Climate Change Storymat

Building on the format of the successful interactive Storymats developed by RSPB, the new RSGS Climate Change Storymat has been developed to create awareness of the Earth including habitats, biodiversity, climate and weather. It has also been designed to help young children think about personal actions we can take to reduce the effects of climate change on the environment. We introduced the Storymat at a recent twilight session attended by 10 primary teachers from Perth & Kinross schools, and piloting is now underway with two P3 classes at St Johns primary school in Perth. After piloting, the resource will be available for loan to Perth & Kinross schools.

Perthshire's Adventure Festival - Jam Packed with Exciting opportunities for adventure!

There are a fantastic range of events involving the RSGS taking place as part of the fun filled Perthshire Adventure Festival.

The Fair Maid's House will host a range of exciting presentations through the day on Saturday 14th June, culminating in an evening of truly inspirational talks at the North Inch Community Campus.

This day of intimate presentations, storytelling and Q&As at the Fair Maid's House will run 10am-4pm. These talks are free to enter but spaces are limited - call 01738 472236 or book online.

10am - Steve Bate
11am - Adventure Storytelling
12pm - Tim Baillie MBE
1pm - Calum McNicol
2pm - Adventure Storytelling
3pm - The Meek Family

Evening Talk - 14th June, 7pm, North Inch Community Campus

Three inspiring speakers in one evening at the North Inch Community Campus.

The Meek Family, Stephen Venables and Sean Conway will give presentations on a variety of subjects. The Meeks will discuss their project to get their young family away from screens in into outdoor adventures. Stephen Venables will talk about his journey to South Georgia to mark the centenary year of the Endurance expedition, Extreme endurance adventurer Sean Conway will share the story about his Great British Triathlon - Swimming, Cycling and Running the entire length of Britain.

Pre-booked tickets are just £8 for RSGS Members, or £10 on the door. Book at 01738 472236 or online.

Adventure Photographer Lukasz Warzecha will launch his photography exhibition at the Fair Maid's House over the weekend, and will speak at the Fair Maid's House on Sunday 15th at 10am. Tickets to this intimate talk session are £10. Book at 01738 472236 or online.

As if that wasn't enough the weekend is filled with even more activities - including another inspiring talks evening on Friday 13th, and a range of outdoor activities from bushcraft to archery and even bungee jumping! See the full programme at www.pkc.gov.uk/adventurefestival

Applications Closed: Job Opportunity at RSGS: Temporary Office Assistant

APPLICATIONS FOR THIS POSITION ARE NOW CLOSED

We're looking for a Temporary Office Assistant to join our small team at our Perth HQ for three months, full time. See the details of Main Duties, Specific Tasks and Person Specification below.

Please send your CV and Cover Letter detailing your suitability for the role to Mike Robinson at mike.robinson@rsgs.org

Main Duties

·        Responding to telephone, postal and e-mail enquiries ·        Welcoming visitors and answering door enquiries ·        Co-ordinating volunteer rota ·        Managing meeting room bookings ·        Diary management for office and CEO ·        Helping set up for meetings, events & room hire ·        General administrative duties including filing, typing, correspondence and record keeping ·        Maintaining membership database and producing membership cards ·        Issuing papers and minute taking for Board Meetings and other committees

Specific Tasks & Responsibilities

·        First point of contact for membership, groups and general enquiries ·        Administration and co-ordination of Membership records, & correspondence ·        Maintaining central computer and physical filing system

Person Specification
Skills/Aptitude	Essential	Desirable
Good verbal & written communication skills Numeracy Computer literacy (Microsoft Office) Experience of database software (Access) Flexible attitude to work Good customer focus Administrative experience Experience of working in a small team or for a charity Good at dealing with public, polite manner	ü ü ü ü ü ü ü	ü            ü

Temporary Full Time position for 3 Months. Salary £12,000 - £16,000. Normal working days Monday - Friday 9am - 5pm, though some flexibility may be required for specific events.

