Programme of Events

The Black Country Geological Society’s indoor meetings are now held at The Lamp Tavern. The room is on the top floor and there is a lift. The address of The Lamp Tavern is 16 High Street, Dudley, DY1 1QT.

Unless otherwise stated, the indoor and Zoom meetings will normally open at 7.30 and lectures commence at 8.00.

Those wishing to attend field or geoconservation meetings please contact our Field Secretary (email address on the Contacts page).

Any non-members wishing to attend our virtual meetings should contact our Meetings Secretary for instructions (email address on the Contacts page).

Other contact details are also available on our Contact us page.

Updated 31 August 2026.

Members please check your email for any last minute changes.

Recordings of some of our virtual talks can be found on our YouTube channel.

Events in October–November 2026

  • 11 October
    Smestow Valley and Erratics at Wightwick Manor and the Mount Hotel

    Smestow Valley and Erratics at Wightwick Manor and the Mount Hotel   10.30 - 4.00

    Sunday 11 October (Field Meeting): Smestow Valley and Erratics at Wightwick Manor and the Mount Hotel. Led by Andy Harrison and Julie Schroder. (This trip will be an approximate re-run of the BCGS field trip which took place on 14 February. Organised primarily for the Warwickshire Geological Conservation Group, this trip is now a BCGS/WGCG joint event.) Meet at Smestow Valley Local Nature Reserve, Meadow View Terrace, Wolverhampton WV6 8NX (Grid ref: SO 891 999), 10.30. In the morning we will walk around Smestow Valley, examining its geology in the context of the local landscape. Wear suitable outdoor clothing for the weather conditions. Finish this session around 12.30. Either bring a packed lunch or you can purchase lunch locally.

    The afternoon session starts at 1.30 in the car park at Wightwick Manor, Wightwick Bank, Wolverhampton, WV6 8EE, Grid Ref: SO 868982. (NB: The post code is misleading: the grid ref. shows the car entrance from the Bridgnorth Road, A454.) Meet by the ticket office in the car park where we will be admitted (without charge) as a group. Please be there on time! We will visit the recently cleaned array of glacial erratic boulders, and other glacial erratics around the property, and learn something of their geological and social history. Drive on to the Mount Hotel, Mount Rd, Tettenhall Wood, Wolverhampton WV6 8HL. Grid ref: SO 874989. Meet in the hotel car park at 2.45 – 3.00 (depending on exit time from Wightwick Manor). Here we have permission from the hotel to visit the erratics from Charles Benjamin Mander's late 19th century 'bouldery'. We will examine their varied geology and learn about their connection with the Wightwick Manor erratics. Finish 3.30 – 4.00. NB. If we are unable to visit the Mount due to a private function, there will be an erratic-themed alternative.
    Click here for a Google map for Smestow Valley LNR.
    Click here for a Google map for Wightwick Manor.
    Click here for a Google map for The Mount Hotel.



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  • 19 October
    'The Ediacaran Biota of Charnwood Forest: the behind the scenes story'.

    'The Ediacaran Biota of Charnwood Forest: the behind the scenes story'.   8.00 -

    Monday 19 October (Indoor Meeting): 'The Ediacaran Biota of Charnwood Forest: the behind the scenes story'. Speaker: Dr. Mike Howe (Chief Curator and Head of the National Geological Repository at the British Geological Survey). There are several speakers talking on the results of the work and the implications for the origins of multicellular organisms, but I believe that original discovery of the fossils around 1849 and their subsequent erroneous discrediting, plus the pivotal role played by a local society – Section C, LLPS (Leicester Literary & Philosophical Society) – in reinvigorating Ediacaran research in the UK, makes an equally interesting story.
    Click here for a Google map for The Lamp Tavern.



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  • 16 November
    'Bringing Forward the Past: Black Country Geology, Past, Present and Future' - Part 2

    'Bringing Forward the Past: Black Country Geology, Past, Present and Future' - Part 2   8.00 -

    Monday 16 November (Indoor Meeting): 'Bringing Forward the Past: Black Country Geology, Past, Present and Future' - Part 2'. Speaker: Graham Worton (BCGS Chair and Keeper of Geology for Dudley). This talk will complete Graham's fascinating insight into the Geology of the Black Country. Part 1 was delivered to the Society on 19 January under the title: 'Geological Knowledge and the Geology of the Black Country up to 1900'. If you missed it, or want to refresh you memory before Part 2, it is available on our YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76Pi2HbQU-c
    Click here for a Google map for The Lamp Tavern.



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