Teesdale u3a

This month’s session continued the Physical Geography theme, focusing on Natural Hazards as part of the current GCSE Geography course material or at least my understanding of it. The session opened with a short slide presentation defining Earth’s natural hazards, then exploring the risks they pose to people and the environment, finally a short introduction… Read more

In the June meeting, I had the great pleasure of introducing our own member, Jane Harrison, to a large gathering of group members. Her substantial, fascinating and fact-filled talk was on the subject of Copper Mining. With emphasis as regards Lower Swaledale as around Richmond and environs, with a special look at the mining activity… Read more

Prof. Philip Steinberg, Durham University Arctic expert, described Greenland as a crossroads both geographically — between Europe and North America, and at the heart of an increasingly significant Arctic — and historically, after more than 4,000 years of habitation. The earliest settlers were the Saqqaq (c.2500–900 BCE) and Independence I (c.2500–1800 BCE) cultures, followed by… Read more

The planned session was to be a talk entitled "The RNLI 200 years” and presented by Martin Kenney, ex-coxswain of the Tynemouth lifeboat. Due to circumstances, he was unable to deliver this in person, but was able to pass on the presentation. The history of lifeboats in the UK predates the formation of the RNLI,… Read more

Dr. Les Knight, a geologist whose career has spanned work in the coal industry, exploration for gas in coal measures and mudstones, and research with Nirex on long-term nuclear waste disposal, delivered a talk on the concept of "Snowball Earth" and the deep history of climate change. He opened by situating his subject within geological… Read more