Ed Stafford will share the extraordinary story of his walk down the Amazon River, from source to sea, in a talk at Perth Concert Hall on Monday 24th March. Ed’s journey down the Amazon, which took 860 days to complete, was the first time in history that anyone has walked the entire length of the longest river on Earth.

    

Ed and his friend Luke Collyer set out on this monumental challenge in 2008. They believed it would take them one year and would involve walking 4,000 miles. In the end, two and a half years and 6,000 miles later, only Ed of the original two, would make it to journey’s end on the Atlantic. Along the way he had climbed an 18,000 feet mountain; witnessed and filmed never-before-seen tribal ceremonies; eaten cactus, tortoises and tapirs; been mistaken for a human body part trafficker; and met a local guide named Cho, who, after Luke’s departure, accompanied Ed on his mammoth trek

.

The talk will take place at 7:30pm in Perth Concert Hall on Monday 24th March. Tickets are £10 for adults, £7 for under 18s, students and RSGS members. Tickets are available from the Horsecross Box Office on 01738 621031 or at www.horsecross.co.uk.

To find out more about becoming an RSGS member contact enquiries@rsgs.org. The Royal Scottish Geographical Society (RSGS) is an educational charity which promotes an understanding of the natural environment and human societies, and their interactions, making the connections between people, places and the planet, and aiming to inspire positive long-term change.

 More information on Ed Stafford can be found at www.edstafford.org Attached photographs are copyright Pete McBride

Scotland's First Professional Nature Photographer Laurie Campbell shares his photos of 'Wild Harris'

Photographer Laurie Campbell will share his stunning images from his time working for the North Harris Trust in talks for the Royal Scottish Geographical Society in Inverness, Perth and Stirling between 13th-15th January.

The evening’s presentation will show the results from a recent project where Laurie worked on a photography commission for the North Harris Trust to photograph the wildlife, landscape and a little of the culture of a community-owned 62,000 acre estate in this wild and beautiful part of Scotland.

Working through the seasons over the course of a year on the Trust’s 62,000 acre estate, he will describe his experiences of photographing species such as golden eagles in winter, and then from a tiny camouflaged hide thirty feet away on a cliff ledge overlooking their eyrie where he captured some of the most intimate photographs ever taken of these birds at the nest.

Although the commentary throughout the presentation will occasionally include some technical information about equipment and photographic techniques used, the style is equally aimed to be informative about the various habitats and subjects together with the fieldcraft skills required to get close to them.

This talk is kindly sponsored by Scottish Natural Heritage.

Born in Berwick-upon-Tweed in 1958 and with a life-long interest in the natural world, Laurie Campbell has dedicated over thirty five years to photographing Scotland’s distinctive wildlife and flora. In the beginning his aim was simple, to show what he had witnessed to others who might have neither the time nor the inclination to go out into the field and experience nature in as much detail for themselves.

After graduating from a four year degree course in photography at Napier University he continued accumulating stocks of photographs of wildlife and in 1985 became Scotland’s first full-time professional nature photographer. His imagery is published across a range of media and is widely recognised for its distinctive style and his preference for using natural light and belief in photographing subjects which are neither captive or manipulated but simply as he finds them in the field.

Laurie’s talk Wild Harris will take place at 7:30pm on:

13th January - Inverness - The Highland Council Chamber, Glenurquhart Road, Inverness, IV3 5NX

14th January - Perth - North Inch Community Campus, Gowans Terrace, Perth, PH1 5BF

15th January - Stirling - Logie Lecture Theatre, University of Stirling, Stirling, FK9 4LA

Everyone is welcome. Tickets are £8 for adults, free for students, under 18s and RSGS members.

For more information about the RSGS talks and how to join the Society visit www.rsgs.org, contact us on enquiries@rsgs.org, find us on Facebook or follow the Society on twitter @RoyalScotGeoSoc.

Shakespeare's Scotland: 25th September

To coincide with Perth Theatre’s production of Macbeth, on the evening of Wednesday 25 September, the Royal Scottish Geographical Society will be putting on an informal display from its extensive collections of these splendid early maps of Scotland, together with others of the same period, and drawing particular attention to those geographical localities named by Shakespeare in his play.

