The Club’s Meetings schedule runs from March/April each year, with field visits in the summer months and indoor meetings in the winter months. This pattern is largely followed by the Geology meetings schedule, though some field meetings may take place in the winter when vegetation is low. This section will contain brief details both of main Club and Geology meetings from past years. Not all meetings will have reports attached. Details from older years are further down the page. Full reports of indoor Winter meetings will be found in the Transactions for the relevant year.
‘The Medieval Jewish History of Herefordshire’: Life and Learning at Hereford Cathedral
We’re delighted to be working in partnership with Hereford Cathedral’s Life and Learning programme on the Medieval Jewish History of Hereford. The programme has organised an important lecture event on the subject, at College Hall, Hereford Cathedral, at 7.00 pm on 17 September 2025. This is in memory of Joe Hillaby, our former President, whose contribution to Jewish history was huge. Tickets cost £10 per person and can be booked by phone on 01432 374 225 or online at www.herefordcathedral.org/events. Please click here to see a poster with programme details and confirming ticket information. We’re also looking forward to the Club’s talk of Saturday 3 January, a further part of the partnership with the Cathedral, when Debra Higgs Strickland of Glasgow University will talk about ‘The 1290 expulsion and the place of Hereford’s Jewish community on the Hereford Mappa Mundi’.
Saturday Meetings Programme—Winter 2025-26
All meetings will be held in the Town Hall, Hereford, starting at 14.15, except on Saturday 7 March, when the start time for the AGM and President’s address will be 13.30. Non-members are welcome to all talks.
2025
- 13 September - Will Watson: ‘Conserving and managing Ice Age Ponds’
- 11 October - The F. C. Morgan Lecture. Michael Colquhoun: ‘Rare bird sightings in Herefordshire over two decades’
- 8 November - Miriam Griffiths, Chair, Longtown & District Historical Society: ‘The Old Olchon Baptists: stories and evidence’
- 29 November - David Whitehead: ‘St Guthlac of Crowland, Hereford’s forgotten saint’
2026
- 3 January (in partnership with Hereford Cathedral) - Debra Higgs Strickland, Glasgow University: ‘The 1290 expulsion and the place of Hereford’s Jewish community on the Hereford Mappa Mundi’
- 24 January - Will Watson: ‘The ecology of the River Teme: a unique river'
- 14 February - Katy Churchill, Churchill Archaeology: ‘Buckholt Wood Community Dig, investigating a significant prehistoric landscape’
- 7 March – START AT 13.30 - AGM and President’s Address, Edward Perks: ‘G. F. Bodley and Herefordshire’
Friday Geology Meetings—Winter 2025-26
All meetings will take place on Fridays, in Hereford Town Hall, from 18.00 to 20.00. Non-members are welcome.
2025
- 24 October - John Lonergan: ‘How geology influenced the railways of Herefordshire’
- 14 November - Dr Arthur Tingley: ‘Ongoing work after the publication of the Knighton Geological Sheet’
- 12 December - Christmas nibbles. Bring a rock, fossil or antique. Discussion about the Club’s 175th anniversary celebrations
2026
- 16 January - Dr Babette Hoogaker, Heriot-Watt University: ‘The fate of ocean oxygenation in a warming world’
- 20 February - Dr Claus-Dieter Hillenbrand, THOR Cambridge: ‘Ice tipping points and the geological record’
- 20 March - Dave Green: ‘Geostudies—geology and landscape of the Woolhope Dome
Field Meetings Programme 2025
| No. | Date | Location | Led by |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Friday 25 April | Explore historical buildings and the surrounds of Presteigne | Duncan James |
| 2. | Saturday 17 May | Cwmyoy Expedition | Alan Bowring |
| 3. | Saturday 24 May | Medieval brasses, Hereford Cathedral | Prof. Nigel Saul |
| 4. | Saturday 21 June | Coningsby Museum, Blackfriars monastic remains and rose garden, Hereford | Dr Howard Tomlinson, President |
| 5. | Sunday 20 July | Snodhill Castle excavations | Tim Hoverd |
| 6. | Wednesday 23 July | Arthur’s Stone excavations | Prof. Keith Ray and Prof. |
| 7. | Wednesday 10 September | Behind the scenes tour of palaeontology | Dr Emma Nicholls |
| 8. | Tuesday 7 October | Geodiversity Day in the Gullet Quarry, Malvern Hills | Moira Jenkins |
For more details of the content and arrangements for each Field Meeting please click here. Please click here for the booking forms.
These documents have also been sent to members by post.
Autumn/Winter Meetings and Geology Meetings 2025-2026
Details of these programmes will follow once they are finalised. They will be published later in the year.
Saturday Meetings Programme—Winter 2024-25
All meetings will be held in the Town Hall, Hereford, starting at 14.15. Non-members are welcome. The Extraordinary General
Meeting of 14 September 2024 will begin at 13.30 before the talk at 14.15 that day.
