Member Networks Annual Report Form Reporting events held in 2017 and those planned for 2018 In line with the rules for member networks and to enable us to better support our networks and their activities all member networks (Local Sections, Interest Groups and Analytical Division Regions) are asked to complete this form and return it to networks@rsc.org or by post to; Networks Team, Royal Society of Chemistry, Thomas Graham House, Science Park, Milton Road, Cambridge, CB4 0WF. Deadlines Deadline for receipt of Financial Accounts by RSC Finance Team: 9 th February 2018 Deadline for receipt of Annual Report by Networks Team: 26 th February 2018 If there is any reason that your committee will not be able to meet either or both of these deadlines please inform networks@rsc.org as soon as possible. This report will be uploaded to your web page to share with the members of your network. Staff will also share a digest of all member networks activities taken solely from these annual reports with appropriate staff and governance boards and committees including Division Councils with similar interests. Committee RSC Cumbria Section Completed by Kevin Webb Date 11 th February 2018 Please list below the dates of all of your planned committee meetings and, if held, AGM. Annual General Meeting (if being held) Date: March 22 nd 2018 Venue: The Chase Hotel, Whitehaven Cumbria Proposed Committee Meetings Dates Date 13 th February 2018 22 nd March 2018 (following AGM) Venue The Chase Hotel Whitehaven Cumbria July/July 2018 October 2018
2017 Events Please append electronic copies of any meeting reports, newsletters or relevant materials to this report. Please report below on activities undertaken in the past year. If you have more detailed information about any particularly successful events, or advice to share please use a separate sheet. For more events continue as necessary. EVENT KEY: Education Event (including outreach activities for school students or the general public) Public Lecture Retired Members Event Scientific Conference - 1 day Scientific Conference - multi day Social Event Training/workshop Award Lecture Other Please note that the recent annual reports tended to cover February to February but this time will actually cover calendar year 2017. Thus at writing of this report some of 2017 events have been in the previous year report whilst a 2018 event has occurred. Event Name Quiz Night Social Event Again RSC Cumbria Section Committee member Richard Evans produced an excellent quiz. The event was at the Chase Hotel on the 12 th of January and had an attendance of 28, slightly increased over last year. Event Name Christmas Event Social We again decided to hold our Christmas Event in January to avoid clashes with other Christmas events. Steve Wilson gave a talk on Tea followed by a Christmas Meal This took place on the 27 th of January 2017 at the Chase Hotel commencing 1930 and 16 people attended, which is down on last year s attendance (several of the expected attendees were on holiday).
Event Name World War 1 talk Public Lecture 23 rd February 2017 at the Chase Hotel, Whitehaven. We had around ten attend for the talk on James Morton and the formation of Solway Dyes in World War 1 that was given by John Hudson. Event Name Summer-Autumn Quiz Social Event Held at the Chase Hotel, Whitehaven on the 7 th September 2017, An addition to our usual Winter quiz, at the request of several members, but this time with a new quiz master, John Brook. A more varied quiz than usual, including a question on pictures provided and the need to draw an answer. Attended by about 30 people. One person asked if we could organise one of these every month! Event Name Picture Competition, What does Chemistry look like to you Other The Cumbria Section s 1 st attempt at a Picture Competition on What does Chemistry look like to you, enter a picture/photograph with a 30 word caption. It was a competition for primary/secondary students and the public. Age groups are: Under 7, 7-10, 11-13, 14-16, 16-18, over 18). There was meant to be a prize for the winning entry of each group and a free calendar made up of images from each age group. Initially began in July and had an initial deadline of mid- September that was subsequently extended to October due a low uptake. We ended up with fewer entries than expected and the prize categories had to be altered and no calendar was produced. We will review as a committee as to whether to repeat this again in 2018.
Event Name Top of the Bench Heats 1 and 2 Education Event (Academic Competition) This year it was decided to have a north and south event to see if we could get more participation from a wider area of Cumbria and this was successful. The first heat was held at Queen Elizabeth Grammar School, our 2016 section winner, on the 11 th of November. The second heat was held at Ulverston College on the 17 th of October 2017, We have in total 16 teams from 14 schools, which is a lot more than when we held one event. The overall winner and representing the Cumbria section at the national level is Austin Friars, Carlisle. A particular thanks to Jennifer Rochford for leading in the organisation of both of these events with assistance from a number of others on the RSC Cumbria Section s local committee. The north event had issues with the practicals: battery charging and separation/crystal growing. These both went much better at the 2nd, southern event. We separated each team into years (9, 10-11) for some of the quiz section of the day and this worked well. However, both sections struggled a lot with the organic chemistry and ph equivalence and we aim to leave these topics out next year. We believe think we have much of the event already organised for next year, noting that we are now not handing out quiz questions to the teachers post event, allowing reuse/rewriting. Event Name Murder Myste-RSC event (very late Chemistry Week 2016 event), October 2017 Education event The RSC Cumbria Section had an interactive Murder Myste-RSC stand where the public can undertook various experiments to identify the murderer. Held at the Mitchells Auction Car Boot Sale @ Cockermouth. (Lakeland Livestock Centre, Cockermouth CA13 0QQ). After a slow start, the stall gained good interest amongst the car boot regulars, with children, parents and grandparents all having a go at the analytical experiments (UV dyes, fingerprinting, TLC of pen dyes etc). Thank you goes in particular to Sarah Wilson and others involved in organising and manning the stand.
