Where The Magic Happens
Current Serving YGS Council Members
At the Yorkshire Geological Society, we pride ourselves on being diverse, friendly & inclusive. Below is a list of current YGS council members, once you know who we are, come & say hello when you see us at events (or even in the street!).
Paul Hildreth | Council Member
Though resident on the ‘wrong side of the Humber’ since 1978, I was born in Norton, formerly in the East Riding, so can claim true Yorkshire status. I attended Malton Grammar School where I discovered an ever increasing interest in physical geography and chemistry that eventually led to a discovery of geology.
I graduated with Honours in Geology from Birkbeck College, University of London, after following a 4-year part-time degree course while employed as an Assistant Experimental Officer with the Institute of Geological Sciences (now BGS) in South Kensington. My IGS work was mainly within the South East England Unit where I was given the opportunity to log cored boreholes, visit temporary sections and, during the winter months, compile the indices of various Wealden memoirs.
In 1970 I became a Logging Geologist on offshore hydrocarbons exploration projects that took me to Spain, Greece, Japan, South Korea, North Sea (UK and Norwegian sectors) eventually becoming Well-site Geologist in 1974.
I had always wanted to teach so, in 1975, after buying my first house, on Flamborough Head, I enrolled on the one-year PGCE course in Geography at the University of Hull and then began my teaching career in Scarborough before moving to North Lincolnshire in 1978. Here I taught mainly Geography and Geology (11-18) until my retirement from full-time employment in 2005. I then enjoyed a period of part-time teaching at Wyke Sixth Form College in Hull until 2011 and it was during this time that I was elected President of the Hull Geological Society and joined YGS Council.
On retirement I volunteered to take on the General Secretary role vacated by Trevor Morse and in that capacity took over the coordination of Yorkshire Geology Month in 2013. I served as YGS President for 2019 -20 succeeding Andy Howard and have resumed the General Secretary role in an acting capacity for 2021. I hope to step down from this duty at the forthcoming AGM.
My commitment to education and outreach continues in schools and with local groups and societies. I was awarded the Geologists’ Association (London) Halstead Medal in May 2021 for my services to geology, which was presented aptly on the YGS outdoor meeting at Skipsea in July 2021.
My current research is on ichnofossils and large flints in the Chalk. I believe that there is a need for scientific classification of the latter and for clarification of terminology, in particular when describing ‘paramoudra’ and ‘potstones’.
