Solent Regional Group News
Gold Panning in Devon
On a beautiful weekend in May, 18 intrepid explorers set out for the river Dart, spending the day gold panning in the shallows under the watchful eyes of our guides Mark and Roger. Finds ranged from sparkly specularitic hematite, garnets and wood copper to, of course, gold. Technique helped, but was obviously not the be all and end all, as one of the youngest attendees had the highest success rate but definitely not the most refined technique! The following day the group enjoyed a private guided tour of Kents Cavern in Torquay before descending the cliffs at Hope’s Nose to see where the famous Hope’s Nose dendritic gold had been found and to search for Devonian coral reef fossils.
Evening Visit to Hampshire Museums Geological Collection
In March we had a behind the scenes view of the extensive geological collection held by Hampshire County Council Museums Service. The collection is composed mainly of a small number of large collections merged together over the years together with numerous other smaller scale donations and enthusiastic collecting on the part of past Keepers.
The Group listened to an introduction to the collection and learned of its history and then spent over an hour looking at the collection in a manner akin to children let lose in a sweet shop.