2024
- 14 September – Extraordinary General Meeting at 13.30. Talk at 14.15—David Whitehead: ‘Lady Brilliana Harley, a Puritan heroine’
- 12 October – The F. C. Morgan Lecture. Prof. Julian Thomas, Manchester University: ‘Arthur’s Stone revisited: a Herefordshire chambered cairn and its context’
- 9 November – Peter Hammond: ‘The river sewage pollution scandal’
- 30 November – Prof. David Siveter, Leicester University: ‘Exceptionally preserved Cambrian fossils of the Chengjiang lagerståtte, China’. This follows on from Prof. Siveter’s tak in 2022 about the Siluruan lagerståtte in Herefordshire
2025
- 4 January – Philip Hume: ‘The Mortimers of Wigmore: lords of the Welsh Marches and (nearly) kings of England’
- 25 January – Rachel Sycamore: ‘Church chests in Herefordshire: tales from a conservator’
- 15 February – Judy Stevenson: ‘Sutton Walls revisited’
- 15 March – President’s Address. Lucinda Orr: ‘Valuing the Herefordshire hoard’
Friday Geology Meetings—Winter 2024-25
All meetings will take place on Fridays in Hereford Town Hall, from 18.00 to 20.00. Non-members are welcome.
2024
- 27 September – Prof. Jon Clatworthy, Lapworth Museum, Birmingham University: ‘Professor Lapworth, his life and geology’
- 18 October – James Creswell, Geoworld Travel: ‘A geological journey through Iceland’
- 13 December – Christmas nibbles with rocks and fossils. Discussion about the Club’s geology trips / events, 2025
2025
- 17 January – Mark Baggot, University of Worcester: ‘Paleontology and the school fossil project’
- 21 February – Stuart Cuming, Geomorphologist, Environment Agency: ‘The geology, hydrology and ecology of our rivers’
- 21 March – Rose Watkins: ‘George Piper and the Ledbury ‘passage beds’’
Field Meetings Programme 2024
| No. | Date | Location | Led by |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Saturday 4 May | Silurian anticlinal inliers on the Hereford / Gloucester border | Dave Green |
| 2 | Saturday 8 June | Historic buildings, Hereford Cathedral School | Dr Howard Tomlinson (President), Duncan James |
| 3 | Saturday 29 June | Croft Castle, landscape and art | David Lovelace, Richard Gilbert, Paul Ligas |
| 4 | Saturday 20 July | Clydach Gorge | Alan Bowring |
| 5 | Thursday 25 July | Arthur’s Stone | Prof. Keith Ray |
| 6 | Wednesday 14 August | Lapworth Museum and Winterborne House, Birmingham | Jon Clatworthy, Ann Harbour |
| 7 | Wednesday 18 September | Landscape and geological aspects of the Hantar Hill area | Geoff Steel |
For more details of the content and arrangements for each Field Meeting please click here.
Members are also invited to visit the Sidney Nolan Trust exhibition at the Rodd, Presteigne, for a guided tour on Saturday 21 September. Further details will follow but please contact the Field Secretary if you are interested.
Autumn/Winter Meetings and Geology Meetings 2024-2025
Details of these programmes will follow once the they are finalised and published later in the year.
The Club meetings have been arranged making every effort to follow Government and Council guidelines and members are advised that they attend at their own risk. Because of circumstances beyond the Club’s control it is possible that meetings may have to be cancelled at short notice. Before attending an advertised meeting, members are advised to check the Club website or your emails for late news.
Field Meetings Programme 2023
- Saturday 22 April 2023 - Downton Gorge, Tom Wall
- Wednesday 3 May - Purlieu, West Malvern, John Payne
- Wednesday 17 May - Blackfriars Rose Garden & St. John Museum, Anne Harbour
- Saturday 27 May - Silurian Anticlinal Inliers on the Hereford-Gloucester Border This meeting was cancelled and has been rescheduled in 2024. Dave Green.
- Thursday 8 June - Offas Dyke, Knighton, Prof. Keith Ray
- Thursday 15 June - Weobley, President Rachel Jenkins
- Saturday 8 July - Black Mountains, Alan Bowring
- Saturday 19 August - Kilpeck, David Whitehead
Autumn/Winter Meetings Programme 2023-2024
All meetings will be held on Saturdays at 2.15 p.m. in the Town Hall Assembly Room, Hereford unless otherwise notified and will generally be illustrated. Non members are welcome.
2023
- 16th September - Duncan James, Timber-framed buildings of Herefordshire: The results of research
- 14th October - Dr Stephen Roberts, The FC Morgan Lecture: Radicalism in Herefordshire, 1640 - 1660
- 11th November - Stuart Hedley, Initial Studies on the Vegetation of Herefordshire
- 25th November - John van Laun, Winter AGM. The "destruction" of Hereford Cathedral - preservation, restoration and intervention
2024
- 6th January - Roger Gill, No shortage of Honey Bees
- 27th January - Jane Adams, Political Reform in Early 19th Century Herefordshire: Slavery and "Old Corruption"
- 17th February - Prof. Jim Rose, Glaciations of the British Isles, with reference to The Marches
- 16th March - Club President, Spring Annual Meeting - Presidential Address
Geology Section Meetings Programme 2023-2024
Friday lectures are held in the Town Hall, Hereford at 6:00pm
2023
- Friday 22nd September - Dave Whitworth - Merlin Energy Co. Ltd, An introduction to Carbon Capture and Storage
- Friday 20th October - Prof. Richard Bryant - Earth Heritage Trust, Holocene in Herefordshire
- Saturday 4th November - Woolhope Club attendance at Geologists Association at Festival of Geology 2023 in University College London
- Friday 15th December - Kate Andrew, Mortimer Landscape of North Herefordshire
2024
- Friday 19th January - Dr. Sue Hay, Martley Rock - a Victorian Gem Unearthed
- Friday 8th March - Prof. Ian Fairchild, Latest update and explanation of "The Anthropocene"