enable activities associated with the Smith Chairman’s Report for the map bicentenary. We have been fortunate to Annual General Meeting be awarded a contribution towards the cost of producing a leaflet for a William Smith trail in 2015 the Combe Down to Tucking Mill area, south of Bath. This leaflet will be designed and published in collaboration with the Combe The Bath Geological Society continues to Down Heritage Society, who have already flourish with a dynamic lecture programme and produced a leaflet for the general public on a range of well-attended fieldtrips around the Bath Stone mining around Combe Down. region. The membership is holding up at around 80 with, in general, about half that Apart from William Smith, our lectures have number attending the talks in Queen’s Square. provided a wide range of topics: earthquakes We are always pleased to see non-members in Asia (Richard Walker); new data on the coming to our events and hope that they will Moon (Ian Crawford); nanoparticles in join the society in due course. groundwater (John Tellam); modelling sedimentary systems (Pete Burgess); the This year has been the 200th anniversary of Palaeocene-Eocene thermal maximum the publication of the William Smith Map and (Stephen Grimes); the geology of western we held several special events to USA (Doug Robinson—to whom we are commemorate that – very appropriate since grateful for stepping in at short notice for a many of Smith’s ideas on the order of strata speaker who had to cancel), and fossils in biostratigraphy were derived micropalaeontology in industrial problem from the geology around Bath. His distinctive solving (Malcolm Hart), building stones at circular map of Bath published in 1799 was the Kingston Lacy (Peter Bath); the geology of first to show local geology and disposition of Anglesey (Dave Green). We are grateful to all sedimentary strata. In June, Professor Hugh our speakers for giving excellent, entertaining Torrens gave us a lecture on William Smith’s and well-illustrated talks. life in Bath, and his financial affairs in particular; it does seem Smith had bad luck on The Society had its annual clean-up and tour many occasions in his life, poor fellow, of Brown’s Folly in February and a trip to the although he was fortunate to have John Carey, Jurassic in Oxfordshire in March; many thanks the map publisher, as a close friend, who to Elizabeth Devon for this. Our July bailed him out several times. Later in June, excursion was to the Black Mountain, a David Workman, from our Society, took traverse from Brynamman to Llangadog, under members on an excellent walk from Combe the guidance of Geraint Owen from Swansea. Down to Tucking Mill, then Midford and along We were lucky with the weather, and saw the Somerset Coal Canal to the Combe Hay some great rocks. In September, Dave Green lock flight. There are many interesting kindly took the Society to Aust Cliff – a classic geological and historical-engineering features site in British geology. to see in this area. The earth science community in our region is There have also been lectures and fieldtrips extremely fortunate to be well provided with run by other societies around the country information and what’s on by the West Country where William Smith was active. The Geology Blog; we are very grateful to Geological Society of London held a 2-day Elizabeth Devon for running this. research conference on his life and various careers (canal builder, land drainer, mineral The Bath Geological Society is in great shape surveyor), but also on geological mapping, the and for all the efforts behind the scenes thanks ways in which it has advanced over the must go to the editor of this journal, Jane centuries, particularly in the last decade in the Browning, members of the committee for the digital age, with the use of satellite imagery, lecture and fieldtrip programme, and looking Lidar, photogrammetry and now drones. after the finances, to the BRLSI at Queen’s Square and Bob Draper (et al.) there. With donations from sponsors of the William Smith conference in London, the Geological Society has provided funds to local societies to Maurice Tucker Journal of the Bath Geological Society, No. 34, 2015 1 .