The 2004 - 2005 programme included 15 meetings or field trips, and enjoyed talks or walks from 6 visitors, the rest of the events being organised by our own members.

Attendance at meetings has increased this year, with 20 to 30 people at each talk.     There were from 8 to 12 participants on the field trips. Our hospitality at meetings continues and I am very grateful to those volunteers who make tea and coffee and provide cakes for meetings.     Offers for the supply of cakes for future meetings would be appreciated.

The talks programme has attracted from 10 to 30 people, which is a larger number than previous years.     Talks on the flood basalts in Greenland, La Palma, and Jersey show how much we all get about and we enjoyed theoretical talks on the Earth's heat sources, Permian mass extinctions and the use of geophysics in archaeology.

Thanks to Bob Appleyard for giving a talk at short notice and to Ian Chisholm for taking us to Derbyshire to look at the limestones of Lathkilldale and the sandstone syncline around Stanton.     Field trips to Folly Dolly Falls in Meltham, Ribblesdale in North Yorkshire and the Wakefield Gate from Hipperholme to Halifax were led by our members.     The start of the 2005 - 2006 season has also included some interesting talks and field trips.

Brian Farrington is still enthusing his large U3A class about geology, with different topics each year.

Sales of the two Huddersfield booklets are continuing steadily.     We have plenty of stock left and would like to continue active selling.

We participated in the Yorkshire Geology Month in May and June in cooperation with the West Yorkshire RIGS group and took six walks around Horbury, Castle Hill, the centre of Huddersfield, Meltham and Jackson Bridge.     The walks attracted numbers from 6 to 30, many of them people who would not otherwise find out about local geology.     Yorkshire Geology Month is taking place again in 2006 and we plan to have a similar programme.

The connection with West Yorkshire RIGS (Regionally Important Geological Sites) continues, so some of the conservation work that we try to do in this district stems from RIGS initiatives.     The RIGS group has completed the geological interpretation of Castle Hill and we hope that the leaflet will be published in time for a launch in the spring.     Waymarks are already being added to stiles and posts along the trail routes.

The website is very well used locally and gets appreciative comments from similar geological organisations.     I am proud that we are able to advertise our activities so professionally, as well as provide information about the rocks and landscapes of the Huddersfield district to anyone who is interested.     The website has extended the number of people who are aware of what we care about, as it draws on the Rocks and Landscapes book that we produced a few years ago.

The Newsletter continues to enable us to communicate within the group, so many thanks to Julie for producing it before each meeting.     It reports and publicises field trips and meetings so that everybody has a chance to become involved in whatever activities interest them.     Thanks also to Andrew who quietly publicise the Huddersfield Geology Group in many ways.     Andrew's beautiful posters are much appreciated and I hope that they can have wider distribution in the area.

Planning the annual programme requires imagination and contacts.     Julie and I would welcome help this year.     It might be appropriate to appoint a Programme Secretary to the committee to formalise the commitment that planning the programme involves.

I would like to start teaching evening classes for AS level Geology starting in September on Monday evenings, as it is clear that there is a demand for a more formal approach to learning about geology.     I think that Huddersfield Geology Group would benefit from the interest shown by people who have had the opportunity to study geology for exams and who would support field trips and talks.

This plan would involve me in a considerable time commitment and would involve the committee in extra organisation.     It would be a good idea if the committee could be enlarged by at least one person, to help with this, if the general members believe that this is a sensible proposal.     I therefore suggest that a Vice Chairman is appointed to help with general running of meetings and planning of our activities.

My thanks to all of you who continue to be interested and enthusiastic about local rocks and landscapes.     It is wonderful to see many people participating in other groups and activities and representing the Huddersfield Geology Group more widely.     This enthusiasm is the key to our enjoyment and should be valued highly.

Alison Quarterman

The database of registered members is growing all the time and at present we have 56 people on the books.     Everyone on the database is sent a new programme in August as it becomes available.

The newsletter remains our main source of communication with a copy appearing on the website.

Julie

            1.   Apologies for absence
            2.   Minutes of the 2004 AGM
            3.   Chairman's Report
            4.   Secretary's Report
            5.   Treasurer's Report
            6.   Adoption of the accounts
            7.   Election of Officers:
                                                    Chair
                                                    Secretary
                                                    Treasurer
                                                    Vice chair
                                                    Programme Secretary
                                                    Publicity officer

            8.   Subscriptions for 2005 - 2006
            9.   Programme for 2005 - 2006
          10.   Book sales
          11.   Any other business

Hydrothermal vents are extreme environments in the deep-sea where cold seawater seeps down through volcanic rocks, is heated by magma, reacts with the rocks and rises back to the surface of the ocean as hydrothermal vent fluid.     Vent fluid is very hot, oxygen poor, acidic and full of metals (especially iron, zinc, copper and manganese) and hydrogen sulphide.     When this fluid reacts with cold sea water there is a rapid precipitation of sulphate and sulphide minerals.
Surprisingly, hydrothermal vents are home to large numbers of extraordinary animals, many of which are completely dependent on symbiotic bacteria to live.    These bacteria use hydrogen sulphide in the vent fluid as their energy source.     Vent communities are thus dependent on geochemical rather than solar energy sources and this buffers them from almost all major events (e.g. mass extinctions, global climate change) affecting all other photosynthesis-based marine and terrestrial ecosystems.     Thus, the evolutionary history of vent animals and communities is likely to be very different to almost all other marine biotas.    The only direct evidence for this evolutionary history comes from the fossil record of vent animals.     This presentation will review this fossil record.