NAMHO CONFERENCE 2012
The 2012 conference had been planned for Nenthead but had to be changed when the NPHT had problems earlier this year. Plans have been developed at short notice to hold the conference around Alderley Edge in Cheshire. The main venue is the National Trust property at Quarry Bank Mill near Wilmslow and the conference will be held from 29th June - 1st July. The conference will be hosted by the Derbyshire Caving Club.
“Copper, lead, cobalt, salt, coal, fireclay, limestone –
Cheshire’s diverse mining history”
Cheshire may appear as a green and fertile county with cheese and milk as the major industries up to the end of the 19th century but, beneath the county, there are still massive reserves of salt which fostered the chemical industry in the north west of England. There are also metal ores in a form not worked to a great extent anywhere else in the UK. To support these industries, the county also provided coal from its eastern margin, limestone from the southeast as well as fireclay and ganister for furnace bricks. The conference will focus on the variety of minerals found in Cheshire and neighbouring Staffordshire as well as providing an opportunity for exploration of the Alderley Edge mines in particular.
STOP PRESS
- Bookable trip round Quarry Bank Mill available for Sunday. Otherwise, all delegates will be able to visit the Mill in their own time for free.
- New trip (A29) on Friday with Chris Carlon covering geology at Alderley Edge (if you have already booked trip A02, you can use the booking form to change your choice of trip)
- Tony Seddon (with his Starless River caving equipment shop) is expected to be present at the conference
- Talks now include the tunnels of Stockport and laser scanning mines
- New page with interactive map of venues can be found HERE or can be reached via the Venue page.
- Some bugs fixed in booking form. Pricing should not now charge for packed lunches you haven't ordered!
There are talks relevant to Alderley Edge, copper mining and Bronze Age mining on the Saturday and Sunday and also a range of field trips over the weekend. Field trips and talks include related industries - such as coal mining areas and the salt and potash industries. The boundaries of the talks and field trips extend to include North Staffordshire and South Lancashire, areas which have not been the subject of much coverage at previous conferences. Offers to present papers are welcomed from members and others to cover similar counties where mining is not a prime industry or other topics of interest. The conference flyer can be downloaded HERE.
For anyone less interested in the talks, there will be field trips (both surface and underground) in the morning as well as the afternoon.
More details about Alderley Edge can be found on the Derbyshire Caving Club website.
If you want to contact the organisers, send an email to namho2012 [at] DerbysCC.org.uk (please replace the [at] with an @ symbol). Any personal details received will only be used to contact clubs and individuals regarding the 2012 conference. For further details of the DCC data protection policy, please refer to this page.
If you hit any problems with the website, please send details to me as soon as possible at the address above.
Nigel Dibben
Printed: 23/02/2012