Margaret Wilkes, one of the joint authors of the recently-published, much-acclaimed ‘Scotland: Mapping the Nation’ and Convener of RSGS’s Collections & Information Committee, will be present to guide visitors through this special display and to point out items of interest about the maps.  She will be accompanied by Tony Simpson, a member of RSGS’s Collections Team, who has produced a sequence of detailed Powerpoint images focusing on the places which have particular association with Shakespeare’s Macbeth: Forres, Darnaway, Cawdor, Inverness, Glamis, Macduff’s Castle by East Wemyss, Birnam and of course Dunsinane.

This special evening will run from 17.30 – 18.30hrs and take place at the Society’s Headquarters, Lord John Murray’s House, 15 - 19 North Port. Perth.

Tickets are £5. Places are limited. Please book by contacting 01738 455050 or enquiries@rsgs.org

Exploration: Perth Man Central to the History of the Falkland Islands

Bruce Gittings, Vice Chair of the Perth-based Royal Scottish Geographical Society remembers Matthew Brisbane, a little-known Perth-born explorer who was influential in the Falkland Islands in the early 1830s. This was a time when Britain was re-asserting its claim over Argentina - or the newly-independent United Provinces of Río de la Plata, which later became part of the Argentine Republic.   

Matthew Brisbane was born in Perth in 1797, the son of a blacksmith who lies buried in an unmarked grave in Greyfriars Kirkyard.  Little is known of his early life, but he went on to accompany explorer James Weddell to the Southern Ocean. Brisbane captained the cutter Beaufoy while Weddell sailed the Jane looking for seals while also engaged in exploration. 

Painting of James Weddell´s second expedition, depicting the brig "Jane" and the cutter "Beaufroy", published in James Weddell´s book, first edition, London, 1825 (public domain)

Brisbane reached Patagonia and the pair surveyed the then recently discovered South Orkney Islands in 1823. They sailed south once more and, on 20th February 1823, reached 74° 15' S - a record extremity for the time - within what is now the Weddell Sea, close to the coast of Antarctica. 

Brisbane returned to Britain in 1826, but soon set sail again, this time commanding the Prince of Saxe-Coburg and intent on capturing seals in the South Orkney Islands. However, he was shipwrecked off Tierra del Fuego and rescued after some months by HMS Beagle. He had an unlucky time on the seas and was shipwrecked twice more in 1829: in the Hope off South Georgia and in the Bellville again off Tierra del Fuego. 

Brisbane then settled in the Falkland Islands, becoming Superintendent of Fisheries for the German-Argentinian merchant Luis Vernet (1791 - 1871) who had been appointed Governor of the islands by Argentina. 

Brisbane was at the centre of conflicting interests as Britain re-asserted its authority over the islands following twelve years of rule by Argentina.  The British first landed on the Falklands in 1690, naming them after a Scottish nobleman, but left in 1776 due to pressures on military expenditure because of the American War of Independence.  They did however make clear that sovereignty was not being renounced.

The Falklands at this time was a lawless place, with sealers, fishermen, adventurers and the beginnings of a penal colony.  As an official of the islands Brisbane presented himself to Captain Fitzroy on HMS Beagle when it called at the Falklands in 1833, this time with Charles Darwin on board.  

However, Brisbane, alongside a number of island officials, was murdered by a group of Argentinian gauchos and convicts the later same year, following a disagreement over payments, and was hastily buried.  The exact circumstances were not clear at the time and his brother, John Brisbane, living at 17 John Street in Perth asked the Admiralty to investigate.  

Thomas Helsby, a British clerk, was a witness to the murders and his account of meeting the killers was recorded “I was ordered by them into Captain Brisbane's house, and there first saw his body lying dead upon the floor, he appeared to have been making towards his pistols before he fell, and there was smile of contempt or disdain very strongly marked in his countenance. They dragged his body with a horse to a considerable distance, and plundered the house.”

