Museums & Education

Radioactive Uranium Ore

An essential part of the work of the South Yorkshire RIGS Group was to raise the awareness of the importance of geology in the economic history of the region and to support other local environmental and conservation initiatives - and strong links with  museums were made. 

Sheffield City Museum

At Sheffield Museum, as the manager and geology specialist at the “hands on” National History Centre for children and adults, I supervised staff, volunteers and participated in the demonstrations by the local society “Invert” - with live tarantula spiders, snakes and various other arthropods that moved quickly or very slowly. 

The museum was also the venue for a variety of events to promote the activities of environmental organisations in the region and I organised the rock and fossil shows. At these, I would talk about the specimens on display and answer various questions on the subject of geology that were asked by members of the general public - of all ages and abilities.

A piece of the Palace of Westminster

At Clifton Park Museum in Rotherham, I classified, catalogued, cleaned, labelled, photographed and packed their collection of 1500 unsorted mineral specimens and reorganised the associated educational resources.  

I also assisted in the design and copywriting for the geology display panels and I acquired objects with local and national heritage value, which included pieces of coal and an architectural detail from the Palace of Westminster.

Boston Park

Even though the teaching of geology has disappeared from many universities and schools in the UK, the subject still appeals to local groups and societies and, in addition to providing formal adult education courses, I have provided numerous illustrated talks on the geology, landscape and architecture around South Yorkshire and the Peak District National Park.

Field trips are an essential part of geological education and, as part of promotional activities, formal courses and organised field trips with local natural history societies, the geology of a wide variety of rocks was explained using natural exposures, old quarries, fossil localities, cemeteries - and in the grounds and gardens of ancient monuments.