INAUGURAL NIGEL TREWIN MEMORIAL LECTURE

 

WE are proud to announce that we have engaged the distinguished palaeobotanist Professor Dianne Edwards of Cardiff University to be the first speaker for the Nigel Trewin Memorial Lecture in honour of our late Chairman.

Professor Trewin's most generous bequest to The Friends of £2000 has enabled the establishment of  Memorial Lectures in his name. The bequest letter stated his wish that the funds "be used to support a meeting or a publication relating to Hugh Miller's geological interests."

The first lecture is set for Wednesday, 2nd October in Aberdeen, at a venue to be announced as soon as a booking is confirmed. Prof Edwards has chosen as the title for her theme: "In the Steps of Nigel Trewin."

The Royal Society tells us: Dianne Edwards is a distinguished botanist renowned for her study of early plant life on Earth. Through carefully documented field work and painstaking laboratory analysis, she has helped shed light on one of the most important evolutionary events in our planet’s history — the colonisation of land by plants."

Dianne has commented: "I feel greatly honoured to be asked to give this lecture. Nigel was both a friend and scientific colleague, whom I miss on both counts. In addition, having worked on the Old Red Sandstone for over 55 years,  I have Hugh Miller's work on my bookshelves."

Nigel, who died on 25th October 2017, gifted many important items  both to the Hugh Miller Museum and to The Friends, along with his services as a first-rate Chairman. These included leading roles in organising two major conferences, Hugh Miller: Local Hero (2008) and Old Red: Hugh Miller's Geological Legacy (2017), and much sage advice. 

He is seen here on Islay in 2016.