The Beagle’s Captain Fitzroy returned to the island and was disgusted to find Brisbane in a shallow grave, his feet protruding from the ground.  He wrote: “This was the fate of an honest, industrious, and most faithful man: of a man who feared no danger, and despised hardships. He was murdered by villains, because he defended the property of his friend; he was mangled by them to satisfy their hellish spite; dragged by a lasso, at a horse's heels, away from the houses, and left to be eaten by dogs.” 

In 1842, Brisbane’s remains were moved to a nearby graveyard on East Falkland and a marker erected by the noted Scottish explorer James Clark Ross (1800-62).

Brisbane’s name is commemorated in Brisbane Road in Stanley (Falkland Islands), Cape Brisbane on Henderson Island (Tierra del Fuego) and Brisbane Heights on Coronation Island (South Orkney Islands). 

Bruce Gittings’ interest in the subject stems from his work on the Gazetteer for Scotland, an authoritative web site which attempts to catalogue the bens and glens of Scotland, together with the people who inhabited them.  This work has been ongoing since 1995 and now represents a massive body of information.

The Royal Scottish Geographical Society celebrates exploration through its collections and education work, and the Society’s  visitor centre in The Fair Maid’s House, Perth.

www.rsgs.org

Beacons: Stories for our Not So Distant Future.

This week sees the publication of a book of short stories by leading UK authors depicting visions of a positive sustainable future, which was inspired by the villages of Guildtown and Wolfhill.     During the Climate Challenge Funded GW Carbon CAP scheme ten authors were invited to spend the weekend in discussion with locals, leading environmentalists and a range of experts.   The authors gave poetry and prose readings for villagers, ran sessions for local children in how to draw cartoons, and took part in a ceilidh and a number of other social events.    Expenses and costs were funded by the Climate Challenge Fund and the Sibthorp Trust. 

Authors meet in Wolfhill.

After the weekend, the writers were challenged to create their own short stories.    In all, twenty one leading authors have contributed stories to the book, and the list is very impressive, including people such as Alasdair Gray (author of Lanark), AL Kennedy (author of Day and So I Am Glad), Janice Galloway (author of The Trick is To Keep Breathing), Joanne Harris (author of Chocolat) and cartoonist Nick Hayes, who has drawn a graphic short story and designed the book’s cover. By engaging such talented writers, who can portray positive and engaging stories of the social and quality of life benefits of taking positive action, it is hoped that more people should be able to visualise and be willing to embrace the sorts of necessary change. 

Beacons: Stories for our not so distant future.

The Book, entitled ‘Beacons, Stories for our not so distant future’ was released on March 8th, during the UK Government’s Climate Week, and is the brain child of Mike Robinson, Chief Executive of RSGS, who along with the editor Gregory Norminton, has been looking to get this book written and produced for the past seven years.    It retails at £8.99 from One world publications, and a donation from every book sold will go towards Stop Climate Chaos Scotland, the largest coalition ever formed in Scotland, which continues to seek positive action on climate change, and which Mike helped found and chaired from 2006-2010.

Mike said “This book is intended to communicate to the heart and imagination, in a way that much scientific literature struggles to do.    Some people seem to fear change more than they fear climate change.   We hope this book of short stories will challenge, engage, amuse and inspire people and that it might encourage people to think about the sorts of changes they can make to help.”

Fair Maid's House - A Volunteer's Story

Being retired for a few years and not really having a focus, when I saw the request for volunteers for the Fair Maid's House, I thought that might be an idea of something useful to do for the summer.

I didn't know much about RSGS, so went onto the web to find out a bit more. That got me even more interested. I have always been interested in geography and maps, since the National Geographic magazine came in the post when I was quite a small child in the 1950s, and when it was a map month that was even more exciting, especially if it was of the UK and you knew the places on it. I certainly would not class myself as a geographer, just an interested person.

Travel has been a big part of my life after being widowed in my forties. I decided that I had to see a bit of the world before I was too old to really enjoy the travel. Highlights have been trips to the west coast of America and Hawaii, the Canadian Rockies, a recent visit to Singapore and, with my work, a year on secondment to Oman.

