- Regional Groups. A significant early development of APIPG was the formation of groups in a number of different parts of the country where members could meet and discuss the many aspects of applied geology. This laid an important foundation for the Institution of Geologists that has continued today with the Society. This format has provided an important mechanism for professional geologists to pursue their CPD needs as well as building new relationships.
The East Midlands Regional Group was the first APIPG regional group to be formed. Its first meeting was held on 22 September 1976 in East Leake, Nottinghamshire. The honours for the second group to be formed are held by the South West Regional Group that held its first meeting on 19 November 1976 in Exeter. Other regional groups were formed hard on their heels with the West Midlands Regional Group’s first meeting being held on 24 March 1977; that of the North West Group was on 28 April 1977 at Winwick near Warrington; and the Home Counties North Regional Group’s first meeting was on 29 April 1977 in Luton. By the end of that year a regional group had been formed in the West of England and those for Yorkshire, the South East and Scotland were being formed. By 1980, IG had 12 active regional groups covering all parts of mainland Britain.
Apart from receiving the British Geologist, the regular meetings of the regional groups were the most direct contact that the growing membership had with the Institution. The majority of the meetings were to hear lectures and have informal discussions about aspects of applied geology, much as regional groups do today. Activities also included social events and discussions on the Institution’s development from the APIPG, and later the negotiations with the Privy Council and later still the reunification with the Society.
The Regional Groups were co-ordinated by one of the Institution’s two Honorary Secretaries who maintained a regular contact with the group secretaries and also chaired an annual Regional Affairs Committee meeting where all groups were represented.
- Presidents & Officers of Council of the Institution of Geologists(details of Honorary Editors is given on the section covering the British Geologist)
• 1978 - 1980 Bob Cummings
• 1980 - 1984 John Knill
• 1984 - 1985 Dan Ion (died on 31 August 1985)
• 1985 - 1986 John Knill (Acting President)
• 1986 - 1988 Colin Bristow
• 1988 - 1991 John Shanklin (served an extra year during the re-unification process)
• 1978 - 1979 Colin Bristow
• 1979 - 1980 John Knill
• 1980 - 1982 John Shanklin
• 1982 - 1984 Howard Headworth
• 1984 - 1986 Colin Knipe
• 1986 - 1988 Colin Dixon
• 1988 - 1990 John Mather
• 1990 - 1991 Alistair Lumsden
- Honorary Secretaries• 1978 - 1981 Colin Dixon and Roger Hawkins
• 1981 - 1984 John Catt and Rick Brassington
• 1984 - 1987 Brian Hunt and Peter Wright
• 1987 - 1988 John Seymour and David Whiteley
• 1988 - 1990 John Seymour and David Hopkins
• 1990 - 1991 Tony Griffin and David Hopkins
(IG had two Honorary Secretaries with one (the first named above) acting as Company Secretary with the other having responsibilities for regional affairs)
Honorary Treasurers
• 1978 - 1980 John Mather
• 1980 - 1982 Tony Vincent
• 1982 - 1986 Jeremy Joseph
• 1986 - 1989 Mike Owen
• 1989 - 1991 Gordon Robson
- The Aberconway Medal
- The Geologist’s Directory
Publication of The Geologist’s Directory was initiated by the Institution of Geologists in 1980 as a service to its members, with the intention of providing professional geologists working in the British Isles with a quick and ready access to the names and addresses of companies and organisations relevant to their work. As such, copies of the Directory were given free of charge to all members of the Institution (except students), the costs being met entirely out of sales to the public and from advertising revenue made possible by the collection of the information and the production of the book being completed on a voluntary basis by the successive editors and their many helpers.
Following the reunification in January 1991, publication of The Geologist’s Directory was taken over by the Society following the pattern established by the IG. Since the ninth edition in 1999, it has been published by a specialist publishing company on the Society’s behalf.
The tradition set by the IG was followed by the Society with Chartered Geologists receiving a free copy of the fifth (1991) edition under an arrangement agreed during the reunification process. All members of the Society have been able to purchase the fifth and subsequent editions at a reduced rate, as with all Society publications.
The style of the first edition set the pattern for the following seven, although the successive editors brought significant improvements and additions to the content, with a gradual increase in page numbers from 120 in the first edition to 568 pages by the eighth edition. Since the responsibility for the production of the Directory has been handed over to a specialist publisher the style has been fundamentally changed and it is now aimed at reaching a wider readership rather than simply providing information to professional geologists.
