Welcome to ‘the Island’ or Isle of Wight as you may know it. Situated of the south coast of England, the Island is a fossil rich sequence of Early Cretaceous to Early Oligocene sediments, which includes the richest dinosaur localities in Europe and the richest Paleogene vertebrate sites in the UK. We are working with our partner institutions, the Universities of Portsmouth and Southampton to bring together what will hopefully be a memorable meeting. Dinosaur Isle Museum is very pleased to be hosting the 67th SVPCA and 28th SPPC and hope to see you in September 2019.
The main meeting will be held in the port town of Cowes (sometimes referred to as West Cowes, and not to be confused with East Cowes), the Cowes Yacht Haven will be the venue for most of the talks (www.cowesyachthaven.com) Cowes has direct transport links to Southampton. Cowes is a very cosmopolitan town, and is a world famous yachting centre and party capital of the Island with numerous pubs and restaurants. Many of the shops sell high performance outdoor clothing though there are a wide range of shops. A short chain ferry ride and walk is Queen Victoria’s seaside home Osborne House, in East Cowes and is well worth a visit should you decide to stay a little longer.
Dinosaur Isle Museum (www.dinosaurisle.com) is home to over 30,000 specimens including many type specimens, notably of the dinosaurs Neovenator and Eotyrannus. Currently managed by the Isle of Wight Council, it is a fully accredited museum. The museum has a proactive acquisitions policy through fieldwork so there are always new specimens being added to the collection. Located in Sandown, about 45 minutes’ drive from Cowes, the museum is small but with plenty of ambition. 2019 should be an important year for the museum as it moves away from solely local authority control and should be working with a new commercial partner to develop the site.
We will be running a field trip on the 10th September in part parallel with the workshop session. This trip will explore the Cretaceous sequence at Yaverland to Culver Cliff. This section will follow the sequence from the terrestrial Wessex Formation to the Late Cretaceous Chalk.
This year’s SVPCA host committee comprises
Martin Munt (DI), Dave Martill (UoP), Neil Gostling (UoS), Jeremy Lockwood (DI), Steve Sweetman (UoP), Megan Jacobs (UoP)
SPPC hosts Martin Munt and Gary Blackwell (DI), with support from Cindy Howells, Richard Forest and Nigel Larkin