The Fair Maid's House has some fantastic exhibits.

So – a visit to speak to Fiona, and a volunteers information session, and I was ready to go!

 When we opened in April, it was still quite cold and sometimes snowy, but it was the Easter holidays and we had a steady stream of visitors. Some visitors want to just look around on their own. Others are quite happy for you to tell them stories about the displays. In the beginning I don't think my stories were very accurate, but after being on with some more experienced volunteers they improved over time. You keep finding out more all the time. There were times when it would have been nice to have had more visitors, but unless you move the Concert Hall so as we can be seen, I am not sure how that can be changed. The photographic display during the summer months made us busier and let people experience the house as well. Lots of visitors say they will be back.

The highlights of volunteering are the people – the staff of RSGS, the other volunteers, and of course the visitors. People really love to share their experiences with you – where they live, where they have visited, and lots of times the fact that they knew the Fair Maid's House in the past. Visitors have come from all over the world. One amusing story was the group of young locals who put their heads round the door and asked if they could come in. They went round and were asked to sign the visitors book. The result was that, in amongst the “very interesting” and the “excellent”, there is now the comment “BEAST”, which apparently means “very good” in young speak.

Will I do it again? Of course I will. Roll on April 2013. Will you join us?

If you are interested in volunteering in the Fair Maid’s House during 2013, please contact Fiona Parker on 01738 455050 or email fiona.parker@rsgs.org.

 

Scotland Rocks - a Geology Conference for High School Students

The RSGS was behind Scotland Rocks, a conference for Higher Geology students, which took place in Perth on the 3rd and 4th March in Fife and Perth.


Scotland Rocks was  a two day conference for what could be the last group of Higher Geology students.  The RSGS  convened this conference of students, scientists and educationalists in Perth to highlight the threat to geology as an academic discipline. 

On Sunday, the students, who represented nearly every student currently studying Geology, were taken on a field trip to St Monans. The goals of the field excursion were to: identify key rocks types around St Monans, interpret depositional environments of sedimentary rocks, make a small geological map and find some geological treasure!

The field trip was led by staff from the University of St Andrews, GeoBus, University of Dundee, British Geological Survey and the Royal Scottish Geographical Society.

On Monday, the students were addressed by the well-known TV presenter and Scottish geologist, Professor Iain Stewart, who is President of the RSGS. They then took part in some fascinating workshops on Volcanoes, Tsunamis, Fossils, Communicating Earth Heritage and Studying Geology at University.  

Professor Iain Stewart with some of the Perth High School Geology students.

While the conference was organised by RSGS, the original call to action came from Perth High School, where current students are desperate to see that geology continues to be represented in the curriculum.


The RSGS chief executive, Mike Robinson, has called on ministers to ensure that geology had a future in Scottish schools. “We are determined not to see this subject disappear from our schools, or be sliced and diced until there's nothing left,” he said. 

“There is a danger that this country, which has led the world in geology and geography, is turning its back on these practical and vital modern sciences through a simple lack of understanding.” 

Students building an indoor geological map at Perth Concert Hall.

The conference was organised with the help of the Scottish Geodiversity Forum and the University of St Andrews' GeoBus, with workshops and representatives from Geopark Shetland, Perth Museum and Art Gallery, The University of Edinburgh, The University of Dundee and the University of St Andrews.

See the programme for Scotland Rocks here:

http://issuu.com/rsgspubs/docs/scotland_rocks_programme?mode=window

Speaker asks "Do We Really Travel Anymore?"

Dan Kieran, author of The Idle Traveller: The Art of Slow Travel, will speak in Inverness, Stirling and Perth between the 11th and 13th of March

He will discuss the modern approach to travelling. Dan will ask if we really travel any more, or if we just arrive.  Besides extolling the virtues of ‘staycation’ holidaying. Dan argues that we need to bin the brochure, glide rather than fly, embrace disaster, be epic in our travel pursuits, and immerse ourselves in the life-changing experience of true journeying.

Dan Kieran "The Idle Traveller".

