HCNRC Comes To Walgrave

We were delighted to host The Geological Society’s, Home Counties North Regional Group at our Walgrave office this week.

Soiltechnics’ own Dr Matt Hooper and Ian Dunkley delivered a fantastic lecture on ‘Northampton Ironstone: Geology, mining and legacy land’.

Northampton Sand Formation ironstone was deposited during the Middle Jurassic as an Oolidal Limestone on a shallow marine shelf at the northern edge of London-Brabant Massif.

It extends from North Oxfordshire to North Lincolnshire. The formation contains berthierine, siderite and pyrite minerals which have been extensively exploited since the mid-19^th century as a significant source of iron ore.

Exploitation was focused around the Corby, Kettering and Northampton areas and comprised a combination of underground mining and, more commonly, shallow mining using giant dragline machines.

This has left an extensive imprint on both the population demographic of local communities and an extensive legacy of geological, geotechnical and environmental risk that continues to be a challenge to the present day.

Matt and Ian explored the risks and led discussion on how to go about investigating and mitigating risk for existing and new developments.

Thanks to Matt, Ian and all involved with the HCNRG who continue to provide such engaging and accessible events across our region.  

You can view and download the event PDF below:

It’s World Suicide Prevention Day today (10^th September).

Why today is so significant…

Suicidal thoughts are unfortunately more common than people realise and it remains the biggest killer of men under 49 and women aged 20-34. It is a really tricky subject to navigate and discuss, so we at Soiltechnics would like to get involved with the theme this year of “Changing the Narrative on Suicide”, encouraging people to talk and have conversations to allow the stigma around it to change.

Suicide awareness training

So today, or indeed any time that suits you, I hope you will join me in watching the following suicide awareness training. The course is approximately 20 minutes long and will hopefully give you some skills and confidence to have a conversation with anyone about their mental health struggles, that could potentially be lifesaving.

Other tools available

There are lots of other tools available, too, including tools on Welcome to The Suicide Prevention Hub, which also signposts to other services such as the Samaritans and Bereavement support.

Please also feel free to share this.

Written by Sarah Drage, Managing Director.