- Editions of The Geologist’s Directory and Editors
• First Edition 1980 Editor Rick Brassington
• Second Edition 1982 Editor Rick Brassington
• Third Edition 1985 Editor Tricia Henton
• Fourth Edition 1988 Editor Eddie McInairnie
• Fifth Edition 1991 Editor George Reeves – first GS edition
• Sixth Edition 1993 Editor George Reeves
• Seventh Edition 1995 Editor George Reeves
• Eighth Edition 1996 Editor George Reeves
• Ninth Edition 1999 Boundary Associates
• Tenth Edition 2000 Boundary Associates
• Eleventh Edition 2001 Boundary Associates
- The President’s Badge of Office (see top of article)
The President’s Badge of Office (or Presidential Jewel) was presented to the Institution by Sir John Knill on 17 March 1984 when, as retiring President, he welcomed his successor Dan Ion. John Knill described the design of the Badge as follows:
"The Badge is based on the design of the Institution’s Seal with the fused letters IG forming the central feature. In the surrounding ring of blue enamel the lettering is as in the Seal except that ‘Incorporated in 1977’ is replaced by ‘President’. The surrounding decorative ring contains the heads of a pick and a hammer which are taken from the crest of the Royal School of Mines. The RSM crest is directly derived from the decoration on the silver buttons to the uniform coats issued to the first staff of the Geological Survey in the 1840s. There is also the connection with the RSM being the venue of many of the meetings which lead to the evolution of IG, and associations with the donor. The medal is suspended from a hanger which contains the APIPG logo in red enamel. The hanger is suspended from a blue ribbon."
The medal was worn by successive Presidents on all official occasions. Following the reunification it was placed on display in the Council room in Burlington House and can be found on the wall facing the windows at the end of the room furthest from the door at the head of the main staircase.
- In June 1985, Council decided that it was appropriate to create a higher grade of membership within the Corporate Members in line with other professional institutions. This new grade of Fellow was initiated with six Founding Fellows being nominated by Council, all being former Presidents or Chairmen of Council. This group nominated a further fourteen members to form a Founding Fellows "college" of twenty. From that time Fellows were elected from those already Corporate Members. Those initially nominated by Council were:
• C.M. Bristow; R.H. Cummings; H.G. Headworth; D.C. Ion; J.L. Knill; and J.K. Shanklin.
- The fourteen members nominated by the intial group were:
• M.J. Barefoot; F.C. Brassington; Sir Malcolm Brown; J.A. Catt; G.Y. Craig; C.J. Dixon; Sir Kingsley Dunham; R.A. Fox; A.R.L. Jones; Sir Peter Kent; J.W. Lloyd; J.D. Mather; J. Newbury; and P.T. Warren.
- The third IG President, Dan Ion died suddenly while in office on 31 August 1985. A Memorial Service was held at St James’ Church, Piccadilly on 11 February 1986 by which time donations were received to start a memorial fund in his name. Sir Peter Kent, who had been President of the Geological Society at the time that APIPG was established and also was a Founding Fellow of the Institution, died shortly afterwards and it was decided to have a trust fund that remembered both Dan Ion and Sir Peter Kent. This Trust fund was known as the Distinguished Fellows Memorial Trust and was established "in acknowledgement of the significant contributions made to the Science and Profession of Geology in Great Britain and throughout the world by Dan Ion and Sir Peter Kent". The first Trustees were R.H. Cummings (Chairman), J.A. Seymour (Treasurer), C.M. Bristow, C.J. Dixon and J.W. Gaskarth. R.H. Cummings who had been the first President of IG and a Founding Fellow had been instrumental in establishing the Trust. When he died his name was added to the Trust description. The monies raised were used to assist young geologists (under 30 years of age) with their professional development, normally by contributing to the cost of travel to attend conferences or gain experience in other appropriate ways, the aim being to assist young geologists in the early part of their career, particularly those in industrial employment.
In 2001 the Trustees (who were by then J.W. Gaskarth (Chairman), C.V. Knipe (Treasurer), F.C. Brassington, C.J. Dixon, A.C. Lumsden and E.F.P. Nickless) decided that the aims of the Trust would be best served by it being wound up and the fund passed to the Geological Society for administration. Discussions were held between the Trustees and Council during 2001 and with the Charity Commissioners who’s consent was required to make the changes, and the Society took over the administration at the end of August.