Dan avoids flying, preferring to travel slowly to his destination out of the belief that it helps us understand more about ourselves and the places we pass through and visit. 

These talks are part of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society’s Inspiring People talks programme.

Dan is Deputy Editor of The Idler, a bi-yearly British magazine. He is a writer, editor, and CEO and co-founder of the crowd-funding publishing platform Unbound. 

He is Editor of Idler Books' Crap Jobs, Crap Holidays (Crap Vacations in the United States), The book of Idle Pleasures, Co-editor of two volumes of Crap Towns, author of I Fought The Law, Planes, Trains and Automobiles and co-author of Three Men In A Float with Ian Vince.

Dan’s talk “The Idle Traveller” will take place at the following times and venues.

Inverness: Monday 11^th Feb at 7:30pm.

The Highland Council Chamber, Glenurquhart Road, Inverness, IV3 5NX.

Perth: Tuesday 12th Feb at 7:30pm. 

Perth Concert Hall, Mill St, Perth, PH1 5HZ.

Stirling: Wednesday 13th Feb at 7:30pm.

Albert Halls, Albert Place, Dumbarton Road, Stirling, FK8 2QL

Tickets are £8 for adults, (redeemable if buying membership) and free for students, under 18s and for RSGS members. Tickets are available on the day from the venue. For more information about any of our talks this season please visit www.rsgs.org/events/

Collections Corner - Tales from the Collections Team

Our collections are still emerging from endless cardboard cartons, large white elephant-like containers and from map chests, all previously hidden away in enforced off-site storage. This storage was imposed on us when we moved our Headquarters in 2008 from Glasgow to Perth and then during the time our new accommodation in the Fair Maid’s House was being made ready for us.

Each week some, if not all, of our enthusiastic 10-strong Collections Team gathers for the day and exciting things suddenly resurface.  Watch this space to see what emerges over the next weeks and months! 

ONE HUNDRED YEARS ON 

In November a 1925 map of Arctic Lands, published in America by the National Geographic Society emerged from the depths of our ‘Arctic’ map drawer.  One of our keen-eyed Team was examining this and spotted in the right-hand corner a tiny line of print. This revealed that on that particular spot the world’s largest passenger ship - the Titanic - on its maiden voyage, sank on 15 April 1912.

One hundred years and 7 months later, our RSGS Team stopped work to look.  Here, shown lying to the south of the Newfoundland coast – at the small scale of map used by the cartographer it looked very close to the coast, though in fact was some 600km off - was where so many lost their lives.

One tiny line on a map, yet a poignant reminder of a geographical location where something happened which shocked the world, and continues to do so.

 

A Section of the National Geographical Society's Arctic Map.

 

A close up of the marking  "Titanic Sank".

The Society has extensive book, journal, map, and photographic collections which are available to members. These collections are continually updated, and RSGS welcomes donations of relevant material.  Please send any enquiries about the collection to collections@rsgs.org and we'll get back to you as soon as possible (please note that the Collections Team is voluntary and meets once a week).

For more information about the Collections, the Enquiry Service and Access see http://www.rsgs.org/collections/access.html

'Inspiring People' speaking at Perth Concert Hall

Stunning photography, slow travel and adventures on every continent: three fascinating talks are still to come to Perth as part of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society's 'Inspiring People' talks programme.

First up, renowned photographer Timothy Allen will be sharing images from his time as the official photographer for the BBC series Human Planet.  He will visit Perth on the 15th of January to offer a behind-the-scenes look at the awe-inspiring series, which marvels at mankind's relationship with nature in the world today.

Timothy Allen. Human Planet.

In February, Dan Kieran will discuss the reason's he thinks travellers should stop looking for the fastest travel options,  take the 'slow travel' option, and learn to appreciate the experience of travelling.  Dan asks if we really travel any more, or if we just arrive. Besides extolling the virtues of 'staycation' holidaying, Dan argues that we need to bin the brochure, glide rather than fly, embrace disaster, be epic in our travel pursuits, and immerse ourselves in the life-changing experience of true journeying. Dan will speak on the 12th.

Dan Kieran. The Idle Traveller.

