Minutes of ES2k Committee Meeting
5 February 2003

Held in the Library of Methodist College, Belfast

Present: John Arthurs, Peter Crowther, Ian Enlander, Tony Bazley, Karen Parks, Bernard Anderson, Jasper Knight, Marie Cowan

Apologies: John Hancock, Alistair Ruffell, Patrick McKeever, Gretta McCarron

1. Opening - Chairman

JA: Informed the committee that John Hancock was no longer able to act as PRO for ES2k due to work and study commitments. He noted that the main item on this meeting's agenda was the Geology/Geography teacher's Forum.

TB: 2000 copies of a 16-page Issue 7 are due to be printed in April. This issue will include a section devoted to subjects relevant to the curriculum, including a feedback section for pupils or teachers to comment on the magazine. Other articles to be included are; Basement rocks of Northern Ireland (Barry Long), the European Geo Parks initiative and a book review of Paul's Lyle's recent publication, an item on the Causeway coast by Ruth Blair and a review by Phil Doughty on Alan Hills book. JA reiterated that the committee and indeed the members are obliged to TB for the tremendous work involved in editing the magazine. TB stated that contributions from committee members are always welcome, and invited items of personal news from ES2k members e.g. weddings, births, job moves etc.

3. Secretary's update

MC reported the following:

§ Twenty new 'individual' members have joined ES2k bring the membership total to 195.

§ In order to facilitate informal mail shots; it is necessary to acquire more e-mail addresses for the individual members than are already on the database. Maybe the best way to achieve this is to add note with Issue 7 of the ES2k magazine. This is believed to be the main reason why there has been a poor response to the e-mail request (10th December 2002) for 'county' ES2k representatives.

§ In order to facilitate delivery of Issue 7 to secondary schools in RoI, MC has acquired 75 addresses, however to ease the postage task, MC is to contact the Department of Education & Science for Provincial equivalents to the north's Education and Library Boards.

§ Contacted Sarah Stafford of The Geologists Association with regard to their Public Liability Insurance Scheme (previously mooted to treasurer on 7th October 2002). The GA plan to go ahead with this scheme in spring of this year and will send on relevant details in due course.

§ Consulted senior management within Customs & Excise regarding the advisability of ES2k becoming registered for VAT. Briefly, unless the membership becomes such that the printing costs are considerable (as the only foreseeable 'taxable supplies' ES2k will make are the magazines, Calendars, diaries etc.) then it would be unwise.

PC suggested that the secretary send minutes of previous meetings with agenda for following meetings.

KP has lodged cheques received and the bank balance stood at £1900.00 including £200 from private donations and £500 from the DOE. TB reported that, on behalf of the committee, he pledged £60 to the BGS, in order to sponsor a beginner's lecture at the museum. KP asked that all outstanding receipts be submitted in order to balance the books, however she suspected that even after printing costs, ES2k would still be in the black and we would then need to decide what to spend the remainder on.

5. Geography/Geology Teachers' Meeting

KP reported on the Geology Teachers' Conference held in Methodist College Belfast on 29th January 2003. A number of topics were discussed including coursework and the possibility of ES2k becoming involved in assisting with elements of the syllabus and establishing links with industry. KP reported the following points as requested by the delegates:

§ An Earth science lecture at the end of the year.

§ Greater links with industry with specialists coming into schools to talk about their careers.

§ Compilation of an Earth Science directory of people who are willing to provide work experience.

§ The production of a fieldwork booklet with examples of modified marks schemes and coursework from the individual centres.

§ To develop secondary sources where students and teachers could access information about different fieldwork sites, most probably via the ES2k website.

On the evening of this conference there was a meeting of Geography Teachers which was organised by KP and chaired by JA, also in attendance from the ES2k committee were TB and TBA. The Geography teachers requested workshops or fieldtrips specifically tailored for their subject and syllabus set by the Welsh Joint Education Committee for GCSE and OCR (Oxford, Cambridge & RSA examinations) for A Level. Topics highlighted were Geohazards, coastal morphology, erosions and landforms and igneous activity. KP highlighted the need for greater accessibility to fieldwork projects deemed to be excellent by examiners for pupils and teachers alike.

JA volunteered to lead a fieldtrip for Geography teachers to be held on Saturday May 24th 2003 at Murlough Bay between the hours of 10.30am and 4.00pm, with the help of other committee members and ES2k members. As regards the Christmas lecture, TBA suggested that ES2k contact the Geological Society in order to secure a high profile speaker, and offered to contact the Society on behalf of the committee. TBA suggested that any further 'subject specific' requests or enquiries could be made via the website, e.g. an paragraph and accompanying photo of TBA, JA and JB could be submitted to the website by way of highlighting areas of expertise on the committee. It was thought reasonable that expenses incurred on any further fieldtrips or workshops could be meet by the budget, however any requests of a commercial nature were entirely separate and not representative of ES2k

IE offered to scan hardcopies of exemplary fieldwork projects as PDF files to facilitate their being placed on the ES2k website so that they may be referred to or printed off by teachers.

PC offered to facilitate the input of previously prepared material onto the ES2k website.

KP resolved to further foster links with Geography and Geology teachers and to advertise Northern Ireland Examination Board CCEA rock sample availability (via WL) o the website.

PC reminded the committee of the forthcoming 46th Irish Geological Research Meeting held on 21st - 23rd February at the Ulster Museum in Belfast and organised by Mike Simms, Alastair Ruffell and PC. PC reported that Mike Simms was using the ES2k website as the primary source of information on this event. The committee wishes to record thanks to Mike Simms for this reason. PC reported that the website was receiving 1000 visits per month.

7. Irish Geology Week

Irish Geology Week has been moved from May to September in order to coincide with European Heritage Week.

An ideal opportunity to advertise ES2k and the forthcoming fieldtrip will occur April 10th 2003 in Antrim at The Geography Interboard Forum. TB and KP plan to be there to man a stand. IE offered to design and print A5-sized fliers to be distributed at the event. TB offered to contact Rosalie Granger as she has ES2k promotional display material. The next ES2k Committee meeting will be held in the library of Methodist College, College Gardens Belfast on Wednesday 14th May at 1830. The committee wishes to record thanks to Dr W. Mulryne (Principal of Methodist College Belfast) for the use of its facilities.

Actions:
8.1 MC to send letter of thanks to Dr Mulryne.

The meeting closed at 9.30pm.

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