Help needed at Somerset Earth Science Centre

The organiser at the new Somerset Earth Science Centre is desperate to find someone who could help her at the Centre on an ad hoc basis. This person would be paid £40 - £50 per day. He/she would be helping with all ages (7 years to adult) on geology, rivers and environmental science.....
This is a great opportunity for someone with teaching experience and an interest in the natural world.
Email if you would like more details.

October trip to Fife and Lothian

Sunday 4th - Wednesday 7th October:
Over One Hundred Volcanic Vents: Fife and Lothian, Scotland
Leader: Dr. Nick Chidlaw
Four-days, entirely in the field - We shall examine the plethora of Carboniferous / Early Permian rocks in both coastal and inland exposures. We shall view the vents at Elie, St. Andrews, the Lomond Hills, North Berwick, and Arthur’s Seat in Edinburgh; pillow lavas will be seen at Kinghorn on the Fife coast.
Tuition fee £80.00.
Further details - click here
To contact Nick, click email
If you are interested in this trip, please let Nick know by Saturday 29th August. If the trip reaches viability by this date, further enrolments are welcome afterwards, up to one week before the trip is due to run.

Dates for your diary

Monday August 31st, 10.00 - 4.00 - Rock It

Thursday September 3rd, 7.30p.m. - Club Evening - Bath Geological Society
There will be a short presentation '90 years of geology' plus some exhibits by members. Everyone is welcome.

Saturday September 12th, 2.30 p.m. - Aust beach - from Permian Desert to Jurassic Sea. Beach walk to examine rocks on the beach and in the cliff. Leader John Toller, WEGA
Stout footwear advised. Minimum age 14 - Children must be accompanied by a responsible adult - minimum age 14
Please ring Heritage Open Days booking line between 9.00am -4.00pm on 01454 863592 weekdays to book a place.

Saturday 12th, Sunday 13th September - Oldwood Pit at Rangeworthy is open.
Members of Bristol NATs are meeting on 12th at 14.30 p.m.to look around, in the light of David Hardwick's talk 'The Mines of South Gloucestershire and their Geology'.
The pit is up a narrow track, into a wooded area, off New Road(Wickwar Road on 25,000 OS), Rangeworthy. This is road runs eastward from the Memorial Hall, off of the B4058 as it passes through Rangeworthy. The grid reference for the pit itself is ST697863. There should be signs, at least from the B4058.
If you are likely to be there, please contact Bristol NATs.
If you are unable to be there at 14:30 on Saturday but would still like to visit, it is open from 14:00 until 18:00 on Saturday 12 and 10:00 until 18:00 on Sunday 13 September. There is, apparently, no charge for entry but a suitable donation would be gratefully accepted!

Saturday September 19th, 10.30 a.m. Bath Geological Society Southern end of the Malvern Hills, Leader: Dave Owen, Gloucester Geology Trust
We will visit Chase End Hill and Howlers Heath at the southern end of the Malverns and see Malvernian pegmatites and gneiss, Ordovician Shales and dolerite sills, Silurian sandstones and Permo-Triassic sandstones and breccia. Also the trip will have great views of landscape.Meet at 10.30 a.m. at GR SO 756349. A map and written details will be available on request. There is a steep climb at one point, and a steep descent at another.

Rock & Fossil Event - 31st August

On Bank Holiday Monday, 31 August, between 10am and 4pm, the annual 'Rock & Fossil' event will take place on the Bristol & Bath Railway Path at Saltford near Bristol. This popular day provides an opportunity for the public to talk to experts about local rocks, fossils and minerals and to bring along some of their own examples to have them identified. Members of the Bristol Naturalist's Society will also be present to answer your queries about local natural history.
Simon Carpenter, the event organiser, says "This popular event returns for the ninth year with something of interest for all ages. There will be displays of local fossils and minerals, a geological quiz for adults and free fossil samples for children to take away. There is also a serious message - that many of our quarries and rock exposures are disappearing. At the end of the day it is all about popularising and protecting our geological heritage".
The Bristol Naturalists' Society, the West of England Geologists' Association, the Avon RIGS Group and Bath Geological Society will all be represented at the event. So don't miss out - make a date in your diary now!"
The free event will run from 10am to 4pm on Monday 31 August 2009 on the Bristol and Bath Railway Path near Saltford. The event (Grid Ref: ST 686679) is located approximately 200 yards north west of the Bird in Hand Public House at Saltford (on the stretch of the Railway Path between Saltford and Bitton). Access to the Railway Path and the event can be made via the Bird in Hand PH car park or from Avon Lane, Saltford.
Click here for more details.

Oldest human fossil in Spain

A small piece of jawbone has been found in a cave in Spain; it is the oldest known fossil of a human ancestor in Europe and suggests that people lived on the continent much earlier than previously believed. The fossil was found at Atapuerca in northern Spain, along with stone tools and animal bones and is up to 1.3 million years old. That would be 500,000 years older than remains from a 1997 find that prompted the naming of a new species: Homo antecessor, or Pioneer Man, possibly a common ancestor to Neanderthals and modern humans.
Further details here.