Event Name The Origin of the Elements Public lecture Held at the Chase Hotel on the 2 nd of November. Speaker Dr Nick Bryan gave a thoroughly interesting and popular talk on how the elements are formed in association with the stars. We were expecting 40-45 people but end up with 55 or so, which is a record turnout for a recent non-joint lecture. As a number had not communicated their intention to attend we under-ordered on food, but this did not detract from the event. Awards and Bursaries Please list any awards or bursaries presented by your committee in the past 12 months and indicate any which will be open for nomination/application in the next calendar year. Please ensure that all members of your network are notified of any awards or bursaries for general application. See events concerning a picture competition that will be reviewed for a possible similar competition in 2018.
Other information/comments: Also this year:- Mark Gibson has done a science show for the brownies Kevin Webb gave talk to the West Cumbria Rotary Group on Fireworks in November. Other RSC Cumbria members have again been involved in STEM events/company science demonstration events in Cumbria/elsewhere in the country. Michelle Quin (Michelle Huggon prior to being married this year) and other committee members continue to be involved with the Joint Institution Group, which looks at opportunities of joint professional body events and assisting with education related events. We have again had a varied attendance and the question went out to committee members and contacts that support our events to why this could be. Improved promotion and communication of the events may help. The committee have actively engaged more members to be ordinary members, and also improved the communication and advertisement of events on Social Media and across professional institutes to bolster event attendances. It is hoped that this will continue the larger turnouts at events, as first seen at the origin of the Elements talk.
Future Activities When planning any activities please remember to ensure that all events are logged on our events database and ensure that all contracts are sent to our Legal Team with enough time for amendments and, where necessary, approval by the Board. Please outline any activities already in planning for the next calendar year. Event Name (Winter) Quiz The traditional quiz. January 18 th 2018 at the Chase Hotel, Whitehaven. Event Name Late Christmas Meal-Membership Certificate Presentation A talk by the committee s own Steven Wilson in association with Poisons and 3 course meal at the Ennerdale Country House Hotel, Cleator Moor, on the 25 th of January 2018 with people awarded various membership status in 2016 and 2017 to be recognised. Event Name Nuclear Talk (Public talk) This is a joint event with the NI for the 1 st of February 2018 at the Hunday Manor Hotel. Event Name Secrets of the Anglo-Saxon Goldsmith (Public talk) This is a joint event with the Materials Society for the 10 th of April at the Hunday Manor Hotel.
Committee This information will be used to update our membership database and your web page. Please ensure that any changes to the committee are sent to networks@rsc.org as soon as possible. Position Name Dates on committee (20xx 20xx) Chair Mark Gibson 2013-Present (Secretary 2011 2013) Secretary Kevin Webb 2013 Present (Chairperson 2010-2013, Deputy Chairperson 2009-2010, Treasurer 2000-2009) Andrew Firth Deputy 2011 - Present Treasurer Michelle Quin Mid 2016 Present (member previously) Ordinary Members Tracey Taylor John Marshalsea Bob Paterson Richard Evans Ruth Foster Robert Barlow 2016-Present (Treasurer 2009-2016) 1989 - Present (Chairperson 2006-2009), 1994 Present (Treasurer 1994-98, Chairperson in 2003-2006) 1990 - Present 2013 - Present 2013 Present (previously been Secretary)
Chemists Community Fund Representative (if relevant) Co-opted members and their affiliation Emma Atherton John Little Tom Majchrowski Jennifer Rochford Dan Whittaker Megan Carol Mr Peter Kinsella Mr Stephen Kirvan Miss Kimberley Robson Graham Hutson 2013 - Present 2013 - Present 2015 Present 2015 Present 2015 Present 2016-2017 Mid 2017-Present Mid 2017-Present Mid 2017-Present Current (committee since circa 1978) Stephen Wilson continues to attend committee meetings.
Diversity & Inclusion Our trustees are aiming to embed diversity and inclusion in all of our activities and networks. Our online network handbook contains more information to support our networks in achieving this. Please comment on how your group is showing that it has embraced Diversity and Inclusion within its practices. We attempt to get committee members that are located around Cumbria. We have struggled to get a teacher on the committee, something we feel would be particularly useful for ideas on how to get schools involved with top of the bench competitions and also indicate what other chemistry type events the schools would be interested in. We try to hold our events across Cumbria though continue to struggle with the south and north of the section historically and even more recently we have attempted to advertise across the county for mixer meetings but the turnouts have been poor. We have offered to get speakers to go south and north rather than the usual mid (west) of the area provided somebody for that area would arrange a venue, but no one has so far has come back to us to act as a convenor. This year we split the top of the bench competition into two heats, one north and one south and it was successful in getting our highest number of schools and teams participation to date. Our events are mostly in locations that have to be physically disabled friendly. Chemistry related talk events are open and advertised to the general public. We are trying to increase communication of these talks, including collaboration with other professional institutes, e.g. via the Joint Institution Group, and have to look at using venues that can hold lot of people the issue is often that venues with large numbers can be away from the population centres. We ensure that all events are open to all and have all the necessary amenities. We also offer to cater for all people of all dispositions.