Adventurer and climber Neil Laughton will speak for the RSGS on the 5th of March.  

Neil has completed the Explorers Grand Slam, climbing the highest mountain on each continent and skiing to the Geographic North and South Poles. He has also made 12 first ascents in Greenland, trekked unsupported across South Georgia, circumnavigated the UK on a jet-ski, and piloted the world’s first road-legal bio-fuelled flying car 10,000km from London to Timbuktu.

Neil Laughton. Adventures on Seven Continents.

These talks will all take place at Perth Concert Hall. Tickets are £8.50 (includes booking fee) for adults and free for Students, under 18s and RSGS members.  Tickets are available at www.horsecross.co.uk and the Box Office 01738 621 031.  For more information on these talks please contact fraser.shand@rsgs.org 

To find out more about the Royal Scottish Geographical Society, visit www.rsgs.org, or follow us on Facebook www.facebook.com/RoyalScottishGeographicalSociety and Twitter www.twitter.com/RoyalScotGeoSoc

Perth High School pupils link up with the Great Barrier Reef

On Friday 23^rd of November pupils at Perth High School found themselves connected directly with researchers on the other side of the world in a live internet link up organised by the company Digital Explorer. Digital Explorer and Perth High were brought together by Dr Joyce Gilbert, the Education Officer at the Royal Scottish Geographical Society.  

On a wet and windy November morning the Higher Managing Environmental Resources and Advanced Higher Biology classes were transported to warmer climes as they took part in a live Skype chat with researchers on the Great Barrier Reef off the north-east coast of Australia.  Pupils spoke to a marine biologist and a geographer who were aboard their research vessel some 15,000km away, and learned about some cutting-edge research which is now underway.  

The pupils were fascinated to hear about their innovative research project, their adventurous dives, and their findings so far.  Amongst other observations, the researchers reported evidence of coral bleaching on the reef and a close encounter with Tiger sharks earlier that day!  Pupils also got an interesting tour of the boat, which gave them a great insight into life aboard a research ship.  

Take a Trip up Highway 89 at RSGS Talk

TAKE A TRIP UP HIGHWAY 89 AT RSGS TALK

Mountaineer Ian Mitchell shares his stories of Cowboys, Indians, Mormons and Mineworkers.

Ian Mitchell will take audiences a journey along Highway 89 in his talks in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Perth next week. His illustrated lecture features his most recent trip in the Rocky Mountain region.  along Highway 89 from the Mexican to the Canadian borders, through Arizona, Utah, Wyoming, Idaho and Montana, in search of Cowboys and Indians, Pre-Columbian civilizations, Mormons and Mineworkers.

Ian's journey took him through some of the USA's most staggering National Parks including Zion, Yellowstone and Glacier, and also ventured into the backwoods of mountain America, to the Hanksvilles and Pinedales where a tourist is hardly seen. This is portrait of Mountain America at a time of crisis and change in US society.

Ian R Mitchell is a successful writer and mountaineer.  He co-wrote the classic Scottish mountaineering book Mountain Days and Bothy Nights  and A View from the Ridge which won the prestigious Boardman-Tasker Prize for Mountain Literature.  He has been published widely in newspapers and journals and has appeared on radio and television programmes on travel and the outdoors, such as BBC’s Landward, Country File and Country Trax programmes. 

This talk is part of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society’s Inspiring People talks programme.  

Ian Mitchell’s Talk ‘Up the Rocky Mountain Spine’ will take place at the following venues

November 6th:  

Perth: Perth Concert Hall, Mill Street, Perth, PH1 5HZ at 7.30pm.

November 8th:

Glasgow: Renfield St Stephens Church Centre, 260 Bath Street, Glasgow, G2 4JP at 2.15pm 

Edinburgh: Appleton Tower, 11 Crichton Street, Edinburgh, EH8 9LE  at 7.30pm. 

Tickets are £8 for adults, and free for students, under 18s and RSGS members.  Tickets are available on the day from the venue. For more information about any of our talks this season please visit www.rsgs.org/events/