of every month at Shenfield Parish Hall, Hutton Road, Shenfield CM15 8LB at 7.30 for 8 p.m:
** - altered dates and venue - please amend your diaries - **
Starting with:
4th September - Minerals and the Microscope by Lisa Nunn
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All Shenfield meetings will be on the FIRST Tuesday of every month
See the Meetings Programme page for following meetings at Shenfield
and for meetings at Stanway.
Remember - all Members can visit either or both venues, so you get up to
24 meetings a year for your membership!!
The following two meetings will be the last to be held at HOPWA House, Inskip Drive, Hornchurch, Essex RM11 3UR at 7.30 for 8 p.m:
10th July - A Sceptical Look at the Dino-Bird Controversy by Mike Howgate
&
14th August - Gregory, Bottley & Lloyd - Mineral Dealers by Ivor Thurgood
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
All following meetings will be on the FIRST Tuesday of every month at Shenfield Parish Hall, Hutton Road, Shenfield CM15 8LB at 7.30 for 8 p.m:
** - altered dates and venue - please amend your diaries - **
Starting with:
4th September - Minerals and the Microscope by Lisa Nunn
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
All Shenfield meetings will be on the FIRST Tuesday of every month
See the Meetings Programme page for following meetings at Shenfield
and for meetings at Stanway.
Remember - all Members can visit either or both venues, so you get up to
24 meetings a year for your membership!!
Stanway Family Day in June
- a great success!
A big thank you to all of our helpers from ERMS and U3A!
Annual Show record turnout
The 2018 Essex Gem & Mineral Show drew a record number of people this year.
500 people came through the two halls to enjoy a huge variety of natural wonders, plus a new ERMS display revealing Essex geology under our very feet - and in Essex walls! All this with refreshments on hand. It was a real Buzz!
Thank you to all those members - young and slightly less young - who came from far and wide to help set up and dismantle the Show, the dealers love you.
See you next year - Saturday 23rd February 2019 10 - 4
Enquiries: the.erms.show@gmail.com
Enquiries: the.erms.show@gmail.com
Essex rocks!
Our Essex Rocks! Family Days at Chelmsford Museum's Sandford Mill centre will take place on six Fridays through August.
Let Ros know if you can help us at any time.
Let Ros know if you can help us at any time.
geology in Essex walls
A novel project has been put together
by ERMS Chairman Ian Mercer.
Uncover Essex geology just by gazing at walls!
Click on the Discovery tab at the top of this page
and go down to Walls Survey
to discover how you can join in.
by ERMS Chairman Ian Mercer.
Uncover Essex geology just by gazing at walls!
Click on the Discovery tab at the top of this page
and go down to Walls Survey
to discover how you can join in.
Pictures of wall materials are on the Survey page to help you -
Enjoy your closer look at the walls of Essex and beyond.
Enjoy your closer look at the walls of Essex and beyond.
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Come and join us at Stanway and Shenfield
We'd love to see you, young and old.
Bring your ideas and interests.
Bring your rocks, minerals, crystals, fossils, gems and pebbles!
Look under the Meetings tab for a list of talks and demonstrations
at ERMS Stanway and ERMS Shenfield.
Membership covers all meetings at both venues plus field visits!
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50th Anniversary of ERMS - February 2017
During the February meeting we were treated to a talk by Peter Minter about the Bulmer Brick and Tile Works which he has run for many years. Members had their first chance to buy the 50-year commemorative Bulmer brick inscribed with ERMS and the anniversary date. Made of pure Essex London Clay, the 50 bricks were fired early in December 2016. There are a few left, so if you want your own piece of Essex geological history ask for one soon.
The Founder of ERMS, Rowley Collier, received the first commemorative brick - No.1/50 - and the Jim Greenwood Award for 2016.
The Award was presented by Chairman Ian Mercer (right) who was the only other person at this anniversary meeting who had also attended that very first meeting in 1967. Who at this meeting will be at the 100th Anniversary in 2067? Volunteers?
The Award was presented by Chairman Ian Mercer (right) who was the only other person at this anniversary meeting who had also attended that very first meeting in 1967. Who at this meeting will be at the 100th Anniversary in 2067? Volunteers?
The evening ended with a great social and anniversary cake-opening!
At the meeting it was so good to welcome yet more new members. Younger people are also joining us as we head into success for the coming fifty years - well done everyone!
'Pebbles in Essex' poster published by ERMS!
Pebbles -
Find them in the garden - on the beach - in the walls of old buildings...
What are they made of? Where do they come from? How did they get here?
EVERY PEBBLE TELLS A STORY
Our new fold-up poster gives the answers.
With a grant from the Geologists' Association Curry Fund, Ros Mercer has produced a poster with a pebble identification chart plus the amazing story of pebbles, the Ice Age Thames and the Ice cap in Essex. Pebbles in Essex Churches are also featured, revealing a handy insight into Essex geological history and variety. Find out too about the story of flint and the way pebbles are formed.
All this for only £2
Obtain your copy from ERMS:
Find them in the garden - on the beach - in the walls of old buildings...
What are they made of? Where do they come from? How did they get here?
EVERY PEBBLE TELLS A STORY
Our new fold-up poster gives the answers.
With a grant from the Geologists' Association Curry Fund, Ros Mercer has produced a poster with a pebble identification chart plus the amazing story of pebbles, the Ice Age Thames and the Ice cap in Essex. Pebbles in Essex Churches are also featured, revealing a handy insight into Essex geological history and variety. Find out too about the story of flint and the way pebbles are formed.
All this for only £2
Obtain your copy from ERMS:
ERMS Member has fossil named after him - again
Ctenoplectus williamsi - that's the name of an Eocene puffer fish, named after its discoverer Bob Williams.
A paper by a group of academics has been published after CT-scans were made of a London Clay nodule that was extracted by Bob in 1991 at Aveley and, after attempts to extract the fish remains, was lodged safely with the Natural History Museum. Out of the blue, on Bob's birthday too (!) the paper and pictures arrived through Bob's letterbox.
What a present! For those who dig deeper, the paper is by Roger Close et. al., in Palaeontology, 2016, pp. 1–16.
For the rest of us, here's a reconstruction -
Bob receives an extra birthday gift -
a framed picture of 'his' fish
presented by ERMS Chairman
Ian Mercer during the
June 2016 meeting.
